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Have a USP-156-B10 that loses communications to a server application


CatUnitronics

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Currently have a USP-156-B10 that loses communications to a server application as to where it was working last week.

Prior to this a screen would pop up and indicate that the screen needs reset when nothing has changed or touched.

The unit was replaced a few months ago and now this. The unit that was replaced had a bad screen and tried to reload the software and this did not work.

Can a digital I/O module cause communication issues with the HMI?

Thanks

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DanT,

Inside the enclosure there is 120V  going to 2 DC 24V power supplies.

No contactors switching high voltages.

No suppression on relay coils that I can see.

Over the weekend, there were some other controllers that have had issues with 120v power and appears to be in t he same area for where the stand is placed.

Could the incoming power make a difference to the power supply?

 

Thanks

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I am having trouble understanding why I can ping the addresses and no response after several months of operation. It has been noted before I started that there was a communications issue with this particular unit. The other unit seemed to be defective as the button on the panel always contained the same x and y position when touching other areas of the screen.

Thank you in advance for your help.

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On 12/14/2020 at 8:00 AM, DanT said:

Hi;

 

What is the electrical environment around the PLC?

      High Voltages?

     VFD's

    Contactors switching high voltages?

   Suppression on relay coils?

   EMI filtering?

 

DanT

 

DanT, I pinged the IP addresses through the laptop and was able to see the addresses and still able to get online. Tried running the server application and wait 5 minutes to connect and did not. Went to other stands and works fine. Believe there is a communications driver issue in the panel. I would try to re-download the OS but do not have a USB port to do so and I don't think that is the issue.

Thanks

 

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On 12/14/2020 at 8:00 AM, DanT said:

Hi;

 

What is the electrical environment around the PLC?

      High Voltages?

     VFD's

    Contactors switching high voltages?

   Suppression on relay coils?

   EMI filtering?

 

DanT

 

DanT,

After pinging the IP addresses through the laptop, I was able to see the ethernet addresses. The server application works on the other test stands with no issues. I believe that there may be a driver issue with the unit. Would I be able to download the OS system such as "Download All" or download the OS system like I would the program or would I have to use the USB stick? Or would it be better to wait until the engineer gets back and download the OS from a USB stick?

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On 12/14/2020 at 8:00 AM, DanT said:

Hi;

 

What is the electrical environment around the PLC?

      High Voltages?

     VFD's

    Contactors switching high voltages?

   Suppression on relay coils?

   EMI filtering?

 

DanT

 

Hello DanT,

I did get a different ethernet adaptor to work on the unit and went offline and had to get back online to finish collecting the data. Went to the other test stands using the same ethernet adaptor and it would not work with the server although I can get online. I suspected a driver issue and now I do not know what to think. Any advice?

Thanks,

Cat

 

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On 12/14/2020 at 8:00 AM, DanT said:

Hi;

 

What is the electrical environment around the PLC?

      High Voltages?

     VFD's

    Contactors switching high voltages?

   Suppression on relay coils?

   EMI filtering?

 

DanT

 

DanT,

Incoming power 120V to 24VDC power supply (2) of them.  No high voltages, no VFD in enclosure. No switching contactors and no suppression on relay coils and no EMI filtering.

It may be a coincidence but the ethernet adaptor that I use had been replaced with a new one and was informed that they put on a new adaptor and should work. Went out to collect data and it would not communicate with the server application. I did get the new adaptor to work on the unit but used the second port on the PC. Tried the new adaptor on the other units and would not work so went and got the old adaptor and then it worked. Looks like there may be a port problem? Any suggestions?

 

Cat Unitronics

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18 hours ago, Ausman said:

More information on this, please.  Are you talking about a dongle that plugs into the PLC?

Ausman,

There is an ethernet adaptor from the PC to the ethernet cable to the PLC. It used to work and when they put on a new adaptor, it would not communicate with the server application. I went and got the adaptor off my desk and try that and still would not work. I went to the other stands using the adaptor off my desk and those units are still communicating with the units with the server application. I did manage to get a new adaptor to work off the other USB port on the PC and was able to communicate with the server, but had issues with it going offline. I can ping the unit and get online, just can not get the unit to communicate with the application server.

 

Thanks,

Cat

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  • MVP 2023

Hmmmm.  You're saying that your PC doesn't have an ethernet port? !! If it's a USB adapter ensure all it's settings aren't putting it to sleep.

Something to check and not that difficult to do, but would likely resolve the issue.  Swap the USP from one that is working ok, and see what happens with them both running their own  program, and then change over to the program written for the other.

You can see that if the issue remains then it is not USP related.  If the problem trails along the offending unit, then something is astray there.

Incidentally, "no relay coil suppression" is just asking for trouble.  This is easy to do and a good discussion was had here:

https://forum.unitronics.com/topic/2735-flyback-diode/

cheers, Aus

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On 12/23/2020 at 3:54 PM, Ausman said:

Hmmmm.  You're saying that your PC doesn't have an ethernet port? !! If it's a USB adapter ensure all it's settings aren't putting it to sleep.

Something to check and not that difficult to do, but would likely resolve the issue.  Swap the USP from one that is working ok, and see what happens with them both running their own  program, and then change over to the program written for the other.

You can see that if the issue remains then it is not USP related.  If the problem trails along the offending unit, then something is astray there.

Incidentally, "no relay coil suppression" is just asking for trouble.  This is easy to do and a good discussion was had here:

https://forum.unitronics.com/topic/2735-flyback-diode/

cheers, Aus

Aus,

My PC has the USB adaptor that does not work on one particular USP and  works on the other USP units. The issue is only with that unit. I do not know of what could be astray on this unit.

The only thing I can conclude is a possible driver issue and what could make the driver corrupt?

Thank you for your cooperation.

Cat

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On 12/23/2020 at 3:54 PM, Ausman said:

Hmmmm.  You're saying that your PC doesn't have an ethernet port? !! If it's a USB adapter ensure all it's settings aren't putting it to sleep.

Something to check and not that difficult to do, but would likely resolve the issue.  Swap the USP from one that is working ok, and see what happens with them both running their own  program, and then change over to the program written for the other.

You can see that if the issue remains then it is not USP related.  If the problem trails along the offending unit, then something is astray there.

Incidentally, "no relay coil suppression" is just asking for trouble.  This is easy to do and a good discussion was had here:

https://forum.unitronics.com/topic/2735-flyback-diode/

cheers, Aus

Aus,

I am awaiting feedback about the ethernet adaptor and I am thinking that there is something else going on. I will say that the same issue is not seen on the other units and indicates specific to that unit. It was mentioned before about "no relay coil suppression" and took heed of it from your post. There is a test box with a Visilogic that has diodes and went to look what the air test stands had I was not able to find the diodes. The way the system is operated by the operator, there would be spikes as they use the abort pushbutton several times in a row to clear the results of the machine in which this is turning on/off the vent solenoid within a second of each other. I have watched the operators before and they push the Abort button fast and several times in a row. Can the switching on/off make the unit go bad?

We have a 24 volt DC system with about 10 amps, what size diode would you suggest?

 

Thank You Aus

 

Cat

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17 hours ago, Joe Tauser said:

Use a 1N4007 1000V 1A diode reverse biased across the coils.

Joe T.

Thanks JoeT.,

Went to the test stand and checked the 24vdc power supply and it is 5.0 amps. Would this make a difference for the diode?

Another thought, when you "Download All" to the Unistream through a USB ethernet adaptor to the PLCand get online, do you have to have the same identical USB adaptor all the time or can you use a different USB adaptor with different drivers to get online and communicate with the server? If so, if you use the new USB adaptor, does it do so something to make the original driver not work? I am thinking that I have a driver issue as well.

 

Thanks

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4 hours ago, CatUnitronics said:

Thanks JoeT.,

Went to the test stand and checked the 24vdc power supply and it is 5.0 amps. Would this make a difference for the diode?

Another thought, when you "Download All" to the Unistream through a USB ethernet adaptor to the PLCand get online, do you have to have the same identical USB adaptor all the time or can you use a different USB adaptor with different drivers to get online and communicate with the server? If so, if you use the new USB adaptor, does it do so something to make the original driver not work? I am thinking that I have a driver issue as well.

 

Thanks

Thanks for the info on the diodes and will see about getting them ordered and installed. Figured out the ethernet adaptor issue. Finally got the one on my desk loaded and set the items I needed to to trouble shoot. I then used the adaptor off my desk and downloaded all to the plc. It was able to read the data through the application server. Used the new adaptor and could no longer read the data. Download All with the new adaptor and it would read the data through the server and swapped to the original adaptor and no longer was able to communicate to the server. I checked the unit for downloads in About and no recent changes  I checked the signature for the program and not able to find anything there.  Now that I know what I did to correct the issue, maybe I will give it a shot and knowing that I have a backup ready to go.

 

Thanks

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On 12/23/2020 at 3:54 PM, Ausman said:

Hmmmm.  You're saying that your PC doesn't have an ethernet port? !! If it's a USB adapter ensure all it's settings aren't putting it to sleep.

Something to check and not that difficult to do, but would likely resolve the issue.  Swap the USP from one that is working ok, and see what happens with them both running their own  program, and then change over to the program written for the other.

You can see that if the issue remains then it is not USP related.  If the problem trails along the offending unit, then something is astray there.

Incidentally, "no relay coil suppression" is just asking for trouble.  This is easy to do and a good discussion was had here:

https://forum.unitronics.com/topic/2735-flyback-diode/

cheers, Aus

Aus,

Figured out the ethernet adaptor issue. Finally got the one on my desk loaded and set the items I needed to trouble shoot. I then used the adaptor off my desk and downloaded all to the plc. It was able to read the data through the application server. Used the new adaptor and could no longer read the data. Download All with the new adaptor and it would read the data through the server and swapped to the original adaptor and no longer was able to communicate to the server. I checked the unit for downloads in About and no recent changes  I checked the signature for the program and not able to find anything there.  Now that I know what I did to correct the issue, maybe I will give it a shot and knowing that I have a backup ready to go.

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  • MVP 2023

If the vent solenoids are AC, but driven by relays driven by the plc, then Joe T's suppression method is only for the RELAY coils.  I suspect this is why you are mentioning higher amps on the supplies, as we were all thinking "relays" whilst you are thinking about "everything".  If the solenoid coils are 24V dc then the diodes are fine.  If the solenoid coils are AC then different supression is needed.

cheers, Aus

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9 hours ago, Ausman said:

If the vent solenoids are AC, but driven by relays driven by the plc, then Joe T's suppression method is only for the RELAY coils.  I suspect this is why you are mentioning higher amps on the supplies, as we were all thinking "relays" whilst you are thinking about "everything".  If the solenoid coils are 24V dc then the diodes are fine.  If the solenoid coils are AC then different supression is needed.

cheers, Aus

Aus,

The solenoid coils are 24V dc. I looked at a unit that was in the shop and had a Visilogic and 24V DC coils in there were diodes across the diodes. Not sure why they were not installed in the first place.

 

Cat

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