### Human: Decoding the GSV MAJORFAULTRECORD Information So I've got a ST fault routine that pulls - GSV(PROGRAM, THIS, MAJORFAULTRECORD, MajorFaultRecord.TimeLow); and grabs fault data from the processor. The program then compares the type and code (through Case..End_Case logic) to all the processor Type/Code combinations. It pushes the fault codes into a stack and (if enabled) clears the fault. Here's the problem. Even though I have the code and type of the fault, the diagnostic info that I have is garbage. If there is a major fault that stops the controller, you can get the Task/Program/Rung from the controller properties page. If you clear the fault, you don't have that information. I can mine some of it using this kb info: KB Article For instance, I can pull the instances, but I cant get the rung info. I can't make sense out of info[3] - address of fault. I want to keep the controller running through (most) major faults, but I want to be able to allow technicans get the rung where the fault occurs. ### Assistant: Unfortunately this is NOT possible at this time... :smileysad: The Rung number is a concept that just RSLogix 5000 knows, it is not an information the Controller can retrieve... in the controller you have just the memory address of fault, but it is difficult to associate this to the correct Rung... (as you have already seen :smileywink: ) I can say that this issue has already been submitted to engineers, but there isn't infos about if / when it will be implemented... :smileysad: - fuzzy logic Yeah, I started to realize that I was in deep doodoo when I faulted the processor on rung 0, wrote down the fault info, moved it to 1, wrote that down and then went back to rung 0 and the fault info was different than the first rung 0 :robotsurprised:. I can let them know which program faulted, I guess that will have to be enough! Yeah, also, using the memory address, if someone does a download to the controller that memory mapping may completely change requiring them to re-evaluate everything... :smileysurprised: ...and so this doesn't help too much.... :smileysad: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: RSLogix500 and APS I have an old project created with APS software. When I open it with RSLogix500, I don't see symbols and comments, ladder only. What can I do? I don't have APS anymore. ### Assistant: You mention you dont have APS software anymore... do you have the 5 files it created for your project??.. those files can be imported thru ascii import in RSLogix500 to the ladder only file. If you dont have the 5 files... your pretty much up the creek. I do have 12 files for the project itself. Each file has a different extension such as B0$, B1$, B2$, OP$, etc. I tried Native import from APS and it failed. What's next? Did you follow the procedure indicated in Aid 55407 ? When Native import fails, do you get an error or a message ? - fuzzy logic Yes I did the procedure indicated in Aid 55407 and a lot of error message ERROR reading IMPORT source file. Then, for my own curiosity, I used notepad and open a few files and I can see my symbols and comments. It seems that I got everything but for some reason it won't work. Maybe something is missing or corrupted in your files... :smileysad: Anyway, if you like, I may have a look to them...if you want to send the files to me, I may send you a Private Message here in the Forum with my mail address... :smileyhappy: - fuzzy logic Not having too much fun here with your files.... :smileysurprised: I've gotten the same errors, then I've also tried to open it with APS and save it again to another folder, but the same import errors come when opening from RSLogix500... It seems to be something broken in the archive file itself.... :smileymad: I'm afraid for that.... :smileysad: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Unable to Un-Lock a Safety PLC (L61S- -v16) My customer has a Safety System currently installed (They installed it) and they want me to make some changes. They sent me their program and thier password. When I open the application the Lock/Unlock button is Grey'ed out and I can't click on it. why is that? Thanks Yvon ### Assistant: Just a question: do you have RSLogix5000 either Professional or Full edition on your PC ? This is required in order to work with the GuardLogix.... :smileysurprised: Q: What software do I need to program GuardLogix in v16 / v17?A: The GuardLogix Safety Editor is only included with the Full and Professional editions of RSLogix 5000. Service and Standard editions allow upload/download and view capabilities, but you cannot edit or add safety tags, safety instructions or safety modules.Alternatively, the GuardLogix editor can be purchased separately and added to Standard edition to gain safety functionality. The catalog number for this part is 9324-RLDGLXE.NOTE: If you are attempting to edit or create a Safety project with a version of RSLogix 5000 other than that listed above, you will observe the following symptoms:Safety Task is grayed out (unable to edit)Safety module configurations cannot be edited or changedSafety modules are not available in the pick list for you to add to your I/O configurationYou cannot select L61S, L62S or L63S when creating a new projectYou cannot Safety Lock/Unlock, create or delete a Safety Signature See FAQ - Aid 44566 - fuzzy logic I have Standard, I have done 6 Safety Applications in V14. Why they would have changed the Editor Type for v16/v17 is beyond me... Don't mind me as I walk away swearing. Yvon Oh, don't worry, I've nice earplugs here ! :smileyvery-happy: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Cursor location on PV+ Hi is it possible to return the touch location (cursor) to the PLC? ### Assistant: I really think this isn't possible... I 've never heard about this info to be available :smileysurprised: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Drive enable for Powerflex 700 In the installation instructions there is information about using a hardwire input at terminal 32 for a drive enable. The instructions say to remove jumper J10 from the cassett when using the enable input. After a thorough examination of the printed circuit card I could find the J10 jumper. I there something that I am missing? ### Assistant: The enable bridge is only available with the Vector Control option cassette with series B drives . It is not on the older series A standard cassette.The cassette part number should be 20VECTBC0 n


### Human: vIEW STUDIO Is there an easy way to export all screens as jpegs or any format for that matter so that they can be imported into another application for making instruction manuals. At this moment I am copying each screen to the clipboard with printscreen and then using mspaint to trim off what is not needed and saving the file as a jpeg. ### Assistant: Yep, that's the way to do it. It also works if you want to get actual runtime versions of the screens, by taking a printscreen while test running the app. JHutch another way is exporting the displays to XML files. hope this could meet your need. Hi, Try to use a screenshot freeware like Gadwin printscreen you can set it to save automatically jpg file in a specified directory each time you press the PrintScreen key. In addition, .png file instead of .jpg save some space with a good quality. Thierry n


### Human: Phasing Multiple Axes I have an application where Axis1 (Rotary 0-360 degrees) is spinning at a high speed and Axis2 (Rotary 0 -360 degrees) matches speed and gears to Axis1 at a 1:1 ratio. I need to find the phase between these to axes with high precision. It appears that the MGSP instruction would allow this but I cannot find any information on how this instruction works (tech support I have contacted doesnt seem to have much info either). Does it simply capture the axis positions on coarse update rate or is there something smarter happening? Or are there other methods of finding this information? ### Assistant: Hi Rudolph, I ran into similar issues and my solution is using the InterpolationTime. See the example.Subtract these two axis positions and you have the phase shift.p.s. DINT_CurrentTime is Datatype DINT[2] success,CeeYa n


### Human: Monitoring ControlLogix processor temperature Hey All, I am wondering if the ControlLogix control units have any temperature sensors on-board, to monitor their temperature? The operating temperature is 0-60°C according to the manual. I am assuming this is the on-chip temperature, not the ambient temperature in the enclosure their in. Since i am not able to get to the chip temperature with an infrared gun really, i was hoping that I could view the temperature in the RSLogix software somehow. Is this possible? thanks for any input,Marko ### Assistant: Really the range 0 - 60°C is the AMBIENT operating temperature of ControlLogix...:smileysurprised: I'm not aware of a GSV or CIP message that is able to retrieve the chip temperature inside a Controller... - fuzzy logic n


### Human: PV+, is there a way to vary the Min/Max for a Numeric Entry button? What would work best for me is if I could make the min/max property's a variable. I have tried to use your Knowledge data base Answer ID ### Assistant: Unfortunately this feature isn't yet available, it will be in the next coming release 5.1 of FactoryTalk View ME...:smileysad: Anyway, take a look to the attached screenshot, there is an example of Optional Expression usage inside a Numeric Input object (the technote #19630 you've mentioned is referred to Enhanced Panelview, not Panelview Plus... :smileysurprised: ) Following a description of the objects you find in the Optional Expression: ? is the value the Operator enterMinmax1 is the destination tagMin is the tag that contains your minimum acceptable valueMax is the tag that contains your maximum acceptable value Basically the expression does the same indicated in the technote.... Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: L5k v17 L5k to ACD - Did I do it wrong? I've done a half a dozen conversions so far between PLC5 and CLX. Normally it's very straight forward - save as the correct format, export the database, merge the 3 database files and convert. Normally, opening the L5K file that the translater creates throws a ton of errors. That's fine, because anything refrencing a timer .acc or .pre, or ### Assistant: Hmmm. I've tried it an works fine.... just I've used a *small* PLC-5 program, with just a few message instructions... did you try this also ? Same problems ? Which is the errors you get trying to open thew L5K file ? - fuzzy logic Here is the contents of my result window; if I watch the directory where the new tag is being created I can see the sem and wrk files while it's converting, but when it's finished they disappear and no ACD takes their place. There isn't an error, really, it just stops. I'm left with a Logix 5k window with no files open. The translater shows a bunch of exceptions, which you would expect, but it does say translation complete at the end. The log file is attached. Error: BT12_0: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: BT12_0: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: BT12_1 Error: BT12_1: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: BT12_1: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_0 Error: MG36_0: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_0: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_0: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_1 Error: MG36_1: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_1: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_1: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_2 Error: MG36_2: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_2: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_2: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_3 Error: MG36_3: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_3: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_3: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_4 Error: MG36_4: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_4: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_4: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_5 Error: MG36_5: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_5: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_5: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_6 Error: MG36_6: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_6: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_6: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_7 Error: MG36_7: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_7: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_7: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_8 Error: MG36_8: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_8: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_8: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_9 Error: MG36_9: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_9: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_9: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_10 Error: MG36_10: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_10: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_10: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_11 Error: MG36_11: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_11: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_11: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_12 Error: MG36_12: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_12: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_12: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_13 Error: MG36_13: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_13: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_13: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_14 Error: MG36_14: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_14: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_14: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_15 Error: MG36_15: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_15: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_15: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_16 Error: MG36_16: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_16: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_16: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_17 Error: MG36_17: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_17: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_17: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_18 Error: MG36_18: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_18: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_18: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_19 Error: MG36_19: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_19: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_19: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_20 Error: MG36_20: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_20: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_20: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_21 Error: MG36_21: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_21: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_21: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_22 Error: MG36_22: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_22: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_22: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_23 Error: MG36_23: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_23: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_23: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_24 Error: MG36_24: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_24: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_24: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_25 Error: MG36_25: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_25: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_25: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_26 Error: MG36_26: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_26: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_26: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_27 Error: MG36_27: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_27: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_27: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_28 Error: MG36_28: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_28: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_28: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_29 Error: MG36_29: MSG configuration incomplete because no local tag is specified. Warning: MG36_29: Remote element not specified for message. Warning: MG36_29: Connection path not specified for message. Creating tag: MG36_30 Warning: MG36_30: Message tag not configured. Creating tag: MG36_31 Warning: MG36_31: Message tag not configured. Creating tag: MG36_32 Warning: MG36_32: Message tag not configured. Creating tag: MG36_33 Warning: MG36_33: Message tag not configured. Creating tag: MG36_34 Warning: MG36_34: Message tag not configured. Creating tag: MG36_35 Warning: MG36_35: Message tag not configured. Creating tag: MG36_36 Warning: MG36_36: Message tag not configured. Creating tag: MG36_37 Warning: MG36_37: Message tag not configured. Creating tag: MG36_38 Warning: MG36_38: Message tag not configured. Creating tag: MG36_39 Warning: MG36_39: Message tag not configured. Creating program: Continuous Creating routine: mcpMain Creating routine: _2_SCC_MAIN Creating routine: _3_COMMS Creating routine: _4_FLOW Creating routine: _5_LEVELS Creating routine: _6_TRANS Creating routine: _7_GATE_CTRL Creating routine: _8_BKS_MODES Creating routine: _9_CHNL1_SEQ Creating routine: _10_CHNL2_SEQ Creating routine: _11_CHNL3_SEQ Creating routine: _12_CHNL4_SEQ Creating routine: _13_CHNL5_SEQ Creating routine: _14_CH1_BK_CTR Creating routine: _15_CH2_BK_CTR Creating routine: _16_CH3_BK_CTR Creating routine: _17_CH4_BK_CTR Creating routine: _18_CH5_BK_CTR Creating routine: _19_SYS_STATUS Creating routine: _20_DATA_ENTRY Creating routine: _21_PLC_IN_OUT Creating routine: _23_NO_AUTO Creating routine: _24_2MJR_FLTS Creating routine: _25_IN_SERV Creating routine: _26_CHNL_SEQ Creating routine: _27_FLW_PCE Creating routine: _28_CHL_XCTN Creating routine: _29_A_MESSAGES Creating routine: _30_MJR_ALMS Creating routine: _31_LADDER Creating routine: _40_SQL_DATA Creating routine: _41_SQL_CALC Creating task: Continuous Complete - 32 error(s), 72 warning(s) I guess it will only let me attach pictures. STAT: 203 Translation completed Thursday, June 04, 2009 09:14:46 Justin, take a look to Aid 55691, it is related to your issue, and as you've suspected is a v17 problem.... :smileysad:There is also a workaround indicated in the technote... Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic Well, it's not that big of a problem, I'm just glad I'm not going crazy! I kept translating it and looking in the directory thinking I KNOW I pointed it here, where's my ACD?. My reality was beginning to unwind for a while there. n


### Human: Premade HMI screens for PowerFlex drive? I've heard rumors of some pre-made screns Rockwell made for RSView to show what's happening with my drives, but, of course, I can't find it. Anyone know what I'm talking about? ### Assistant: There were mentioning faceplates in one the classes here at RSTechEd. Don't know if they include what you're looking for, but go to the support page at rockwell and click downloads and then smaple code library. See if what you're looking for is there. Link to SampleCode site Nice to see the forums up and running again, Look at faceplates under the description Check out samplecode.rockwellautomation.com JHutch, pretty old thread, I know... I was searching the Forum for thread with no replies, and found this... :smileysurprised: This is as you've suspected, a reply to the following thread... if you want you may move it to the right place... :smileywink: THREAD LINK Also, the link in it isn't correct, just you may change it to the home page for the Sample Code.... - fuzzy logic n


### Human: SLC 5/03 to SLC 5/05 Can a SLC 5/03 program be downloaded to a SLC 5/05 processor? ### Assistant: Basically the answer is yes; just be aware the software will ask you to convert the project to the correct cpu before download.... see the screenshot.... Otherwise you may Change the Processor Type in the offline file and then download... see Aid 51417... Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Factory Talk Local Security Hi, I have an ME application PV+ what contain over 40 users. What is the right way of providing a copy to the customer of the application so he can then manage the users in the future. ME uses local Factory talk, so how can I manage users accounts on PV+ from a central location. Is it possible ? Can I install Factory Talk Services on a computer on the nextwork and have the PV+ validate the users from one computer. The customer is going to have a total of 6 pv+ so I am trying to see the best way to manage users and too give them a backup of the app with all the users. If I export my factory talk settings it will be no good right since he may have other configuration on his computer. Thanks ### Assistant: perhaps, it is the best way to backup the system folder of FactoryTalk Local directory .. Since the users are stored in the computer's FT Directory and get lost when moving the project from computer to computer, I recommend using v3.x users and migrating them to v4/v5 tab before downloading. The v3.x users tab is stored in the project, so it will remain intact when moving the project around from computer to computer. JHutch n


### Human: ERROR Message:could not connect to TM32793 in my FactoryTalk Diagnostics viewer who knows the meaning of this error could not connect to TM32793? after i open my view Studio, i will receive this error message. ### Assistant: Hmmm.... is this the complete and correct error message ? Do you have a screenshot of the error to post ? Also, please post your Windows OS type and version and View Studio version.... - fuzzy logic Thank you very much, the problem is solved, it is not a problem about studio. its provider is FactoryTalk Transaction Manager Compression server. i did not watch carefully at that time,sorry. n


### Human: Linking tags to an analog output card I am currently linking my tags to my hardware (first project) and i got the following question: The 1756-OF8 output card has his tags divided in Local:12:C Local:12:I and Local:12:ONow both 12:I and 12:O have Chanel0Data to Chanel7Data.Do I link my tags (for example the speed of a fan going to a drive) to 12:I or 12:O ? ### Assistant: Your Analog Output card channels are in Local:12: O.ChannelxData... Local:12:C is the configuration part of your module Local:12:I is the Input part of your module,the ChannelxData you see there, is the Data Echo from module... like a feedback from the module that represents the value it is on its output terminal... Data Echo Data Echo automatically multicasts channel data values which match the analog value that was sent to the module’s screw terminals at that time. Fault and status data is also sent.This data is sent in the format (floating point or integer) selected at the Requested Packet Interval (RPI). Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Micrologix to Carrier Chiller via Modbus Using a ML1100 w/ Ch0 in Modbus RTU Master mode to read 32 holding registers in a Carrier Chiller. Carrier claims the data points reside within the Modbus address range of 56384 through 56443. These do not appear to be valid holding register addresses, and when configuring the MSG's w/ Modbus Command 03 (read holding register) there is no way to invoke this address. Using Modbus command 01(read coil status) does allow usage of the 56384 address, but technically this is not within the Modbus holding register range. Any tips on working through this are welcome, especially if you have networked AB products with Carrier products ### Assistant: ModBus Command 01 uses bit addresses, 56384 is bit 0 in word 3524, 56443 is bit 11 in word 3527 Thanks for the reply. I did see that in the description of how the AB products query the Modbus registers. n


### Human: PF40 - Ref Speed w pot With PF40, I use pot for speed reference.With a time ( 4 years) my reference lower ≈ 48 HzI change my drive, the speed reference is OK, with same wiring and a same config. I don't know if this case is documented? ### Assistant: Do you mean the embedded potentiometer on PF40 or a remote potentiometer ? Anyway, I didn't find documents on that, just I may suspect some dust inside potentiometer has changed its resistance value during years... it is a plausible possibility I think... :smileysurprised: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: FTViewSE 5.0 E-signature / List Selector / Program scoped tags Hi experts ! Customer is having issues with 3 subjects 1) Electronic signature It is a good tool to log value changes of integers. But they want to use it for strings. But we can't find a way to use it this way, so we could see in the log, like for integers, old value and new value. 2) List selector Using control and piloted and list selectors, when you come back to the first position (value 0 by default) the selector disappear. The only fix we found was to give another value to the first position, for example 100. 3) Program scoped tags Using program scoped tags in a ControlLogix, sometimes values refresh are not updating. We have to use controller scoped tags. Thanks for helping ! ### Assistant: Hello JoeCH, Regarding the ESignature button questions you asked, 1. You could set string values by changing the ESignature Operation from Set Value to Download Input Values. This should write all values in all input fields regardless of whether they are numeric or string. 2. I've tested both these controls and did not see them disappear when the value was set back to 0. Maybe they have Visibility animations on them that cause them to be invisible? 3. For your tag update problem, you need to figure out where the problem lies. When the tags fail to update, do you seen any communication errors in the Factorytalk log? Usually when tag values updates are intermittent, the things I've seen cause this are A) the controller overwriting the value that the HMI wrote, or B) communication bandwidth issues. You might use the Rockwell Software Data client (under Start-> Programs-> Rockwell Software-> FactoryTalk Tools) and RSLogix 5000 to compare to against the values that you see in the HMI project. Hope this helps. n


### Human: RSLinx crashing when updating tags in HMI I am using RSLinx as a DDE server for an Intouch application. My issue is that most of the time when I make a change in tags for this application, when I go back to run more, it causes RSLinx to crash and I have to re-start RSLinx. What could cause RSLinx to crash? Is this a common problem with other HMI's? Thanks, Eric ### Assistant: Well InTouch is a Wonderware product... so dont know what its trying to pull out... but if dde is running and you add/modify existing tags that could confuse RSLinx... like time out trying to resolve or somethinjg. When running Wonderware redundant servers, making a change to the tag database forces us to have to restart and resync at least one of the servers. It's possible that a tag mismatch is occuring similiar to this and you have to re-establish the DDE connection within RSLinx to initially scan all of the tags again. We've had instances such as this....nature of the DDE beast. Well, I'm not too found of DDE to begin with, so if the Wonderware application can use OPC, that might be preferable. If you need to stay with DDE, I'd start the troubleshooting process by checking the RSLinx communication event log under DDE/OPC menu. This will at least give you some sort of error that can shed some light on what the problem actually is. n


### Human: Communication Loss in FTView SE Application was running in FTView SE local communicating with L32E processor. For3-4 days it was communicating without any errors. Somehow, after that SE application stopped communicating with logix device. In development mode topic is configured and showing communication. However it is not browsing the tags and system hangs often when tag browser window is opened. What could be the reason for communication loss? ### Assistant: It could be that, for some reasons, the processor has been temporarily unavailable on the network... :smileysurprised: Try to apply what is indicated in technote 29574 Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic I'm not sure if you are using RSLinx Classic or RSLinx Enterprise here. If RSLC, check the communication event log in RSLinx under DDE/OPC menu. If RSLE, check the FactoryTalk log for communication errors. If you are unable to browse the offline folder, I'd delete the Harmony files under C:Program FilesRockwell SoftwareRSCommon. There are 2 and both start with the word HARMONY. If this is RSLinx Enterprise, I might delete/recreate the shortcut and if that still does not solve the problem, use the solution from tech note 45110. Hope that helps. n


### Human: User-Defined Major Fault from an AOI? All, Per the Logix 5000 Major and Minor Fault Programming manual (pub. 1756-PM014B-EN-P), you can generate a user-defined Major Fault by doing a JSR to the designated Fault Routine for your Program, and issue a code (4 / 990 to 4 / 999) by passing the 990-999 value as a parameter. But you can't have a JSR within the definition of an Add-On Instruction. Any way to generate a user-defined Major in an AOI? How about a user-defined Minor? Or do I need to jump to no label, address off the end of an array or TON with a negative preset to generate a Major, then tell people what it means within the context of the AOI? This will be VERY clunky and an OBVIOUS kludge. I'd MUCH rather be able to throw a user-defined major or minor! Thanks for any help!Dale, W8ABZ ### Assistant: nan n


### Human: How to connect to Logix 5000 tags online I cannot find the correct way to connect to Logix 5000 tags online when using FactoryTalk View Studio for ME. ### Assistant: You may find nice videos about FactoryTalk View at this LINK ; Click on FactoryTalk View Machine Edition Quick Start Videos The one I suggest for your needs is HERE Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Mixing Polled and COS I/O types in DeviceNET Here's the situation:I am going to be using 1790D type I/O on a project. It will consist of several assembliesof the following: 1790D-T16BV0----1790D-T0B16X in other words a base input module with an expansion output module. I will have 10 of these on my network and I want to ensure the input info is read as quickly as possible. The question is:When I map the I/O to the 1756-DNB module, is it OK to map theinputs as COS while the outputs are mapped as Polled? ### Assistant: Yes, this is an allowed configuration. See the document attached to Aid 28753, to better understand how the messagetypes are treated by -DNB module. Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: 1756-L62 - type 01, code 61 fault We are experiencing these faults in excess of 5 per day. Sometimes, even with nobody online with the processor. We opened a case several days ago, but still no soluton from Rockwell. We have tried everything Rockwell has offered, but with no success. Additionally, I have changed the power supply and the processor. Currently, we are in the process now of flashing the firmware from v16 to v17, and upgrading RSLogix. I believe this however, may have it's own set of inherent problems, but we have to find a solution, this has become an extremely critical issue. Since Rockwell has been unable to provide a solution, does anyone else have a solution to offer?? thanks, alan ### Assistant: As I guess you already know, your Controller detected a non-recoverable fault, thus it clears its memory I guess you have a CF card installed in your Controller, starting from v13 the controller has a feature to write some infos to the CF when faults... see Aid 29551.Otherwise there is also another possibility using the Fault Dump Utility (ask it to Tech Support) to upload serially the fault informations from controller to be analyzed by engineers... Strange is that the same happens with another cpu also....:smileysurprised: - fuzzy logic I am aware of the fault log in the compact flash. We have sent these files to Rockwell twice. Thanks for your input. alan Whose CF card do you have, and what size? We had similar (but not exact) problems with a non-Rockwell Flash card. The problem probably was the file format, as smaller sized and older cards, between 64-128 MB, did fine while the 1 GB+ cards gave us an error. They still allowed us to save the program to the CF card but we kept getting minor and major faults. Rockwell is probably expecting FAT-16 formatted CF cards, and if you are not using their cards then the larger sized cards are formatted for either FAT-32 or NTFS. This is just a guess on my part, though. If you can, remove the CF card and see if the problem still occurs. Good Luck! We are using 64 mb compact flash cards from AB. thanks, alan Analysis of firmware dump files requires Engineering resources, which requires time. It goes a lot faster if you can provide all the information they need to analyze the files. RA Tech Support probably asked you for the exact controller firmware, the exact revision of RSLogix 5000 and RSLinx Classic that you are using, as well as for additional context information about what devices are connected to the controller, what sort of environment it is in, and if possible some information about what is happening when the fault happens. Other good diagnostic information is whether or not this system has been running for a long time, or if major changes have been made to it. The good news is that the Code 61, instead of Code 60, means that the most available crash data was written to the CompactFlash card. If this were my system, I would first run through the Atmel Chip issue checks to be sure that controllers, network modules, motion modules, etc do not contain any of the unreliable batch of bridge chips from two years ago. Look it up in the Knowledgebase as AID# 40149 or open another Tech Support case to have them walk you through it. I'd also take a very careful look at the controller immediately after it crashes. Does the OK LED go solid red right away, or only after a keyswitch cycle ? I have seen instances where a power cycle of the controller caused a power-up fault, but the root fault was available before the power cycle. This is just a long shot, but check your program for JMP instructions without matching LBL instructions. I had a maddening system that would fault randomly, but it was really when the preconditions for the JMP instruction were true and the controller tried to access the LBL that didn't exist. That was a Type 01 Code 60 fault only after a power cycle. Also check the devices that are connected to the controller. A certain major HMI software vendor with W's in their name had an early HMI driver for ControlLogix that could cause operating system faults by writing to user program memory with their optimized driver. Operating system crashes are rare with ControlLogix. If it's happening multiple times per day, you either have a programming issue that remains, or a piece of hardware that is defective (or multiple defective controllers, which is even less likely) or a very severe installation problem. What more can you tell us about your system ? n


### Human: ALMD Instruction I'm using the ALMD instruction for my alarming and I want to turn on a siren and light if any alarm is active and unacknowledged, and leave the light on and turn the siren off if alarm is active and acknowledged. Is there common status tags within the logix controller to tell me this data. ### Assistant: You may use the status bits of the instructions... see the attached screenshot... InAlarmUnack has to be used for your first condition (turn on a siren and light)InAlarm and Acked together for your second condition (light on and turn the siren off) For further informations, see the Reference Manual , chapter 1 starting from page 30 Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic Is it possible to set up the Alarms and Events server to drive this? I'm not familiar with the setup of it, but other HMI's I've seen have the ability for the alarm server to set/clear controller tags for horn, lights, etc. The ones I've seen can do the unacknowledged alarm part. Not sure about the any alarm (acked) part. We've also used in-alarm and unacked-alarm status functions in expressions with traditional SE tag-based alarming to drive animation. You could use Derived Tags with it to drive controller tags based on alarm group status. If you group the alarm tags in folders by controller (vs. other artificial hierarchy -- area), you can use the in-alarm status of the group. Or group them by where your horns and lights are located. Sorry, I'm not in front of a system now to look up the syntax. Perhaps cross-post this issue in an HMI forum..... Good luck!Dale, W8ABZ Thanks Fuzzy Logic.As I have 100+ alarms I was hoping there may be a quicker way. I found something on the knowledge base using RSView to set a tag in the PLC, but I'm not a big fan of using a HMI as control. n


### Human: PowerFlex DC Configuration I have a 150HP Powerflex DC drive configured to run a DC motor with Armatuer Current of 242Amp, 400V, 1150rpm, my Field Resistance is 25 Ohm and Armatuer resistance of 0.5 Ohm., When I do the Autotune it coz some fault unknown error what did I miss? ### Assistant: First before you Autotune the drive make sure the motor is uncoupled from the load as it has to be free to rotate. Also, what is the firmware of your DC drive? Its a 2.001 rhon, just a note as per fordtt question.... check to have at least firmware 2.001.17...take a look to the following technote: Aid 56073 - fuzzy logic thanks, it went fine all the way after I upgraded the firmware to 2.001.17. n


### Human: RSView32 Application I intend to connect two RSView32 applications on same network with one PLC. The application program is common. I have connected one 1761-AIC+ with Micrologix1500. Connected another 1761-AIC+ on DH485. Then connected PC with RSView32 and RSLinx on first AIC and another PC with RSView32 and RSLinx on the second AIC. The application works on one of the PCs and that too which ever is connected first. Please advise. ### Assistant: Did you give different node number to each of the devices on the network ? I mean PC1, PC2 and Micrologix should have different node numbers... :smileysurprised: Just double check this... - fuzzy logic n


### Human: rslogix 5000 conversion Is there any conversion tool for converting rs5000.acd programs back to rs500.rss programs?Thanks in advance for any input. ### Assistant: Unfortunately no, there isn't. :smileysad: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: How to Rotate a Multi State Indicator? I want to rotate a Multi-State Indicator to 45 degrees. I can rotate it around a point but not rotate the rectangle itself. anyone have a suggestion? Yvon ### Assistant: Yvon, you've already done all what is possible... unfortunately there isn't other possibility to rotate a multistate indicator as you would...:smileysad: I guess you've already considered the possibility to use a rectangle instead (I mean a simple graphic object), giving to it some animations to change its appearence on different tag/expression states... it can also be rotated as you want... - fuzzy logic Didn't think of the rectangle Thanks Fuzzy Yvon n


### Human: SLC 500 processor as adapter? Is there any SLC 500 processor that can be set up as an adapter like some of the PLC 5 adapters can? ### Assistant: I guess you're talking about Remote I/O network... well, any SLC processor has the possibility to be connected to a RIO network via the embedded ports...just you have a RIO scanner module (1747-SN) to add in the chassis, and an adapter module (1747-ASB); this last one cannot be placed inside the same chassis of the processor, but it must be the first module of a new one, to be used as remote chassis. edit:Thus, the answer is no, it is not possible... :smileysad: see the following posts....:smileytongue: - fuzzy logic There is one way to make a SLC-500 processor share data with a RIO scanner (like in adapter mode) and that is using a 1747-DCM module. This module is known as a Direct Communications Module and will place up to 1 full rack (8 words) of SLC-500 I/O data on an RIO network. If the DCM is, for instance, in slot 6 then O:6.0-7 will be seen as Inputs mapped to a RIO rack. I:6.0-7 would appear as outputs from RIO. These addresses are I/O in the SLC and in the remote PLC with RIO scanner. Imagine this as being like 128 ins and outs on each processor being hardwired to one another. The rack designation is assigned by dip switches on the DCM in the same manner as an ASB. I may being showing my age on this one...but the DCM is still available. I sold one a few weeks ago. Hope this helps, Bill DaggettKendall Electric Hey Bill, I show more than you the signs of the age... due to my memory I mean... when I was answering to the user who asked this, I was searching around the web for a manual for -DMC, -DSN, -DSB and all the other kind of cat.# you may wonder, as I was remembering the one you mentioned in your post but I was not able to remember the correct name... :smileymad: Anyway, yes, you're right of course, this is the correct answer ! Thanks to make my memory updated with it ! :smileytongue: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Emulate5 and Factory Talk View ME I have emulate5 running and an dde/opc topic configured in RSLinx to talk to the View ME application. Everything was working fine and then I got an error message on the Emulate5 software. Can't load xxxxxx/xxxxxx/xxxxxx/emu5x.dll from RSLinx directory Any suggestions. ### Assistant: Which is the Emulate 5 version you have? Anyway, take a look (unless already done) to the following technotes: Aid 29665 - Aid 34882 - Aid 37836 Try also to download a different project in the Emulate and see if works...As last test, I may suggest to re-install the software, maybe the last version if applicable... - fuzzy logic n


### Human: SCADA Allen Bradley Hello, I would like to make a SCADA system . We have RSView software and RSLogix for Allen Bradley PLCs. What else do I need to be able to create a SCADA system? Please help, thank you! ### Assistant: Hmmm...it is not so clear to me what you want to know...:smileysurprised: So you have RSView (which one ?! Which version ?!) a software for the PLCs (which RSLogix ?! version?!)... Then, you will need a PC to install your HMI software, a PLC compatible with your programming software, and to select it you have at least to know how many I/O you need to control, how they should be distributed through a network to cover your application... the kind of the signals you have to manage... I think you have to be more specific on the request... :smileywink: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Connecting two 1756-ENBT/A Can I connect two 1756-ENBT/A ethernet cards directly (no switch) with a straight ethernet cable, or do I need a crossover cable to do this? Thanks ### Assistant: You will need a crossover cable to do it.... :smileysurprised: Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic Ok. Thank you! n


### Human: How to connect remote OPC server in RSViewSE? I'd like to connect the OPC server(Kepware Linkmaster) on another PC.Now I'm able to connect the OPC Server with some OPC client tools on RSViewSE HMI Server. But I can't connect it in my RSViewSE HMI applicastion.The error message is Failed to connect to browse server for OPC server //$Global/<Application name>:<OPC data server name>(result=80004005).By the way, If I install kepware Linkmaster on RSviewse HMI Server and connect it in HMI application,it does work (It means that it can conncect local OPC server but can't connect remote OPC server.Is there anyone have the experience. Thanks a lot. ### Assistant: Not really have had experience with it, but in the following technote you could find something that helps... Aid 52724 The error you get in fact means the data server is improperly configured... Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: MATC Instruction Halt Hi there, I've an interesting situation where an MATC (Motion Axis Time Cam) Instruction will enable, but hangs forever causing the machine to basically halt program execution. This only happens when the first time this portion executes. After I go in and clear out that instruction, by resetting the Enable bit, everything runs fine. This is not recoverable at the user level. Here's a screen shot of when the program halts: Thanks for any help, suggestios or advice provided, I'll check back. Controller 1756-L63Revision 16.2 ### Assistant: instead of unlatching the matc.en bit, try clr(matc.flags) n


### Human: AB 1400 and analog module error?? Hello I`m installing a micrologix 1400 with a 1762lf-20f2 analog card to measure level in a sump 4-20 input and I`m getting fault on plc I have i/o config set up the analog module in my project and have the input type selection switches on for current and have set bit 8 and 9 to 1 in the bits 8-14 section for the card.I must have missed something please help. ### Assistant: Which is the error do you get ? If it is 71h, then take a look to Aid 57693 to see if it applies to you... otherwise, please post again with more info on fault... :smileywink: Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic I/O configuration mismatch, check module 1. The expansion I/O configuration in the user program did not match the actual configuration, or specified a module that was not found, or the data size for the module was greater than what the module is capable of holding. The above is the error message. and major error s:6 =187hThis is first time working with these products so I`ve missed something in the set up. I don`t have the card used in the program as of yet I`m attempting to program. But I do have it in the run mode.Could this be a problem? This error is related to the fact the module you've specified in your I/O configuration doesn't correspond to the one installed in the hardware... if you've not inserted it in the I/O configuration and it is installed in the system, than the error will come... if you have it configured and just not used in the logic, no problems... Sometimes this error also comes due to hardware failure, or faulty connection between module and base .... See also Aid 36653 - fuzzy logic ok I have tried the analog card on a 1200 and it works.I have the following 1400 serA if20f2 serA I have the switch 1 and 2 inside the card set on for current.I go to I/O config and select read i/o and it selects the correct card from the list. I double click and select current 4-20 on my inputs and outputs.With no other programing I down load and go online and as soon as I run mode faults to 71h.I have just replaced the 1400 today my vendor sent a replacement so help help. I called back to tech support this am and they send me on electrical noise hunt. So I pulled the controller and installed a surge on my desk and still faults got to be something I`m missing. Kudos to Dennis Jungmann at McNaughton-McKay Electric Co. He has solved the case. It appears I need to download a bit of software for the card I have to work on the ML1400.Thanks to all who assisted.Bulletin 1766, MicroLogix 1400 Programmable Controllers Series A, 71h Error Code Only when using MicroLogix 1400 controllers with the following expansion modules:1762-OF4 Series A Revision B/C1762-IF2OF2 Series A Revision D/E,Some users may observe a 71h fault occurring in the MicroLogix 1400 Controller, especially when the scan time is approximately 150 μs or less. Resolution:Get Firmware updare (4.0) from: Thanks Dennis You Da Man n


### Human: Problem Loading PanelView Application into Panel Builder 32 I have a problem bringing up a PanelView 900 (cat ### Assistant: Try to see the following: Problem:Error seen when:Trying to open an uploaded .PVA file from a remote locationTrying to open .PBA file created and saved on local drive.Cause:Directory string is too long. Possible Cures:Copy the .PVA file to your local computer, Upload Destination: Select Upload application to temporary file and open in PanelBuilder32Copy the .PBA file to C:Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Using a powermonitor 1000 with RSview ME I would like to bring some of the powermonitor datatables into a RSviewMe application. I am using Ethernet to communicate. When I create the shortcut I can see an online folder. I right click and try to refresh. The online folder will not populate with tags. Is it possible to communicate directly or will I have to use messaging to send the data to a PLC before I can monitor the information? ### Assistant: Hey Scott, I've never tried this using RSLinx Enterprise, so really I don't know if works... just I know about the usage of RSLinx Classic OPC to do this (Aid 54733).However, try to take a look to Aid 33198... there is also a list of other technotes that could help, related to the PLC Online folder empty issue.... Assuming RSLinx Enterprise will work (and this is not documented) there are some limitations of Direct Referencing,like for example if the processor is a MicroLogix 1100, prior to release 5.0 of Studio, this processor does not support online browsing. Addresses will need to be added manually... maybe also powermonitor need this to be done... Apologize to have outlined this *roughly*... just trying to give some help... :smileytongue: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Bits and words descriptions for RSLogix 5 block instructions such as PID (PD data file) Is there anyone who have a comprehensive description of the bits and words for all the blocks used in RSLogix 5? I have only found bits and pieces in the help file. For example, *.CT in PD data file ### Assistant: Did you already see in the Instruction Set Reference Manual ? PID is in chapter 14... Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic Yes, I found the doc. It is good. Thank you very much. n


### Human: FT SE Trend I am trying to dynamically change the time my trend displays. I want to be able to push a button and view 30 minutes or 1 hour etc. Is there an easy way to do this? ### Assistant: Yes, there are some possibility to interact with Trends, for example using VBA code... I suggest to take a look to the following: Aid 34846 - to change the Time SpanAid 35321 - to change Start Time using calendar controlthis POST - similar request as yours Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Virtual Computer Is it possible to transfer an EVRSI type of activation to a Virtual Computer? I am using microsoft virtual PC to run XP on a vista machine and I can load the rockwell software, but so far have failed at getting the activations to transfer. ### Assistant: It should work. I've done it plenty of times on a VMWare virtual machine;I'd imagine VirtualPC to work similarly. Are you transferring from a floppy master disk to the virtual machine? Make sure the floppy is getting exclusively mounted in the virtual machine. JHutch Thanks for letting me know that it will work, now that I know it is possible I will try some other methods to see if I can find an option that works. The computer I am using does not have a floppy drive. I loaded the activation on to a USB flash drive and then moved it to a shared folder (shared as a network drive and shared with the VM). I had read that Virtual PC did not allow direct USB access so I did not try loading directly from the flash drive. I've done this over a network share before when there are floppy or USB 'issues' - works great in VMWare (note - most Rockwell training classes are done with virtual machines - to allow easy resetting of the enviroment) Since often having multiple Virtual Computer environments can often lock out a floppy drive, if you have problems, move the license to the host environement, then map a network drive and move it to the virtual environment. Also, you can use the EvMoveCF utility to move it from a usb stick. Past that, as long as the file system is NTFS or FAT32 you should be ok. Any of the other file systems, you will run into problems. My only attempt at setting this up has actually been to share a folder on the host PC then use the host PC (Vista) to move from the CF drive to the shared folder. I then mapped this folder as a shared folder in the virtual PC and tried to move from that shared drive (it shows up as a network drive in the VC) to the local virtual drive. Since I am not sure if it is a drive mapping isse, a Vista issue or a virtual drive sharing issue (or smething else that I do not know ould be a problem) I am going to try using an XP computer to move the activation to a real network drive, but I have not had time to get both machines on the same network so that I can try again. I will let you know if it works over the network. Microsoft virtual PC, the last time I used it, only allowed me to transfer EVRSI files from a mounted floppy drive or I was able to do it with a CD-RW. No other method....ie...network, shared folder, usb drive......allowed me to tranfer sucsessfully. If you are going to use Microsft Virtual PC, buy a $20 USB floppy drive and save yourself some headaches. I did use a USB floppy drive and got the activation moved, but even that method was a battle. The Virtual PC locked up several times while accessing the drive. Thanks for the warning about not wasting time on a network install. Of course if you waste your time on Microsoft products you end up wasting your time. I have never had a hint of these problems using VMWare even on a Linux host. Although we are not all going to go out and buy vmware esx server, the free virtual pc product gets most users started in the right direction. It is nice to know that Microsoft products run much better on a Linux platform. Thank you for your input badmojo. I think VMWare is so good that I bought VMWare Workstation 5 and then upgraded to 6. I haven't used ESX Server, but if you need a server version and don't want to pay then VMWare server is free (again I haven't used it so this is not a recomendation). I first recommended virtualisation to a client to over come legacy issues (Windows 95/98) wouldn't run very well on modern PCs. I demonstrated with a DOS Guest, running IPDS 6200 PLC3 development software. The VM wont see a KT card but it'll connect via RS232 and the correct KE/KF box. I have also demonstrated Step7 in a VM, no problems here. In fact by far the biggest success to date was allowing multiple versions of WinCC Flexible to be run on the same laptop (all in their own VM of course). Sorry if it seems like I'm a nay-sayer, but I think I should point out that we (Rockwell Automation) do not currently support virtual PCs for production. You can see that in answer 30209: There is currently no support for virtualization in production environments. However, Rockwell Software recognizes the trend towards virtualization, and certain products are likely to support virtual environments in the future. One known limitation of virtual platforms is the general inability to access devices that reside on the host computer's bus (ISA, PCI, PCMCIA, etc). This severely limits the ability of a virtual machine to access communication interface devices that reside on the bus. Generally speaking, the only types of devices that Rockwell products can access are those that appear to the operating system as COM ports, USB ports, or are accessed through the Winsock stack. It used to just say a blanket no, so I think that is promising. We use virtual PCs extensively in training and support. I have found no problems running any Rockwell product that are attributable to the Virtualisation (yet). I have, however, only used them with the old style (eversi) activation and have no idea how they will cope with the new activation (FactoryTalk) (but I don't know how real PCs are going to cope with that either). The VMs have already paid for them selves by allowing a quick restart on many occassions when early versions of RSViewStudio trashed development machines.:smileywink: Kurt I had seen that Rockwell does not support Vista or virtual PC's, but I had been to a training session and saw that the labs were all run on virtual machines. Since it is not supported I looked here for information instead of Rockwell tech support. Since it will not access some communication options I need it does not look like I will be able to abandon my win 2K laptop for a while. Depending on what you are doing and why, you could set up RSLinx gateway that the VM image accesses I'm using RSLogix 5000, RsLogix 500, RSNetworx, Factory View SE and RsLinx Enterprise all over a VM Ware 6.5 machine (with OS Windows XP SP2 English) using the Factory Talk Activation Tools and is working perfect! Best Regards. n


### Human: Entire motor description to add a motor to Ultraware - Ultra3000 Hello,I want to program a Ultra3000 (2098-DSD-005X), but the servo (TLY-A130T-HJ64AA) that I want to use is not available on the motor model menu on the properties Motor window. I know that is possible to add a new motor with the Motor configuration app, but I do not know the entire description (feedback, ratings, electrical, etc.) Anybody knows where I can find this info or if the motor.mdb file was updated??Thanks :) ### Assistant: The TLY motor must use the correct motion database to select the motor. Following are the steps to import the motion database into Ultraware so as to be able to select the TLY motor. 1. Typically when you load Ultraware the configuration file developed is C:Program FilesRockwell AutomationUltraware. 2. There is a Motors.mdb in this specific folder. 3. Copy the motors_01_10_08.mdb to this location. 4. Right mouse click on the Motors.mdb to properties and find the last modified date to it. Then, rename this file with the date. For instance, the file in this folder is last modified July 05, 2007 so label this file as Motors_07_05_08.mdb. 5. Change the motors_01_10_08.mdb to Motors.mdb so it is the motors database that Ultraware will read from. .mdb file is in Aid 39505 and newer is in Aid 50909 (motors_10_03_08.mdb) ... the last need you to have a valid TechConnect Contract to enter.... Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic Thank you!!! have a nice day n


### Human: FT View Studio (5.00) only one question :) Hallo, I would like to now, how can I upload and edit program from PanelView? I have allready installed FT View Studio (5.00). I can upload application from PanelView 1000 by Transfer Utility and save on my computer as *.mer file. But i don't know how can I edit it. Can anybody help me? Best regards, Przemysław B. ### Assistant: To restore the .mer file to an editable application, you have to use the Application Manager... see attached screenshot... Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic Only an MER created in FTView Studio 5.00 can be converted back into a Studio development project. If any of the following apply, the MER cannot be converted back into Studio:- MER created in FTView Studio 4.0 or earlier- MER compiled for ME Station 4.0 or earlier- MER was password protected in FTView Studio 5.0 (you would need the password in that case)- MER was created with FTView Studio 5.0 to explicity deny conversion to development (to protect work of the person who created it). If the MER file was created in/for version 4.0 or earlier, try the following technote:http://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/rockwellautomation.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=8913 n


### Human: Disable Pop alarm screen on PVP I am writing a new PVP program and woudl like to use the pre-canned alarm list, alarm ack buttons... but do not want the alarm screen to pop up every time a new alarm occurs. Is there a way to disable the alarm screen from popping up, but still use the alarms within FT View Studio. Thanks ### Assistant: If you do not want the alarm display to pop:Uncheck the Display option for all alarm messages on the Messages tab in Alarm Setup. This option calls the configured alarm display to the foreground. This is useful when using multiple displays with Alarm List Objects inserted for continuous alarm information.Alternatively one can:In the advanced tab of the alarm setup make sure the field for Current Alarms Display is empty.Then you will need a goto button to open up the multiline alarm display manually, it will not open automatically when an alarm is triggered because the field was left empty in the previous step.Now when you open the multiline alarm display and ack all the alarms the display will stay open until the close button is pressed. Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic Thanks, I did figure it out and I got it running just like your alternate solution. This was exactly what I was looking for. We keep an alam display on the bottom of all our screens and have a dedicated screen that will show all alarms and allow acknowledging. The pop-ups are real annoying. Thanks again Just a thought, but what you describe sounds more like a local message display than an alarm. JHutch Somewhat, but I still want the alarm characteristics, like the latching in the alarms until acknowledged. The acknowledging of alarms, and the alarms to go away after acknowledged and cleared. I also want a list where I can show all the outstanding alarms. I just don't care for the pop-up window. n


### Human: FactoryTalk View SE Client Users Guide Is there a Users Guide available for the client of FactoryTalk View SE? I would like something that describes how to do things, like manipulate trends, use data entry fields, etc. So I don't have to retype, or direct my customer to read the Studio users guide, which has much more information to sort through.... Thank you ### Assistant: Unfortunately there isn't a Getting Results Guide like you're searching for.... :smileysad: You have the Online Help in the software, the User's Guide, and a collection of Best Practices in Aid 37110... Not really something made for the End Users..... :smileysad: - fuzzy logic Thank you for the information. I guess I have to question why Rockwell Software does not provide this in a usable format for end users then? There just seems to be a lot of options in the software that are really not explained anywhere, so the only way to know what they do is to experiment. An issue I have with that is that whatever it is I come up with to tell my customer how to use certain features, may not be the bst method or even fully correct, because I can only tell them what I know, based on what I discover during the development cycle. I think FactoryTalk View is a great product, but it shouldn't be up to individual users to have hunt down and figure out all the features. Regards I can only tell them what I know, based on what I discover during the development cycle. This is part of the issue, actually. You, as the developer, can choose to expose different features or use different controls based on your customer's needs & requests. I understand what you mean though about maybe not knowing everything about trending (for example) and then being expected to explain it to your customer because you chose to put a trend display in their application. Even though it's part of the developer's user guide, all of the main controls like trending or alarm summaries are explained. A lot of integrators put together a small manual for their customers to help them with their particular application, including any relevant sections from the developer's guide/online help as necessary. Are there any specific options in the software that you truly can't find explained anywhere? That's a different issue but one that we can definitely address. One other under utilized source of information is the various release notes that aren't easily accessible. Program FilesCommon FilesRockwellHelp contains many release note files that do provide valuable information. I agree on the need for a Getting Results Guide. n


### Human: Dialogic DNA 3.3? Where can I get ahold of this software? I can't find it on the dialogic site, but this KB article says I need it. Suggested installation procedure for the Dialogic D/4PCI voice card. ### Assistant: Hey Justin, I've tried a deep search about it, but no way to find it out. The Support link at Dialogic is now changed (the one in the technote is broken), but also there there isn't a way to get the DNA....I think this is pretty old software (maybe obsolete, it was for Win NT / 2000 ?!) and the only way I see is to contact them directly to ask for it... :smileysurprised: Afraid not to be able to help you more... :smileysad: - fuzzy logic What an ordeal. I'll post this here so if somebody else has probelms with this very popular card ( 15 years ago) they may get through it. Dialogic no longer hosts or supports DNA 3.3; good luck getting the software from them. They did tell me that their newer DIVA software will not work with the card, so if you've downloaded and installed it, get rid of it because it will interfere with the card. I found the DNA software here: ftp.oaisys.com under the /pub/downloads/dialogic/legacy directory, just by manually combing their FTP site once I saw a link to the v5.1 software on their webpage. Lucky find. Once you download and install the v3.3 and 3.3sp1, you just need to run the diagnostics to make sure the card is good, and start the service. I ALSO had to get the Microsoft DAO 3.5 package, which is just as much a pain to find, as I was having this issue: KB 4518 Rockwell can't distribute this and I don't think it's included with RSView32. I was finally able to track it down on a 3rd party site. If you have or have heard of these cards, you might want to get this software and bank it. I've uploaded a torrent of the software; I'll seed it as long as my computer remains intact (not always that long, I tend to experiment too much). http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4949922 Well, TPB seems to be having technical difficulties. You can just get it from my FTP then - reaper.selfip.net, username: RAUser As a good and legitimate use for The Pirate Bay! The social rebel in me is smiling as it holds hands with the corporate employee singing campfire songs! JHutch ;) n


### Human: FactoryTalk View images sources Does anybody know where to find bitmap files to use with FactoryTalk View ? I mean more than the images already embedded in the Library of the software. ### Assistant: hmmmmm... any .bmp file will import. Also .jpg files will import. Pictures, images, autocad saves; all these can be imported into the images library and used by SE. Thanks jperando for your reply... Ok, that is clear.I remember some years ago, there was a forum, RSView32 forum, where there was the possibility to download also some utilities, like some beautiful and useful images already done and ready for import and use... an extension to the library. I mean something like this, to not stay hours in front of a PC to draw new images... :smileysurprised: Everything Rockwell has is in the built-in library. We didn't hold anything back. I wouldn't be surprised if someone out in the wild has some supplemental libraries that they've made available, but we don't have anything else (unless you could things like faceplates, but those are groups of objects, not images). JHutch Fuzzy, I remember those RSView32 libraries. FYI, they still exist and can be imported into SE. You can find them in tech note 34729. It's been a while since I've done this, but I seem to recall that you can unzip the .GFX files, go to FTView Studio's Graphic Editor, do File-> Open and navigate to the .GFX. They get converted to SE format once you do this. Wow ! That is what I was searching for ! :smileyvery-happy: Many thanks JonathanKent; there are many useful images there and I'm able to import them in ViewSE. Unfortunately it isn't possible to import them also in ViewME like explained here: http://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/rockwellautomation.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=51464 But this is not a big problem.... :smileywink: Thanks Again.- fuzzy logic Yeah, conversion is an uphill process - you can convert from RSView32 or ME to SE, but not downhilll from SE or side-to-side between RSView32 and ME. I've even tried saving an SE graphic to XML, but the format is different in RSView32 and ME, so that's not a very practical way to convert. Hopefully you were looking for SE libraries, not ME. :smileymad: Export and Import using xml is not possible: http://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/rockwellautomation.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=41900 The file format is different, it isn't possible also to copy and paste a single object... Seems to not be easy.... :smileysad: In this case I was searching graphics for SE... about ME...it's a pity ! Thanks,- fuzzy logic refer to my other post for details on migrating from SE to ME http://forums.rockwellautomation.com/rockwell/board/message?board.id=FTStudio&thread.id=1348 n


### Human: PID output stuck at zero Compact logix processor. (version 11 logix 5000)Rung is true, set point and limits set. Feed back coming in. Out output stays at zero.Setpoint does not match actual. Its a program to controll a process fan using a diff pressure transmitter for feedback. An existing program that came with used equipment. Setpoint is accessed through a Panel View 550. Is there some way that this PID could have been turned off? ### Assistant: Need more information. Can you post the program or at least some screenshots of the logic for the PID? I cannot seem to post the .acd file. I'll have to send a screen shot on Monday. I have the program but Logix 5000is on my other laptop. Yes, agree with gmferg... In the meanwhile, you may try to take a look to the following technotes... Aid 40236Aid 43763 They may help.... :smileywink: - fuzzy logic I found a timer tucked in that delayed the output.I also found that some one set it really high. PID settings were messed up as well/ You never know what you will find changed on used equipment n


### Human: Modern RS Messenger? So it looks like Messenger is slipping slowly into legacy status along with RSView32, with FactoryTalk being the replacement. Is there a messenger equivalent for FactoryTalk? Does it have the capability to send voice or text via a phone line? ### Assistant: Nothing new in the works from Rockwell, but Spectre Instruments makes Win 911, which has improved Dialogic support. Tech note 52456 has a link to their web site, which is http://www.specterinstruments.com/ Win911 works with with RSView32 and SE, so I don't forsee any major developments from Rockwell to irev Messenger. I agree with you, Messenger is basically in a maintenance mode. n


### Human: Analog to scaled output Are there some example programing funtions avalable?I have a 4-20 input coming to plc and would like to scale the raw data to a usable 0-100 percent units for use in the program I`m new to plc`s somewhat any advice would be great.Thanks ### Assistant: You can do programming for the scaling, but the easiest is to set this for the analog input in the IO-tree. In this example channel 1 from the 1734-IE2C has a scaling from 0 to 4000 when the current is 4-20mA.I divide it in the PLC program by 10 to have a range from 0 to 400.0mm. Like it did, if you scale the output to 0 - 400mm, you loose digits (this tag in the program is an integer). Better to scale from 0 to 4000 and in your PLC program divide it by 10 to get an result from 0.0mm to 400.0mm. success, Cee Ya OK I have a if20f2 analog card and the input is from 500- 7400 looking at my raw data. What I want to do is display 0- 100% full level of a tank 300,000 gallons.Just not sure of how to set it up. take a look at the manual. it seems that your tag in the plc will go from 0 to 32760 (page 14), being 4 to 20mAOf course the card must be correct configured (page 16+17). The scaling must be done in the plc program:tanklevel% = (rawdata-500)/69 success Reel-Break, In RSLogix 500, you can use the SCL (scale) instruction. Click on Help, Instruction Help, and select the SCL box for more info. In RSLogix 5000, you can use a CPT (compute) instruction. The general form of the the expression to use for scaling (any input min/max to any output min/max) is: CPT Out (Inp-InpMin)/(InpMax-InpMin)*(OutMax-OutMin)+OutMin For Output range of 0 to 100, this reduces to: CPT Out (Inp-InpMin)/(InpMax-InpMin)*100.0 Use REAL tags for the mins and maxes to force floating point math so you don't overflow an integer on the multiply or lose precision on the divide. The SCL instruction is one of those that should have made it into Logix 5000. But the CPT is easy enough, it's not a big issue. Good Luck!Dale, W8ABZ n


### Human: RATE LIMITER HI FELLOWS?I CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE FUNCTION RATE LIMITER (RLIM ). I ATTACH THE PICTURE WHICH SHOWS THE ATTRIBUTE VALUES. IN THIS EXAMPLE HOW THE DELTA T IS CALCULATED OR FIX VALUE?HOW CAN I CALCULATE THE SLOPE?I WANT TO CLEAR ONE THING MOSTLY IN FUNCTION BLOCKS I SEE THAT THE STATEMENTS ARE WRITTEN AS:OUT n-1=IN ni understand that 'n' is the number of array element? am i right?but in some functions there is no array for data and there what meanings of 'n'.please guide mei am very thankful to the forum members ### Assistant: Ahmad, Many of the instructions use an incremental instead of absolute type of calculation -- the PIDE is a prime example. So they calculate the increment (difference) to adjust the output this scan from the output the previous scan. The descriptions of these instructions use n like a scan count. The description you provided indicates the the input this scan (scan n) is set equal to the output from the previous scan (scan n-1) -- then a difference/increment is computed to set the new output. For the rate limiter, the calculation is simply the change in the input value from the previous scan. For the timing modes of instructions like rate lim, integral, PIDE, etc., if you installed the online books (probably so), go to Help -- Online Books, and select the Instructions item in the left bar. Open the Logix5000 Process and Drives instruction manual (Pub 1756-RM006E-EN-P Jul 2008) and check out Timing Modes in Appendix A starting on page 369. Chances are you can use the default timing mode (0, Periodic) and not have to do anything. The instruction will use the time since it was last executed. If you are rate limiting an input that is coming in with Real Time Sampling (RTS) or a CST timestamp, you might use one of the other modes to get a more accurate or less bouncy (jittery) rate. Good Luck!Dale, W8ABZ n


### Human: (2) 1756 ENBT/A's with same subnet in same rack... Any reason why you couldn't put (2) 1756-ENBT/A's in the same CLogix chassis with the same subnet? (Example - Slot 1 has a module with IP address of 192.168.5.90/24 and Slot 2 has a module with an IP address of 192.168.5.190/24). Both modules are physically connected to seperate switches, which in turn connect to seperate networks. ### Assistant: Gregory, No problem. In fact, if the networks are truly isolated from each other (no IP routing path from one to the other), the ENBTs could have the same IP address. Ethernet protocol never makes it onto the chassis. Routing on the chassis side (from the chassis connector on) is done via CIP by a (port,node;port,node...) relative routing. You could even have two ENBTs with different IPs but on the same subnet (as you have yours) on the same switch. They are just two independent nodes on the same subnet as far as the Ethernet side is concerned. Where you'll run into trouble is if the separate networks find a path to each other -- two independent subnets with identical subnet number (192.168.5.x mask 255.255.255.0) will mess up the routing on the network in between that finds a path betwen them. Long story short: It'll work, but you better truly not have a path between these independent subnets! Best of luck! Dale, W8ABZ n


### Human: PLC-5 Hello everybody, have a nice dayi have a question, i´m working whit a PLC-5/40E, currently it´s conected to a pc with Cimplicity, but i made the same aplication into a panel view 1000 standard. the question is:Can the PLC works conected whit the Cimplicity across de channel 2 via ethernet, and the PV 1000 across the channel A via DH+? ### Assistant: Sure thing. In fact, if you have an Ethernet capable PV, *both* devices could be communicating across Ethernet to the PLC. JHutch n


### Human: Can not see Panelview IP address in RSWho I have several PLCs and Panelview on a line. It contains SLC500s, MircoLogixs, ControlLogixs, and PanelviewPlus 1000s, and 1 Panelview 1000. It is all on Ethernet. I am trying to upload the Panelview 1000 program to modify it and I can not see it on the network (Who Active). Eveything else is working fine and I can go online with everything else. It talks to a SLC505 processor just fine. I have tried connecting to it directly with different cables and Ethernet switch. I have tried to change the IP settings and everything else I can think of. Any ideas how to upload/download to this Panelview? I am at my wits end on this one.It is a 2711-T10C20, I have the latest RSLinx Classic, I have tried three different notebook PCs. The IP to the Panelveiw is 10.0.0.13. Nothing shows up under this IP. ### Assistant: The PV standards are old in Ethernet terms. Means you have to use the Ethernet Devices driver instead of the Ethernet/IP driver and manually add the PV's IP address in the driver config. NOTE: The two drivers seem to coexist just fine on my box, so you don't have to fiddle with the existing driver, just add the Ethernet Devices driver and Bob's yer uncle! :) JHutch n


### Human: Managing Windows Updates I know that CPR 9 does not support Windows XP SP3. Does anyone have a good method for installing the security patches that have been qualified to run with this CPR? I know that Rockwell provides a list of qualified patches (http://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/rockwellautomation.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=35530), but if we install them one at a time, it will be very time consuming. The main issue for us is getting security updates on FactoryTalk View SE machines. ### Assistant: Where do these machines reside? The should be protected by an internal firewall or security appliance and not have access to the outside world or directly connected to networks that do. The reason for the security patches from Microsoft are to protect security holes in their software or operating system. Once required patches are installed and your system is up an running great, then once it's moved behind the firewall there shouldn't be any real concern for the security patches but just software update patches required by Rockwell to coincide with their (Rockwell) patches. When you apply rockwell patches, the Patch File Validator will often flag Microsoft patches that need to be installed first, then re-run the validator or re-apply the patches. On a control system, you want to really know each and every patch applied, when, and what it supposedly corrects. We have machines that's been running great on Windows 2000, no patches, no updates....they just run. I know it really doesn't answer the question but and it's a pain to apply ALL the patches but the reality of it is you probably don't need to apply all or any of them and when you do...you want to make certain of what it supposedly fixes....or screws up. While I can see your reasoning for certain types of vulnerabilities (ie, ones that originate from outside and attack your computer), there are also vulnerabilities that are internally triggered (ie, surfing websites, etc.) that firewalls and proxies can't always protect against. And we won't even begin to discuss the havoc that can be caused by carrying a USB thumbdrive between your work computer and your unprotected HOME computer ... But, that's really neither here nor there to the original question. It's a philosophical difference. To the original poster, sorry, I don't have a better method for you. JHutch Thank you both for your input. There is a nice tool called Sitekeeper that will let you automate your Microsoft updates and other program updates pretty easily. If you do have a list of updates you know are safe, you only have to set it up on the Sitekeeper server tool and it will automaticly install only those updates across your network. Good recommendation. We do use Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) from Microsoft on the office side of our network. I think it functions pretty similarly to Sitekeeper. The reason we don't do this with RS View machines is because I want to control the delivery and installation a little more closely. I will take a look at Sitekeeper and see if it would let me get the control i want. n


### Human: Factory Talk SE Network User Hi folks,I would like to know if it is possible to know what user is currently logged into the Factory Talk SE Network application?I would like to be able to post this data on a graphic display and also use it in the generation of a report. Thanks in advance.Tom JandrokovicCleveland Motion Controls ### Assistant: Have you tried the CurrentUserName property? Look this up in the Studio Help file and it explains how to use it. In addition to the CurrentUserName, you can use tech note 51578 to read the full Windows linked user name. In addition to the basic user name, you can display the Windows description of that user name. For example, in Windows you might create a user named NEO with a description of Thomas Anderson. The VBA code allows you to retrieve the Thomas Anderson, while CurrentUserName only retrieves NEO. Hope that helps. Thanks folks.Problem solved. n


### Human: AssetCentre Backups failing. I have a backup schedule created to backup and compare 7 Control Logix PLCs. 6 of them complete but one fails every time. The event log produces the following error: Status: Logix 5000 Error: Backup/Save threw Unexpected ExceptionCCLX_Proc::Upload() - EXCEPTION - RxE_INVALID_ATTRIBUTE_VALUE - The attribute value is invalid - a default value will be used Actions taken:Created a backup & compare for just the faulting PLC -- got same errorCreated standard backup -- same errorUsed another version of the ACD file -- same errorRemoved and re-added the PLC -- same errorFrom the Agent PC, I can go online, upload, compare, and do all the steps AssetCentre would have it do with no problems. Hardware: 1756-L63Firmware: 16.20 This setup is nearly identical to another in the same backup schedule. Any ideas? ### Assistant: I don't have much experience with AssetCentre, but the error message reminds me of one I have seen with RSNetWorx for DeviceNet. I would check the I/O Configuration in RSLogix5000 and make sure it matches the actual hardware. In many cases, the I/O Config may contain a different series or revision module than the actual hardware. If the keying is set for Compatible or Disabled, the processor won't care. Some of the software products don't care, but some do. Possibly AssetCentre is one of those. n


### Human: String display and language support I have a few String Display objects that contain expressions which reference strings. For example: If (condition == 1) then Fault else OK I would like to change this to allow the display to handle other languages. What is the recommended way to do this for FactoryTalk View ME? Regards, Frank ### Assistant: Plain language switching won't work. How about this expression?: If LanguageTag = English Then If (condition == 1) Then Fault Else OKElse If (condition == 1) Then Translation for Fault Else Translation for OK You might want to consider using a multistate display. You can get rid of the borders and background colors so that it looks like a normal text string. The good thing about using multistates is that you can export the text, translate, and use the standard language switching. What would you recommend, a multistate display or a local message display? It seems the text for both of these can be exported. I'd probably use a multistate. The if-then-else that you posted above would fit perfectly into a 2-state multistate. n


### Human: CLX Redundancy Fail Dear All,We have install CLX Redundancy (with RSLogix5K V11) couple years ago at our client site (2002).Yesterday they call us that they found the secondary chassis disqualify; and SRM module at primary chassis has shown ???? at its LCD.Anyone could sugest us what happening and what we have to do? Thanks in advance Suharyoko ### Assistant: To well diagnose what happens to your redundancy sytem, is important to know also what the CNBs modules display... there are several possible causes that could generate this issue and it is not so easy to obtain a solution through a forum I think... :smileysad: Anyway, I can suggest to follow the troubleshooting in Chapter 6 of Redundancy System User ManualAlso, you may find what '????' over SRM's display means in its Installation Instructions .... the SRM is Resolving a Transition (see the flowchart of powerup sequence). ...easy check to do.... :smileysurprised: do you have -ENBT modules in redundancy chassis ? In case, be sure they are both connected to Ethernet network, otherwise the system will remain disqualified. If you want to add more detailed infos, it could be possible to try to help you better :smileywink: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Blending two indexed moves Platform: Ultra3000 with indexing, configured with Ultraware Is there a way to blend two indexed moves?I would like to continue a move with another without stopping. ### Assistant: You may obtain this using the highlighted settings of the screenshot, taken from Index Setup of Ultraware... In the Next Index field you have to put the index number to execute when Action When Complete isn't set to Stop. The Help in the Ultraware explains those parameters pretty well. Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Activation History My company has 5 activations in our toolkit and we know where 4 of them have been assigned, but don't know where the 5th one has been assigned. Is there somewhere on the RA website to look up which ID's the activations are assigned to? ### Assistant: My suggestion is to call in the Activation guys at Rockwell Automation Tech Support, they will be able to help you on that. :smileyhappy: - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Cleaning agents and PanelView/touch screens/Versaview The facility is reviewing the use of cleaning agents and their use on our automation HMIs in a bio-tech facility. Is there any resource on which agents to use/not to use on Allen Bradley HMIs and Monitors? ### Assistant: Try to take a look to the following technotes: Aid 37485 - Aid 22501 - Aid 28400 User Manuals or Installation Instructions reports (sometimes :smileysurprised: ) these informations... Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Alias Topics in FTView ME Is it possible to have Alias Topics/Nodeswitch functionality in FTView ME/RSLinx Enterprise, similar to what is available in RSView 32? I know that it is possible to have Alias Topics in RSLinx Classic, if someone has a workaround/method to implement a similar concept in RSLinx Enterprise, it would be very helpful.. ### Assistant: Sorry, Alias topics only exist in RSLinx Classic. The closest that RSLinx Enterprise gets to that is if you are using SE. Then you could have a redundant data server so that if the primary is unavailable for some reason, the secondary could take over. n


### Human: FLOW CHART AND LADDER LOGIC HI FELLOWSI WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE TURBINE CONTROL LOGIC DEVELOPED BY USING RS LOGIX5000. CAN I MAKE THE FLOW CHART OF COMPLETE LOGIC? OR ANY OTHER TIP HOW CAN I UNDERSTAND COMPLETE LOGIC?THANKS FOR GUIDNESS ### Assistant: Ahmad, Not sure I understand which of two things you wish to accomplish. Do you want to create a printed listing of all the code so you can examine it at your leisure? Or do you wish to generate some kind of design document based on the code? For a printed listing, use the File | Print Options dialog to set up options, then use File | Print to print a particular routine, etc., or File | Generate Report to print a number of selected Programs, Routines, Tags, etc. I don't know of any tool to take Logix 5000 code and back out some kind of design document. An SFC listing is a pretty good State Diagram design document in its own right. (I've used the SFC editor with just comments for the Steps to design state-based code.) An FBD listing is a pretty good Data Flow Diagram for a function block control strategy. LD is so close to the hardware, a utility would have to be like a disassembler to give you something higher level, and my experience is that you can't get meaningful disassembly of microprocessor code to C source without at least the symbol table. (Yes, I know, you have the tag database......) Still, the basic problem is that the LD code may not have been designed from the beginning using flowchart methods. I use whatever design method seems to fit the problem: a command/response method sometimes, a step number/state diagram method other times, dataflow diagrams, whatever -- not just flowcharts. In addition, a flowchart usually involves places where the code waits until something happens -- blocking code -- which doesn't happen in LD unless you code a loop that potentially trips the watchdog timer. So I don't think you'll find a tool to extract a flowchart from some chunk of code. If you find one, let us know! I have a few interesting rungs I'd like to throw at it to test it! Best of luck, Ahmad! Regards,Dale, W8ABZ Ahmad, My apologies. My answer was incomplete. I addressed the flowchart part but not the understanding part. When I am trying to understand what a piece of code does (especially if the comments are lost), I usually start from a particular input or output (usually output) and trace how it is used or generated using the cross-reference window. Say I want to understand what makes an OTE go true. I right-click on the operand of one of the input instructions (XIC, XIO, etc.) on the rung and select cross-reference. I'll find the instance the cursor is on, plus other references. Use the destructive? column to see what has control of that bit. A destructive reference is one that destroys the old value of the tag -- a WRITE, like OTE, OTL, OTU, MOV destination, CPT destination, etc. Non-destructive references only read and do not modify the tag. Examples are XIC, XIO, and inputs to MOV, etc. A TON is destructive for its done (.DN) bit, other references to this bit will almost certainly be non-destructive. Also, check out the report options -- you can print reports with cross-reference information added to assist you with this task. It's not automated and it's time consuming, but with a little practice (with lots of people waiting on you at 2 am during a startup!!!) you'll get good at it! Best of luck!Dale, W8ABZ No programming language is perfect. Ladder Logic is a graphical, multi-tasking programming language. You can think of every rung as being a separate task. It can easily deal with hundreds of fault interrupts at the same time. It is kind of scary but I have seen systems behave in totally unexpected manners responding to faults. When you examined what happened later you realized that the program was correct and safe. A person’s first intuition was wrong, often because some obscure detail was missed. Flow charts are the other extreme. They are single task. They make a nice outline or overview but tend turn to turn to spaghetti when dealing with real problems. LL is inherently unstructured. It depends on the programmer to impose some kind of structure that makes it more understand able. Only experience when trying to read your own programs a year or more later teaches this. No programming language is perfect. The best is to have several available and use each one for its strengths. Michael, I agree completely with your comments.regarding the variety of languages. LD is certainly different from flowchart, C, etc., in some very key ways. I once converted a ladder program to C, and in the process I learned a few interesting things: * each rung is basically an IF statement, with a sequence of ANDed conditions (XIC, XIO, etc.) and ORed (branches). The output instructions are the THEN part. * there's also ELSE logic -- resetting a TON on a false rung, for example, or clearing an EN bit * LD does not block lock other languages, waiting on something. (You can, however, write an infinite loop in LD just as easily as any other language. Now, back to the original thread: going BETWEEN languages. You are right about the different purposes of various general-purpose (C, C++, Java) and special-purpose (LD, FBD, etc.) languages. There are also any number of not-necessarily executable languages for modeling, analysis and design. The UML modeling language is actually a set of them -- one for static structures of objects, a couple for sequences of messages and/or interactions between objects, one for constructing sets of objects into release packages, one (suspiciously like SFC) for analyzing serial and parallel user activities, etc., etc. These are languages just as surely as LD, ST, FBD and SFC. I design in most of the UML languages and in dataflow / FBD diagrams, and do most of my code in ladder. And, as I think you said, flow charts don't really work well for me becase of the AND/OR decision nature of the logic I write (lending itself to LD) and because of the wait until blocking nature of some flowchart constructs -- which I have to implement by looking for the condition every scan and continuing the sequence when it is true. So I think LD and flowchart are different enough in structure and intent that it would be difficult to make a tool to go between then. FBD is different enough as well, but in another direction so to speak (dataflow, vs. combinational logic). ST is enough like C / pascal / basic that I suppose you could use a tool that would take C to flowchart (if there is such a thing). But even ST doesn't have the blocking constructs. Michael, thanks for saying briefly what it takes me WAY more text to say! Dale n


### Human: Time Delay I need a simple time delay ladder logic instuction. When I enable the instruction I would like the output delayed by a preset value. I know I can program it with a regular time off delay followed by the Done bit. I would like this as a single box. Can this be accomplished with an add-on instruction? ### Assistant: Well, yes, you could build an AOI instruction that included just a timer and the /DN bit. It seems to me that would be an over-complication of the function. An ordinary timer is simple, clear, and effective. I also thought that a simple timer w/ DN was simple, clear, and effective but for the 3rd time maintenance people have become confused. If I put it on 2 rungs it is OK but if I put them inline on the same rung they seem to get confused. Yes, an AOI is overkill but if it makes it easier to read? There is plenty of memory and process speed. The pros and cons on such a simple question are hard to balance. Michael, If you make your AOI so it has no output parameters and no in/out parameters (use the built-in EnableOut for your done bit), it will be treated as an Input instruction and so be left-justified if you put it on a Ladder Diagram rung. Also, the Logic routine is NOT scanned (not just scanned FALSE) on a false rung, so be sure to put a reset of the timer in an EnableInFalse routine. You won't be able to do this if you need the Accumulator as an output paramter, though.... I do lots of logic with Input instructions after Output instructions, and it always throws people off. So I test the heck out of it, then lock it inside a secured AOI and nobody ever sees it. If the logic is appropriate for an AOI, that is (extremely well tested, extremely unlikely to require online changes on startup, utterly reusable, etc.). Give it a try, show it to your guys, and lets us know how they like it! Dale, W8ABZ n


### Human: PROSOFT Modbus module sitting on Redundant CLX Chassis hi as per above subject, anybody can confirm whether the Modbus module data retain/running whenever there is switchover from primary to secondary? FYI, there will be each separate Modbus module residing in each CLX primary and secondary chassis. Please kindly help to verify. ### Assistant: Before starting to discuss about Prosoft Module behavior during switchover, let me add some notes: 1. Which is your redundancy type ? Assuming is the one using 1757-SRM modules2. Primary and Secondary chassis WILL NOT SUPPORT Modbus module installation; following a list of what is allowed in those chassis. 1 - 1756-Ax Chassis 1 - 1756-Px Power Supply 1 to 2 - 1756-L55Mxx or 1 - 1756-L6x Processor ( V15.57) 1 - 1756-SRM Redundancy Module 1 to 3 - 1756-CNB(R)/D/E ControlNet Communication modules ( V15.57) or 1 to 7 - 1756-CNB(R)/D/E ControlNet Communication modules ( V15.60) * 1 to 2 - Optional 1756-ENBT or 1756-EWEB Ethernet Communications Modules. ( V15.57) * No I/O or other modules permitted in local chassis. A more detailed guide is in Aid 42750 Usually the Modbus modules are installed in the remote chassis. See also the Redundancy User Manual chapter 2 Hope this helps… - fuzzy logic n


### Human: Estimating Memory usage in a SLC-500 Is there any quick and dirty way to estimate memory usage for a SLC-500?Like if you know the number of I/O points and what types of comms you plan on using, you can multiply by a certain factor and it pops out a value in kBytes? Thanks,Kevin ### Assistant: Hi Kevin, in fact it is not so easy... this is due to the program in your SLC will use different amounts of memory depending on the instruction used, the number of files, the number of rungs etc.... I guess you've already seen the estimation method in the Reference Manual, page C-19.... - fuzzy logic I have seen the info in the reference manual. In the end I used a rule of thumb method based on our past history. Since a lot of our stuff is standard, it works well enough for my needs. n