Drozerce Posted May 9, 2014 Report Share Posted May 9, 2014 HI guys, I'm finishing a project that includes Unitronics PLC V130-33-T38 and Wonderware Intouch Scada. I have successfully made the communication part between the PLC (Unitronics) and the PC (Intouch), it is communicating, but I still have problems: 1. When I set a command from the PC to the PLC, there is no problems so far, but when I should receive an information from the PLC to the PC, I have problems. The time for refreshment is too long (ex. 3,4 seconds). For example: I hit MB10 from PC as a command to start the motor. The motor starts, and as an information I should receive MB29 from the PLC that the motor started, but this variable i'm getting it after 3,4 second, sometimes more. 2. Also in UniOPC Server Event Log, I can see only the items that are going from the PC to the PLC, but not other way around. So, I see that MB10 has been written to item MB10 (Success), but I can't see any info about MB29. So, I'm not sure where to look for the problem, is it Intouch or UniOPC, or OPCLink. I don't know where to start looking. I have tried something with the time intervals in UniOPC and Intouch but the result was the same. Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henny Posted May 9, 2014 Report Share Posted May 9, 2014 Hello Drozerce Tested it Uniopc with wizcon/control Maestro scada system acting as opc da client and created a tag that referenced SI30(RTC current second). The difference in value viewing SI30 online with Visilogic(on a V570) and scada is about 1 second so not 3 or 4 seconds like you mention. If you want to test if the problem is Wonderware or Unicopc I would suggest testing with a free opc test client like for example kepware has or can be downloaded at other manufactures websites. If the update problem also exists in the test client software then you know that you have to search for the problem within the combination of the V130 and Uniopc otherwise it,s a problem within Wonderware. Regards and have a good weekend Henny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henny Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 HI guys, I'm finishing a project that includes Unitronics PLC V130-33-T38 and Wonderware Intouch Scada. I have successfully made the communication part between the PLC (Unitronics) and the PC (Intouch), it is communicating, but I still have problems: 1. When I set a command from the PC to the PLC, there is no problems so far, but when I should receive an information from the PLC to the PC, I have problems. The time for refreshment is too long (ex. 3,4 seconds). For example: I hit MB10 from PC as a command to start the motor. The motor starts, and as an information I should receive MB29 from the PLC that the motor started, but this variable i'm getting it after 3,4 second, sometimes more. 2. Also in UniOPC Server Event Log, I can see only the items that are going from the PC to the PLC, but not other way around. So, I see that MB10 has been written to item MB10 (Success), but I can't see any info about MB29. So, I'm not sure where to look for the problem, is it Intouch or UniOPC, or OPCLink. I don't know where to start looking. I have tried something with the time intervals in UniOPC and Intouch but the result was the same. Thanks, Hello Drozerce Tested Uniopc also in combination with scada system Control Maestro added a tag referencing SI30 (RTC current second) and it updates within 2 seconds. Plc a Vision V570-57-T20 O/S 3.8(11) To figure out if this has something to do with a Wonderware setting simply install a free opc client like Kepware has integrated in kepserverex. Kepserverex https://my.kepware.com/download/demo/ex/?utm_content=EX5-HOME within kepserver is a free client that allows you to test. Another thing that I found out usin Uniopc is when I was testing this I connected to our plant network using a VPN connection.When this VPN connection disconnects and Uniopc can,t connect to the V570 the OPC client keep showing the last updated values.When setting up a same connection with Kepware OPC and other brand plc,s you will get in this kind of situation a unknow value. When reading the Uniopc helpfile it should be possible to set the PLC time out retry(seconds) under File->options->Time out but this setting is not availible. The only settings that can be modified under Time out are "Max update rate" and "Statistics sample period".I installed Uniopc on my labtop with WIndows 7 ultimate 32 bit . Regards Henny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgull Posted May 11, 2014 Report Share Posted May 11, 2014 Hello Drozerce There may be something in this link that may help. http://www.unitronics.com/docs/pdf/uniopc_opclink_intouch.pdf?sfvrsn=2 Regards sgull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henny Posted May 11, 2014 Report Share Posted May 11, 2014 As a note on the pdf link sgull gave you another posting on this forum regarding more or less the same issue may also be helpful? http://forum.unitronics.com/index.php?/topic/230-intouch-uniopc-issues/ But if the configuration in wonderware is the problem then you would expect that the communication never works but as Drozerce wrote the updating time is sometimes very long 3 a 4 seconds. Regards Henny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drozerce Posted May 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2014 Hello, Henny thanks for the replay, I will try with a different OPC as you mentioned, and I will get back the results. Sgull, I have done that already. So, I have communication between PLC and SCADA, that is not my problem, because when I give a command from SCADA to the PLC, it is going well, no problems. But, the problem that I have is when I should receive a feedback from the PLC to the SCADA. I have worked before with Intouch, and I didn't have this kind of problems (the PLC was Siemens S7-300 and S7-400). So by me, the problem is in the Uniopc. So, if someone have had this kind of problem before, or if someone have any idea I should try on, please tell me, I'll be very grateful. Thanks ones again, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henny Posted May 13, 2014 Report Share Posted May 13, 2014 Hello, Henny thanks for the replay, I will try with a different OPC as you mentioned, and I will get back the results. Sgull, I have done that already. So, I have communication between PLC and SCADA, that is not my problem, because when I give a command from SCADA to the PLC, it is going well, no problems. But, the problem that I have is when I should receive a feedback from the PLC to the SCADA. I have worked before with Intouch, and I didn't have this kind of problems (the PLC was Siemens S7-300 and S7-400). So by me, the problem is in the Uniopc. So, if someone have had this kind of problem before, or if someone have any idea I should try on, please tell me, I'll be very grateful. Thanks ones again, Hello Drozerce It just slept into my mind but you didn’t mention in your first posting how your Vision 130 plc is connected to pc where uniopc and wonderware scada is installed, Is it over Ethernet or serial? In my test with Uniopc and Wizcon(Control maestro) scada the connection was over Ethernet. Another question that I’m curious about is how do you deal with a situation when there is no communication between the Vision plc and the scada pc with Uniopc and Wonderware because in my test over ethernet when I disconnect from my vpn connection al the values in the Uniopc kept their last values and personally I find this a bad situation because operators viewing the scada system think al machines are running well and it takes I while before they find out that the screen values are frozen. When I have the same situation with kepware opc and CTI(Company that took over the Texas Instruments plc,s from Siemens) then as soon as the connection gets lost you see dashes on the screen and operators will notice this kind of situation immediately . If you don’t have to handle a lot of data then Modbus could also be a solution if wonderware has a Modbus client driver(and you don’t have to buy it). Also I’m assuming that if you make use of wondware intouch scada system that the V130 isn’t the only plc that is connected to this system but that there are probably more Unitronics plc,s or other brand plc,s connected to it? Perhaps you could also setup a communication between the V130 and another plc that has a reliably connection to the wonderware system? I also noticed when googling that Matrikon also has a opc server for Unitronics so that you can test with a demo version because it’s not free of charge like Unitronics software. Like you I also worked with Siemens S5 and S7 plc,s but I’m most experienced in working with CTI(Texas instruments plc,s).When a company brought in a cleaning system with a V230 plc,s in 2005 my personal thoughts at that point was what kind of screen is this and can’t it be replaced by a Siemens or TI plc especially when the Unitronics programmer from the company that installed the cleaning system was no longer available for service. At that point I started to learn Unitronics and from that moment on my thoughts about Unitronics have changed completely.Later on I also used Unitronics plc to control another machine because it,s so easy to handle. The support that Unitronics offer at their website with documentation and webinars are really great and I always refer to the Unitronics website when other manufactures visit our plant and want to sell their automation products as an example how a product should be supported. But back to your opc problem I know that my suggestions doesn’t solve your problem directly but are just some other possible ideas that can lead to a solution. Take your time to find out and let the forum know what your solution is so that I also can learn from it. Regards Henny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drozerce Posted May 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2014 Hi Henny, You are right...you didn't solve my problem:) But I'm thankful for the effort. About your questions... For communication, I'm using Ethernet, because I know that the serial communication is slower then ethernet. About your question what I'm doing when the communication is lost between Plc and Hmi. So, I have made a script in the Intouch, so where there is no communication for X time an Alarm is generated, and the operator knows that there is no communication. About the third part, unfortunatly I don't have another PLC in this moment, so I can't test my Intouch aplication with another Plc. But the same Intouch aplication I have used before and I didn't have such problems. My doubts are still in the UniOPC... Anyone else have had issues with Intouch? Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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