MalSnaize
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Everything posted by MalSnaize
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fingers crossed......
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Thanks Joe I'm on 4.0(19) am trying to update but the wizard tells me I must use COM1 and no matter what physocal USB I use, it shows as connected via COM3. Does this matter? cheers Mal
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Hi Again all - I had the PLC replaced by my supplier and used that. I also wrote a "user friendly" date/time setup just in case. Just recently I got the PLC back from my cusomer to do some enhancements and I find that in fact the system is still dropping the date time on power-up. Must have been happening for the customer and they havent mentioned it (unless they have never powered off) So I've now tried new PLC, new batteries - the only thing that remains consistent is my code. Is it possiblt that somehow I am somehow resettting the PLC date time? Does any one know of a system bit that would do this and I am somehow bouncing it? Actually as soon as I wrote that I realise that if that is the case it can only be in y initialisation routines - I'll have a look in those but if anyone does come up with an bright thought I'd be really happy! thanks Mal
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Thanks Gabriel - yes I too previously used one bit to trigger a number of text fields. The problem arose when I increased the number of text fields significantly (one screen has 16 x 20 character fields plus a whole load of static information. The other screen has 40 fields of 6 characters. So I'm thinking maybe theres a limit to how much data can be refershed in one scan (has to be, right?) Supporting that, following Joe's advice and introducing individual trigger bits it has fixed the issue - I guess the OS simply looks after it nd determins how much it can referesh in one cycle then comes and finishes off the rest in subsequent cycles (thats just a guess) anyway end of the story is that it now works! thanks all
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Hi Again Joe - worked a treat thanks - the table now displays nice and smoothly too At the moment I trigger on each cycle for each label as the table of text is built; I wonder would it be better (or indeed worse) to build all of the data and then write all the triggers at once? Just a thought.
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Joe thanks for your rapid response and apologies for my slow one - I'm in a different time zone. Ah ok so I have been a bit lazy here and used the same trigger bit on all objects - I'll assign unique ones for each and see how that goes; back soon! cheers Mal
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Hi all, some guidance please. I am displaying text labels on a V1210 screen I have a common block of MIs that I use to display the various string labels (Tank names, Pump names, Product names). The labels vary in length (eg: Tank = 6 characters in 3 MIs, product = 20 characters in 10 MIs) The Tank screen displays 40 x 6-char labels and the Product screen displays 20 x 20-char labels (please see display export). After initialising label length and number of labels I use a common net to display 1 label per cycle (see attached net). The net reads a table and copies the data to the MI offset for the current record number. Each screen label is mapped to its associated offset of the common block. When displaying the Product screen only (20-character) 11 labels are displayed and when displaying the Tank screen only the first 20 plus the 33rd labels are displayed (3-characters). When the screen is only showing around half the labels, if I manually set SB31 (refresh variable) (ie via the Visilogic connection to the PLC) then all labels suddenly appear. Also if I touch any label and the HMI keyboard appears, either ENTER or ESC also causes all the labels to appear. However if I try to set 31 programmatically in the NET when all labels have been displayed, it does not update the display. Final note, after all labels have been loaded and half not showing, looking at the live data via Visilogic shows the MI block for the screen labels is fully populated with the correct data. So it seems to be a refresh issue but I am snookered as to what it is.. Any thoughts from anyone? Thanks Mal Tank Edit 20181007a.bmp
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:-) Yep these are small process pumps (https://www.smcpneumatics.com/smcdigitalcat3/docs/processpump/processpump/PB.pdf) which are being used to deliver various liquid feed an treatment into tanks. I believe the internal works use a solenoid to "flip" a valve which allows air to actuate a diaphagm which delivers the fluid. So in fact air is doing the heavy lifting and the solenoid just triggers the actions so doesnt carry any significant load. They are quite cool litte pumps with tiny footprint and capacity of up to a litre a minute being dispensed.
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Hi Aus thanks for your additional thoughts. Attached is a very crude diagram of what I've done; note that this config is phase 1 with 2 x 16-port modules. You'll see that I not planned to common the 0V (though the power supply earths are commoned on the DIN rail. So what I understand from your comment is that I should common the two power supply 0v lines - is that correct? On the power side of things, I am running solenoid/air process pumps which are rated at 15mA each - I'm quite confident that one 3.5A @24V power supply will handle that load but if I do see any issues I have the second power supply which is currently opnly driving the PLC so plenty of capacity left over - do you agree? On the point of taking to the PLC with a soldering iron, it's only a couple of months old and there are far handier swordsmen than I who are less likely to poke a hot iron through the screen :-) cheers Mal
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Thanks Ausman! At this stage I have not connected up the output modules - I'm using an expansion port with 4 x IO-TO16, these are powered by a 3.5A 24V supply which is separate to the PLC power supply which I made the same to avoid mistakes. So key thing here is that the PLC is the only powered unit at this stage. Yep the battery is good measuring 3.2V (I think.. I'm not in front of it right now). I've checked the battery status and watch it drop after a few seconds when I pull the battery out so confident its not there. As an update, the supplier reckons it might be a fault where the RTC is not being powered by the battery so when the main supply cycles the RTC resets. I believe all the operands are retaining their values but will do a more formal test on that to be sure. In the mean time the supplier is sending a replacement unit and we'll see how that goes. Cheers Mal
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Hi All I purchased a new V1210 for a customer and have been developing a chunky bit of code to drive 64 pumps in various modes. The date time is becoming reset to 1st Jan '06 It also only happens on power cycle, not on reset or when downloading new code. I've checked all the obvious stuff: 1. Put in a new battery 2. Checked the battery status bit is fine (in fact I've built in a small piece of code that checks it if is set and the plc starts beeping and a battery icon flashes) until the user presesses confrm at which point I do a reset. Either I hadnt noticed or it has only started happening recently (about a month into development) - I reckon its the first option though; I have just started working on the shcedule bit that triggers on time so ony now am I paying attention to the time. Any thoughts anyone? Could I somehow be inadvertently triggering some state that resets the date/time? Many thanks Mal
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Hi Team As a rule I try not to preset values at power-up so the PLC will retain it's state after a power fail. This is particularly useful when I'm running timed or timer functions which just pick up where they left off after a power glitch. Sometimes I use SB 2 when I do need to reset stuff after power up. Now the real question - Is there a way of detecting when a new programme has been downloaded? I have been trying to use SB75 to detect when a new ladder has been loaded; that's when I definitely want to do a full reset of values to known states. As my very first action in Main I've tried testing the bit being Set, Negative Transition, Positive Transition and for each case I've SET an MB (which has a power-up reset state). Nothing seems to move that MB. So I'm wondering, does SB75 actually go high in first scan and drop at end of scan? Maybe I'm misunderstanding what SB75 is for. Is there perhaps a better way to know I have a new ladder downloaded to the PLC? I possibly could have a current-version MI and a last-version MI and make sure I change the current-version power-up value to check for version change but that's a little mes Oh also, I'm using a V1210. Many thanks for any guidance coming my way cheers Mal
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Hi Joe thanks for your advice. yes they are quite smal phyricallyl but are spec'd to move 2L / minute which is great for the application. I' m quite relieved as the alternative would have been to add 8 solid state relays to drive the pumps which would have been a significant increase in cost. Good outcome! Kind regards Mal
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Hi Again so here's a bit of an update: My provider agrees that perhaps the IO-R08 relay module is not the best option and recommends a solid state module. The pump I am switching is an SMC PB1011-A (see attached spec extracted from manual) and I'd be keen to get others' views to confirm that the IO-TO16 will do the trick? Note the pump has a built in solenoid and that is what I am switching at 24V. Thanks in advance of any advice. Kind regards Mal PB1011A Spec.pdf
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Thanks Aus - your shared experiece much appreciated.. I'd hate to go back to my client with a change which in itself fails in short time. I have a meeting with them today and will have a better idea of the exact usage and will go back to my local distributer for further guidance. Actually general question: Is it appropriate for me to spell out the exact spec of pumps etc on this forum and ask for suggestions on best module to use? Cheers Mal
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Hi Joe many thanks for your feedback. Thats a bit of a blow! I was advised to go down this path but your analysis and advice cerftainly stacks up to show thats not the case. A bit more info (which wont help but's for interest) - Yes we are switching solendoids - the chosen process pumps are air-driven with internal solenoids. (I do have protection diodes across the load) We haven't finalised the duty cylcle/frequency combination as we need to test in-situ and try varying models - centralised pumps vs distributed pumps. Higher air pressure vs higher frequency (I think the higher air-pressure is the way to go). All of this will help us assess what freqency and duty cycle we pump at to get the various flow rates we need. The only saving grace is that the pumps wont be running 24/7 and scheduled to run certain times of the day.. Still, I think I'm going to have to swap out to transitstor outputs - I hope the module fits! Thanks again! cheers Mal
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Hi there I have a simple question about IO-R08 module output LEDs. I have a V700 with attached expansion and IO-R08 modules. The intent is that the relays will pulse process pumps at up to 9Hz during scheduled and manual sessions, Everything appears to be working, however I am about to deliver to the customer to install with the pumps and i notice an odd beahviour of the output LED indicators on the relay module. When I pulse the relays, the LEDs pulse - but inconsistently. If I pulse at, say, 1 to 3 Hz the LEDs appear to be pulsing at the same rate but as I increase frequency up to 9Hz the LEDs appear to have a more random nauture to their relationship to the actual relay frequency. Should the LEDs represent exacly what the relay is doing, partcularyly at the upper end of their range - 9Hz? See short vid of all relays firing at 9hz - the output LEDs dont fire consistently. any thoughts or guidance greatly appreciated. Thanks, Mal IO-R08 at 9Hz.MOV
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Hi Tal I have exactly the same requirement. A simple keypad overlay that can be called with a flag to indicate Text input or Numeric input and a vector to where the input will be stored. I've just started using the PLC range and Visilogic so was hoping someone would point to something and say "there it is!" Otherwise I guess we write something - keep me posted if you do and I will likewise.
