Fernando Castro

Maybe this will help, on unitronics PLC everything is retained on the PLC memory, I had the same issues while working with unitronics for the first time, on my experience with other PLCs by default everything is non retained unless you specified otherwise. Unitronics is the opposite way everything will be retentive on power loss, or on software reset which means everything will be in the last state it was last time it ran. what I do is to have an "initialization" sequence on power-up, but that depends on your logic

Hahahaha igues was a brain fart, while thinkin in spanish and writting in english, in spanish will be SO, "Sistema Operativo". or because its valentine's day SO: Significative Other 🥰

Guess what.... I was able to upgrade SO, test, downgrade SO and test again My observations were consitent: 4.008 (10) serial comm working 4.10(46) serial comm not working 4.008 (10) serial comm working again 2 different devices, same PLC program, same behavior with those SO @Cara Bereck Levy I guess we should report that.

I believe it is related to communication protocols. Today I spent half of the day struggling with serial comm on one system that maintenance was assembling for testing, even thinking that I've sent the wrong program or that I may be by accident overwritten the latest release of the software. In the end, I was feeling defeated without any idea of what was going on or how to solve it, then it struck me... what OS is on this PLC? and definitely was not 4.008 (10) the most stable (In my opinion) It was 4.10(46), I Installed 4.008 (10) and the comm, worked again. Are we sure about this?, I mean I had this serial comm issue today with 4.10 (46). I am going to test with other PLC.. maybe was something else and only got restored while wipping OS?

Hola!, no tengo ese PLC pero recien tuve un problema similar con v700 y v 570. Lo que se me ocurre es que en tu PLC maestro agregues una condicion de "timeout" y después de cierto tiempo reinicialices la comunicación por Modbus TCP. En mi caso me sucedia lo mismo con los esclavos si actualizaba la IP desde la HMI y en V700 tuve que agregar una secuencia especifica para reinicializar los bloques de modbus. pero no en v560 así que no sabria decirte en vision 350 si requieres reinicializar los bloques en alguna secuencia en específico. Saludos!

I kind of have that part already sorted out, all m PLCs aree on a networked and collect dataover MODBUSTCP. I was thinking about it and I feel like it should be a way to make some kind of FTP server function that could get a udt file from a remote machine and store it directly from the remote machine to a data table in the PLC memory, is this possible? I could sync the list of names over modbus, and depending the name selected update the data table from the remote device.... pretty much the same as read write table function from visilogic while online mode

Hi all, seems that my needs are currently transcending beyond the visilogic capabilities and I need to get creative. I have a recipe based program wich right now is using an SD card to read and load UDT files so, however, it seems that we will be using more recipes in the future and we need that those recipes will be easy to read and understand by the operators so given the current limitation is 8 characters that may be a little more challenging than we tough, also, the recipe deployment to all our machines will be challenging since some recipes will be having many versions due to the nature of the process and the R&D going on. so, I was thinking of maybe using some kind of "encryption" algorithm to create an 8 characters name for the file based on the description. the problem will be that I need to be able to list how many files I have on the SD, then get the name of each card to process that and list the equivalent human-readable on the screen that way the user will only see a list of human-understandable names and there is less potential of them making the wrong selection. But as I was able to see there isn't any option to get the names of files on an sd card, seems that filename is always an input for the sd card function blocks Any ideas?

I know what are you saying, same happened to me, seems that the PLC can in fact store more than 64 files, but only can handle 64 allocated on the SD card, I am not sure what is the limit and where are allocated, but if you store more than 64 an then delete some of them, the other files starts to appear...

I had pretty much the same need, to do a floor cycle you need a sub routine that will contain all the "loop", first rung should clear the initial value, the use labels and jumps in between conditions, you may need some MIs to index your values but it's doable... tomorrow I can share a screen shoot on how to do it

told you.....bugs, bugs bugs everywhere!! I really want to like unitronics but my experience so far has been hard to trust , If I had started my current project after that SO release I would have screwed. Joking aside the main reason I have disstrust issues is that I have a rough time trying to troubleshoot myself to eventually find out that maybe is the PLC and not my logic 😒

I am not sure, but i think that the OS are downloaded to ubitronics software based on the visilogic version you have C:\Program Files (x86)\Unitronics\Unitronics VisiLogic_C\Data\Os\Vision Enhanced\V700\OS

Hi all!!, @Javier Galaz Havent been able to download your program yet, but i did find some interesting, that I will qualify as another "bug". In order to downoad your program I needed to upgrade to a more recent version of visilogic, and in order to connect to my plc with that new version I needed to upgrade the OS of the PLC. to my surprisse, when upgrading the OS my Modbus communication stopped working!!. so I rolled back to my previos well known version and modbus worked again!. I just changed the OS, my application is still the same this is the response from PC side while ussing OS V 4.10.36 (most recent one) so, I would downgrade to unitronics visilogic 9.8.91 build 0 and OS V4.8.10, that is working for me.

I posted while ago an issue on the linear functions ussing relatively "big" numbers and for big i mean smaller than the ones that are supported accordingly to documentation. Using remote operator if you enter a numerical entry with v570 you can use the keyboard, with v700 you can just type the very first number, then the system does not react to the next ones. This is not necessarily a "bug" but the sd browser function embedded on the PLC screen was designed on a smaller resolution so v700 shrinks it on the middle of the screen and then the filenames are out of the buttons... it's annoying Using Modbus TCP I need to use a very specific logic to reset or "refresh" the connection if I wanted to change the IP in a screen on my program (v570 works without that custom patch).. Also, I feel like, the touch screen randomly stopping working after a download shouldn't be a thing in a PLC... at all. First time I faced that with one PLC/HMI. Just today I am having a headache trying to figure out why I have problems with serial communication on one machine, on my latest software revision, (have a couple of machines running exactly the same version of software and hardware and no problems with serial comm). so far the issue seems to be traced to "protocol scan" not receiving a "valid message" which is funny because I can clearly read the value on the info mode screen, and it is exactly what I have programmed to look for. If that is solved by downloading a blank project I am going to bang my head with the wall... anyway, I am not a big fan of unitronics, but like to be challenged. I am really trying to like it (Don't have any other options though) Sorry for the off topic @Javier Galaz I think i found your problem, I wasnt able to test it because was on a newer softwer hopefuly tomorrow I could test it and let you know.

Hey @Javier Galaz, did you were able to fix your issue, i have a bunch of V700 so i can help you, also I was able to succesfully connecyt a network with near 200 PLC some of them v700 som of them v570, and I can tell you that i have some issues with network connectivity with the v700 ( I dont think it will be relevant to your case but change the IP or reconncect if you lost connection will requiere some specific steps to reconnect with v700). Anyway since I am jumping late to this trhread just let me know if you still need help and send me an update version of your program. Also when I was testing for troubleshooting my application on the PC side I used Codesys (wich happns to be the software wich i am most familiar with) with a virtual PLC to test my modbus protocol communication. by the way take whatever you read on the documentation with a grain of salt, I ve seen issues with translation and misleading information (Or maybe its me since i am not a native english speaker), also I have spoted some "bugs" on v700 software so on my short experiencie of unitronics a lot of time of testing and debugging is required

when working with modbus you need to pay close attention to the data format and endiannes of the bytes that different brands may use, to be able to rearrange the information in my case all words 32 bytes in the computer I need to have it like as : "BADC" for example a 32 bits representation of the number 12345678 (ASCII characters,2 32 BITS ADDRESSES) in unitronics PLC is as follows : Decimal: 87577041 , 943142453 Hexadecimal: 34333231, 38373635 = A B C D A B C D 34 33 32 31 38 37 36 35 =43218765 D C B A D C B A 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 =12345678

Just fot the record I ended programing a macro to run the SD card explorer, I just add a list of the IP numbers and let it run while it goes one by one oppening, browsing for the dessired folder, and then deleting all the content, next upload the new recipes and then starts from the beegining with the new IP and PLC name. Its kind of slow buecause I needed to ad time outs and detect some specific pictures in order to take control of the mouse, but it works unnatended, wich is the point.

Well, then I think its how your networl is set up, in my case we have a LAN only for the PLCS that its isolated from the main IT network but some computers are allowed to tunnel thru the network to reach the PLCS (A server collecting data thru MDOBUS that host a database and a web based visualization interface for such data, my laptop and another tablet that some times we use on field), i think all of that is mannaged over a managed switch that IT already set up (I have no knowledge of how IT deppartment set it up everything, I just explained what I needed to reach and from where) So I can reach each PLC over the specified ports, and even from home using the company VPN. the connection is very stable and I even have been able to download new versions of thesoftware using my mobile data connection and remote manage everithing ( Was slow but it worked ) Also for larger deployments I am using unitronics download manager, I also have another small desktop pc on site in the same LAN as the PLC with all the unitronics suite, just in case I need to be on the same LAN , for that I remote connect to I remote connect to that PC using the wifi and Windows Remote Desktop or LOGME, we call it the "jumpbox" that is the only device that is phisicaly connected to the same LAN as the PLCs.. but so far I havent had the necesity to do that.

Is there a way to use a FTP server to get files to the SD card (I already looked at examples and seems that only works for uploading files) I need to mantain potencially a lot of recipes for near 200 PLCS and altough SD explorer is handy, I dont want to spend hours updating files manually. I know that I potentially could use MODBUS and a datatable to store the recipe in the background and use the PLC functions to save the parameters on the SD card, but it will require some extra work and some sort of 2 side actions (Generate the values on the computer, acces to modbus server in PLC , writte and then from PLC using some trigger to create the files... its not feasible with more than 4 recipes and near 200 devices) for me to do it and more ig is task that should be simple with a FTP server wich the PLC IS capable to reach, right? I could just mantain the source files on a network folder and make periodical checks to retrive the most recent version of recipe withouth actually sending the file to each PLC . Its possible or am I asking too much for v570 and v700 PLCS?...Maybe will be easier to automate SD card explorer with some kind of bot? 😅

I always download over TCP/IP with no problems at all, I think is how you have set up your Network settings on the PLC, of course when restarted after a download it will be disconnected for a couple of seconds but it will allow you to reconnect afther the PLC restarts. and even if you lost connection during a software downliad you should be able to reconnect again. Unitronics PLC mantains Communication even if the PLC is on stop mode or some falut happens during download (I discover this because a colleague disconected the ethernet wire wile updating one of the plcs) at least this works on V570 and V700 I have near 200 PLCS to mantain and deploy new version of software periodically with most of them having very difficult to reach ports because of the control cabinet design, so its ethernet conectivities eases my work a lot!

🤣

It worked!! after the blank project was not working but since i needed to dissasembly the front panel to have access to the usb port i cut the power, then installed the usb cable, after I turned the power back on I tried to enter info mode again and it worked... maybe after the blank project needed a power reset too to complete the "reset"?

I already have looked at SB16, SI40, SI41 0,-1,-1.. SB19 I will look after I could restore communication since already downloaded a blank project to the PLC what does SI 19 stores? The blank project did not work.

I will try in a momment, since i could lost connection over ethernet port again I need to downlad some files firstha (The cabinet has no door and practically I need help of maintanance to dissasembly the machine again to connect over usb if the blank projec does not work 😅). Is there a good reason to believe that a blank project will solve this or is just a general recommendation?. I was able to enter to info mode and calibration mode for the touchscreen using the remote operator but still no luck triying to get the HMI working again.

Has anyone encountered a situation like this? The touchscreen just stop working after downloading a new program. I can use the remote access tool but not the HMI. I tried to init and reset from the communication settings, and now I am unable to connect to the PLC since the IP got reset.. 🤦‍♂️ I will try to connect thru the USB port and reinstall the OS again. Any suggestions?

Hi, I have 2 versions of Machines one uses V570 and the other one v700, FOR THE v700 The SD browser tool from the HMI looks very tiny (I assuming because of the resolution), the same with the info mode menu. Is there a way to adjust that to use all the screen? and also I've noticed that that menu (SD browser) Can not be displayed with the remote operator. Is there a way to fix that or Should I start to build myself a menu for browsing the SD Card files ? And another thing that I noticed is that for whatever reason v560 feels more responsive than V700... clearly, I am not an expert on Unitronics, but isn't V700 supposed to be the better one?