Flex727

Thanks, DanT. I do know about this function and have used it in the past, but I am always reluctant to put something like this into regular use until I fully understand how it works. There should be an entry in the Help file on this function and I do not see it. I also notice that it doesn't include any System Operands, which is important for the programmer to know in advance (one reason why I'd like to see information in the Help file).

@Cara Bereck Levy, I can find nothing at all in the help file about this function. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Moved to best forum for this question.

Good information and advice, @kratmel.

There are other resources available that are more suited to your needs. Unitronics offers a number of video tutorials for programming and their installation guides for the I/O modules show how to perform the wiring. This forum is more suited for answering specific questions by users who are involved in a project. There are also some forum users here that are willing to provide programming, and even training, for hire. Post in the forum topic "Projects Seeking Programmers" if this is what you are seeking. Please keep in mind that this is a user community - the forum users and moderators are volunteers who do not work for Unitronics and are willing to donate some of their time to help other users. Most do not have the time to walk someone through every phase of a project. My best recommendation is to perform the basic research, perhaps making that part of the student exercise, make your best attempt at wiring and programming, then return here with specific questions.

No, what I am saying is for there to be beginning values for integer registers exactly like what happens with timer presets. Whatever timer preset is entered into VisiLogic, even without the Power-Up checked, is transferred to the PLC when the program loads. This value is retained, can be changed, but does not have any power-up application. Often times I have programs with a large number of settings that must be entered by the customer before the program will run properly. Those settings cannot be power-ups because that may need to be changed from time-to-time and the new setting needs to be retained. If the customer enters most of the parameters but forgets some, or makes a typo while entering them, problems will ensue. I'd like to have default values entered that will allow the program to run properly without the customer intervening unless a minor tweak needs to be done. There is a workaround - I can have a ladder rung initiated by SB 2 that checks to see if the MI = zero, then store direct my value if true, but that's cumbersome.

It only takes a few seconds to go online with the PLC, copy the data out of the Data Table, paste it into a spreadsheet, and graph it any way you like.

The Unitronics website has installation guides to help you with this. Here is a direct link to the one for the SM35-J-TA22: https://myzone-kza3sadj.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/SM35_43_70_TA22_IG_2_16.pdf

Ugh. I think that's going to be a problem.

You can record data in either a Data Table onboard the PLC or on an SD card. On the SD card you can store the data directly from a Data Table in a format that can be read by Unitronics SD Card Suite and converted to .csv. You can also (with more difficulty) store the data directly to the SD card in .csv format. My recommendation would be to store the data in a Data Table and periodically push it to the SD card. You can read the file on the SD card directly (using SD Card Suite) without removing the card if you can go online with the PLC. Unitronics SD Card Suite is free and easy to use.

Which PLC model are you thinking of using?

The Help file, especially with timers, is extremely, er, helpful. Also, don't hesitate to try stuff then go online with the PLC to see what happens.

Now you know why I use incrementing an ML with SB 13. Another option is to store the Preset and Current TA values in an ML, subtract one from the other and store that value in another timer to save in your Data Table if you simply must have the timer formatting. This would only require a few ladder rungs to accomplish. This is something I rarely need in my programming so I haven't spent any time exploring alternatives. Maybe someone can offer another suggestion.

No, the TA timer will not lose its value when the PLC is power cycled. However, make sure you understand how the TA timer works. It counts DOWN, not up. It also must be RESET by ladder when to reaches zero to allow it to begin to count again. You can display the Data Table on the screen using the "Data Tables - Copy Row to vector" and then displaying the vector of MIs, breaking them into the appropriate pieces using the HMI variable ASCII String. Sadly, there is no function to just throw the whole Data Table onto the screen - you just have to do row-by-row. You can, however, display as many rows simultaneously as you have room for on the screen using the appropriate logic.

You shouldn't lose any data during a power cycle. I normally have a column for date (String, 10) and time (String, 12) using RTC To ASCII #7 for date and RTC To ASCII #9 for the time. Then at each data store point I Copy Rows from Row #0 to Row #1, number rows = Data Table size minus 1. After the copy, do a Write Row into Row #0 with the Date, Time, and the Timer value into the 3 columns.

Are you using VisiLogic or UniLogic? If VisiLogic, remember that timers can only run for 23 hours, 59 minutes, & 59 seconds. You can either set up some logic to counts days and add that to your data table, or do what I like to do. I like to use SB 13 to Increment an ML. From there you can convert to hours + tenths of an hour, formatted as HHHH.H easily by dividing by 360. The data can easily be stored to a Data Table at whatever interval you desire. You can do this daily at midnight by turning on a bit when SI 35 = zero. Use a positive transition of that bit to store to a data table row.

How far away is the I/O from the PLC?

Just use the INCrement function to count them into an MI.

Stick with integer operands and multiply by 10 or 100 (prior to your calculations that would produce a decimal) then display with 1 or 2 decimal places.

Am I the only one who would love to see VisiLogic download a starting value for a numeric operand without the Power-Up checkbox being checked? In other words, it would place a value in the operand that could be overwritten by ladder, but not by start up. This behavior would be exactly like what happens with Timer Presets.

Another bump for @Cara Bereck Levy.

I don't think it's possible to have Remote operator have access to the screen touches without local access at the same time.

Set up a log in for the Control Room operator. When not logged in, the buttons are disabled on the screen. You can have the log in time out which would return the buttons to the disabled state.

The reading of 203 would be a measurement of 3.995mA. Is 0.005mA really a concern to you? This reading is only off by .004mA. This all sounds really accurate to me. What is the issue you're having?

Nothing improper about this code. Congratulations on getting your cycle time down to 22ms.