Any PLC programmers?
-
Half of the struggle has just been putting the pieces all together such as finding the software, cables, and files to use when I dont know what they would be named or where they would be saved on the server. The controller itself having serial, ethernet, round (ps/9?) serial, and usb connections on it and getting the laptop to connect with the correct port was an adventure in itself. The only reason I took this challenge on is because the program should, in theory, be identical to a program created for a similar machine I designed 3 years ago. I have been preparing a contingency plan but the current state of the world has limited my ability to hire a contractor.
I did my best to extract information from the controls engineer that was let go in December but understandably he was reluctant to help.
Friday I thought there was a critical mission failure. I had found the file containing the GUI program for the Panelview and when I opened it up, it appeared blank like a new Word document that was saved right away with no text. Checking the file size (2kb) scared me as well. I am in no position to create a new GUI on such a short timeline. After some screwing around I was able to get the contents to show up and sure enough, the whole program exists in a 2kb file and looks to be complete/useable
-
did you offer him monies?
Yep,
there is the complication of a 6 month period before you can hire a former employee as a contractor so i’d have to pay him out of my own pocket and im not sure how I would recoup that other than stealing pens from the supply cabinet for the next 30 years
-
Not feeling great today as I didnt get much sleep, had to pick up a relative from the airport late last night and then he lost his keys and needs to borrow a car to get to work this week so I gave him my Honda and i'm driving the van until the weather stops acting a fool and I can get my dose of Vitamin ///M
I got to work a little extra early to meet a contractor who was supposed to be able to click-click-clickety-DONE and get me out of this mess for probably a lot of dollars.
When the contractor arrived, he called me from his car and said that he heard our painter was sick last week and wouldnt come in until he knew that the painter had been tested for covid-19. He has been sent home since he was sick last Wednesday and has not been tested. The contractor would not come inside. His boss called me and apologized, and told me he hopes I can find help elsewhere.Yes, me too.
I dont blame the guy, I just wish it could have been handled a little differently. He isnt willing to work over skype/phone call either.
More small miracles: I ended up finding instructions for establishing ethernet communication without having a Rockwell Automation service account, thanks to a cached version of the instruction page via google. I have the 2nd program loaded up and now it seems I just need to get the IP addresses synchronized between the display and the controller and I should be good to go.
I am not spinning my wheels just quite yet.
-
Not sure if this is helpful, but Rockwell has all of it's user manuals available online. Here is the the manual for the MicroLogix 1400:
https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/um/1766-um001_-en-p.pdf
I work at RA but have nothing to do with PLC's so I cant really help beyond that unfortunately...
-
Not feeling great today as I didnt get much sleep, had to pick up a relative from the airport late last night and then he lost his keys and needs to borrow a car to get to work this week so I gave him my Honda and i'm driving the van until the weather stops acting a fool and I can get my dose of Vitamin ///M
I got to work a little extra early to meet a contractor who was supposed to be able to click-click-clickety-DONE and get me out of this mess for probably a lot of dollars.
When the contractor arrived, he called me from his car and said that he heard our painter was sick last week and wouldnt come in until he knew that the painter had been tested for covid-19. He has been sent home since he was sick last Wednesday and has not been tested. The contractor would not come inside. His boss called me and apologized, and told me he hopes I can find help elsewhere.Yes, me too.
I dont blame the guy, I just wish it could have been handled a little differently. He isnt willing to work over skype/phone call either.
More small miracles: I ended up finding instructions for establishing ethernet communication without having a Rockwell Automation service account, thanks to a cached version of the instruction page via google. I have the 2nd program loaded up and now it seems I just need to get the IP addresses synchronized between the display and the controller and I should be good to go.
I am not spinning my wheels just quite yet.
So you have a Micrologix 1400 and what kind of Panelview? The Panelview program has a programmed shortcut which points to the IP of the PLC, you can't change it without software but if you know what it is you can change the PLC to match. I'm assuming this is a Panelview plus?
-
So you have a Micrologix 1400 and what kind of Panelview? The Panelview program has a programmed shortcut which points to the IP of the PLC, you can't change it without software but if you know what it is you can change the PLC to match. I'm assuming this is a Panelview plus?
PV800
I believe I have things sorted out and discovered 2 problems.
The IP addresses for both components need the first 6 digits to match (this is probably obvious to anyone in networking but as I am a noob, they seemed arbitrary as long as you were pointing the PanelView to the IP address of the PLC.The second issue is that there are 3 places to change the IP address. One is set in the program on the PC via Connected Components Workbench, another is the PanelView Terminal settings, the third is under File Manager > Controller settings. This one was not set correctly (and apparently exists as a master/slave that can have a different IP for some application for which I am not even qualified to begin thinking about)
In just a few minutes I will go fire up the machine and see how it goes.
Watch for explosions/factory meltdowns on the news......
-
Watch for explosions/factory meltdowns on the news......
All we can hope for is that Les McBurney will be on scene!
-
In just a few minutes I will go fire up the machine and see how it goes.
Watch for explosions/factory meltdowns on the news......
This all sounds strangely familiar to the e30 startup stories from a few years ago.
All will be listening/watching but the difference is we're not taking up a collection if the "head gasket" leaks...
-
I am routinely in over my head on projects in every aspect of my life. I rely a lot on dumb luck.
Better lucky than good!
There is a lot to the network stuff. The subnet mask determines how many octets of the ip need to match, 255.255.255.0 in the subnet mask would mean that the first 3 octets of the IP need to match. 255.255.0.0 would mean only the first 2 octets of the IP need to match. The Gateway only is used if this is connected to a plant network and is the IP of the switch or possibly more complicated if there are a bunch of VLANs. If it just an isolated machine it is much easier. I sent you my phone number, call me if you have trouble.
-
The electrical/wiring guy is completely inept with regards to critical thinking. At this phase I have the PLC all figured out, but need to troubleshoot all the sensors in order to satisfy the machine. This is where he, or someone qualified (like the electrical engineer that was fired) should be able to check through the sensors and determine which ones should be normally open or normally closed and be able to get the sensors to the state they need to be in to make the program happy.
Alas, here I am doing this job while I get even further behind on the work I was already far behind on.
20% of people in a company do 80% of the work
-
The electrical/wiring guy is completely inept with regards to critical thinking. At this phase I have the PLC all figured out, but need to troubleshoot all the sensors in order to satisfy the machine. This is where he, or someone qualified (like the electrical engineer that was fired) should be able to check through the sensors and determine which ones should be normally open or normally closed and be able to get the sensors to the state they need to be in to make the program happy.
Alas, here I am doing this job while I get even further behind on the work I was already far behind on.
20% of people in a company do 80% of the work
Is this a brand new machine? WHat is it doing/making? How much I/O are you dealing with? I assume not a ton if it's a Micro1400. I love fixing stuff, I do miss that not being in the field anymore.
-
At least we can all expect nice raises and bonuses this year for going above and beyond.
right?
guys?!?!?
HELLO?????
-
At least we can all expect nice raises and bonuses this year for going above and beyond.
right?
guys?!?!?
HELLO?????
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login