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How to get Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Software (RS) Manuals and Documentation: Part 2

By
Shawn Tierney
-
Rockwell Automation Literature Library Homepage


SLC-500 Brochure Cover Small

Getting hard physical copies of manuals and documentation for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software products:

 

Click here to read part one of this article

Yesterday we discussed how to get electronic copies of Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Software (RS) manuals and documentation. But what happens if you’re looking to get a physical copy of a manual? For this you’ll need to contact either your local Rockwell Automation office or your local RA authorized distributor.

Both RA offices and their distributors have access to a literature ordering system which allows them to order a limited number of complimentary printed copies of the most popular manuals. Unfortunately not every manual is available, and occasionally certain manuals become unavailable as they are being updated. But the ability to get free physical copies of reference manuals, like the programming instruction reference and user’s manuals is a much appreciated service Rockwell Automation still provides its customers.

Major types of documentation available for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software products:

To round out this topic, I’ll list below the major types of documentation available for most RA products:

  • PLC-5 Selection GuideBrochure: Typically a glossy full color flyer about the product with pictures and highlights about the products features.
  • Product Profile: Usually shorter and more abridged version of a brochure, often times only on page.
  • Catalog: In years past all major RA products segments had their own catalog, but these days they are typically reserved for industrial components.
  • Selection Guide / System Overview: These documents replace the classic catalog and detail all the products and accessories for a particular product family. The selection guide is typically the document you’ll need to pick out components when building a system bill of materials.
  • Installation Instructions / Data: These small documents come in most hardware boxes and typically cover how to mount and wire the device.
  • Technical / Product Data: In the past these we short versions of manuals which also contained much of the information found in the installation instructions. More recently they have become collections of technical details of the product including certifications and specifications.
  • Getting Started Guides: These are typically short documents which come in some software packages and cover installation basics, but longer more in-depth versions on various products are also available.
  • PLC-5 User's ManualQuick Starts: Similar to Getting Stated Guides, quick start guides usually have step by step instructions on how to implement a product.
  • User’s Manual: These are often the one document you need to implement a product. Occasionally, important information is left out of the users manuals and can only be found in either the Installation Instructions, Technical Data, or online Knowledge Base.
  • Reference Manual: In-depth manuals popular in the Programmable Controller category detailing programming instruction sets.
  • Programming Manual: These documents exist for the older products and compliment the Hardware Manual for the same product. They covered how to connect to and program the product, typically minus details on the instruction set.
  • Hardware / Installation and Operation Manual: Another document for older products, they complimented the Programming Manual for the same product. They covered how to install sand troubleshoot the hardware.

Click here to read part one of this article

I hope this information about how to obtain a physical hard copy of documentation for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software was helpful. If you’re someone who prefers to have certain manuals in “physical” form, or have a “go to” manual you use on a regular basis, please consider sharing it with us using the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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How to get Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Software (RS) Manuals and Documentation: Part 1

By
Shawn Tierney
-
Rockwell Automation Literature Library Homepage


When using new products from Allen-Bradley or Rockwell Software, you’ll likely need to refer to the product documentation and manuals for product details. And if you still have the box the product came in, you’ll often find an installation manual or guide inside.

While these short documents do contain helpful information on how to wire or install the product, they typically don’t contain enough information on their own to allow new users to successfully implement the product. And often times these “in the box” documents are discarded with the original packaging long before they’re actually needed.

Note: You can watch a video on using Rockwell’s Literature Library in our companion video blog HERE.

Update 10/31/2017: Over the years Rockwell has dramatically changed the look of their Literature Library, however much of the information in this article is still valid.

Getting Electronic Manuals and Documentation for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software Products:

The good news is you can find electronic copies of most all Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software manuals and technical documents on Rockwell Automation’s “Literature Library” website shown below:

Rockwell Automation Literature Library Homepage

To access this website you can use the short URL, AB.com/literature, which will redirect you to the new longer URL, http://literature.rockwellautomation.com

Searching the literature library for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software manuals and documentation:

There are two main ways in which you can use RA’s Literature Library to find the documents you need. First, you can use the Products tab to browse the product categories until you find the product you’re interested in. Just select the product category, and sub-category if available, and you’ll be taken to a listing of all available electronic publications for that category.

For example, below is the listing you’ll be presented with if you selected the Programmable Controls category, and then selected the MicroLogix 1100 sub-category:

Rockwell Automation Literature Library MicroLogix 1100 selectionThe other way to find documents is to use the search field on the right side of the page. Just enter in a Keyword, Product Description, Catalog Number, or Publication Number and press search, and the site will return a list of results based on the information you entered.

Below are the results I received when I searched on “CompactLogix:”

Rockwell Automation Literature Library CompactLogix Search

Downloading manuals and documentation for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software:

Once you find the publication you’re interested in, you could just click on the PDF image and view the document in your browser, but I wouldn’t recommend that as it often takes very long to load the document inside your web browser. Instead, right click on the PDF symbol and (in Internet Explorer) chose “Save Target As” to save the document to a convenient location on your computer.

Rockwell Automation Literature Library Save PDF in IENote: If you’re using a different web browser, the right click menu will be slightly different. For instance, in FireFox the right click menu item you would chose would be “Save Link As.”

By convenient, I mean someplace you can remember and get to quickly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat around while a client spent much more time looking for a document he had just downloaded than it took to download the document in the first place. As for me, I typically choose a new folder on my desktop for easy and instant access to the document. Then later, if I don’t want to file it in my document storage folder, I just drop it into the recycle bin.

Hopefully the above information on obtaining electronic copies of Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software manuals was helpful. Tomorrow I’ll discuss how to get hard physical copies of these manuals, as well as discuss the different types of documentation available.

Click here to read part two of this article

In the meantime, if you have an A-B or RS document you use on a regular basis please consider sharing it with us using the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Transferring Software Registration of Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Software (RS) products

By
Shawn Tierney
-
Rockwell Automation Transfer Registration Menu Item


Occasionally a Contractor, System Integrator (SI,) or Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) will provide programming software to their end customer, but forget to register it to them. When this happens the end user doesn’t get any product notices sent to owners of that package. They also don’t get activation or technical support since they aren’t registered with Rockwell as registered user.

Note: You can listen to our podcast about transferring software registration HERE.

But if you ever run into this situation there’s an easy fix. Rockwell provides an simple web form which the currently registered user (often times the Contractor, SI or OEM who sold the package) can use to transfer the registration of the package in question from himself to the end user. And, if your the end user and all you have is the serial number of the software package, Rockwell can look it up in their system and put you in contact with the currently registered user so you may request of them that they transfer the software they sold your company into your companies name.

If you need to transfer a software package registered to yourself to your end customer, you start by navigating to the software registration transfer for accessible from https://activate.rockwellautomation.com/

Once this page loads, click on the “Transfer Software Registration” link on the bottom of the menu on the left side of the screen:

Update 10/30/2017: The link has been renamed, “Update contact information or transfer software registration” and can be directly accessed here:

Old Rockwell Automation Transfer Registration Menu Item

When the form appears, fill in the following information:

– Enter in the software serial number, or serial numbers separated by commas.

– Enter in the currently registered user’s information including Company, Contact, and Address information.

– Enter in the information of who the software is being transferred to, including Company, Contact, and Address information.

Update 10/30/2017: The web-form has changed and no longer looks like the below.

Rockwell Automation Transfer Registration FormWhen you’ve filled in all the required fields, press “send registration.” If all the contact information is correct, in a few days the software will be re-registered to the company and contact you listed in the “Transfer To” section.

Hopefully you’ll find the process as simple and easy as I’ve described above (and experienced several times myself.) And if you’ve ever needed to use the process before we’d love to hear how it went. Or, if you ever ran into a Rockwell software registration transfer issue, we’d also like to hear about those. In either case you can leave your comments below using the “post a comment or question” link.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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View Studio – Alarms: How to Edit or Create Large Numbers of Messages Quickly

By
Shawn Tierney
-
FTVME Edit Alarm Messages in MSExcel Step 1

When you have hundreds or even thousands of alarm messages to add to your FactoryTalk  View Machine Edition (View ME) project, this little trick can be really helpful.

To start, enter a few alarm messages of each type you’ll need into the View ME Alarm Setup Message Editor to act as your template. Then click on the top left hand corner of the alarm messages table to select the entire table:

FTVME Edit Alarm Messages in MSExcel Step 1Now right click on row one of the table and select copy:

FTVME Edit Alarm Messages in MSExcel Step 2

Next, open MS Excel and a worksheet. Then right click on cell A1 and select Paste.

FTVME Edit Alarm Messages in MSExcel Step 3

Delete the row, and then edit, copy, or duplicate your alarm message rows to create as many new alarm messages of each type as you need. Note: If you add new Triggers you’ll need to manually create those in FactoryTalk View Machine Edition.

FTVME Edit Alarm Messages in MSExcel Step 4

When you’re ready to bring the new messages back into View ME, select and copy them (right click and select copy, or use the home menu – copy option)

FTVME Edit Alarm Messages in MSExcel Step 5Now back in View ME’s Alarm Setup Message Editor, right click on the unassigned row and select paste:

FTVME Edit Alarm Messages in MSExcel Step 6

At this point you’ll see your new alarms in View ME’s Alarm Setup Message Editor, and after creating any new Alarm Triggers you may need you’ll want to press OK to save your work.

FTVME Edit Alarm Messages in MSExcel Step 7

Hopefully you’ll find this simple little trick of using MS Excel to edit and create large numbers of Alarm Messages for View ME is helpful. If you have any experience with this means of creating alarm messages, or use the XML import/export feature, we’ve really like to hear from you by way of the ““post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

ControlLogix, CompactLogix – How to test the loading of Non-Volatile memory

By
Shawn Tierney
-
RSL5K Controller Properties with Nonvolatile Memory Tab Circled


RSL5K Controller Properties Non-Volatile Memory SettingsSimilar to other Allen-Bradley PLC’s, the CompactLogix and ControlLogix Controllers give you three options for loading the Controller’s memory “image” from non-volatile memory (CompactFlash, SD, etc.) These “load modes” are “User Initiated,” “On Power Up,” and “On Corrupt Memory.” Below I’ll walk you through how to test each of these modes, of which “On Corrupt Memory” is the trickiest.

Note: You can listen to our companion podcast about loading of Non-Volatile memory HERE.

To test the “Load Mode” of “User Initiated” follow these steps:

RSL5K Launch Button For Controller PropertiesIn this test you’ll download a program to the Controller’s memory, and then transfer it to the non-volatile memory with a load mode of “User Initiated.” Next, you’ll download a different program to the Controller’s memory to prove you can overwrite it by manually reloading the original program back from non-volatile memory.

  1. Using RSLogix 5000, download a program to the Controller, go online and insure the Controller is in program mode.
  2. RSL5K Controller Properties with Nonvolatile Memory Tab CircledOpen the “Controller Properties” window and select the “Nonvolatile Memory” tab.
  3. Change the “Load Image” setting to “User Initiated” and press the “Store” button to transfer Controller’s memory image to Non-Volatile memory.
  4. When the transfer is done, go back online with the Controller and download a program different from the one you used in step 1.
  5. Cycle power to the Controller, go online, and verify the second program you downloaded in step 4 is still present in the Controller’s memory.
  6. Open the “Controller Properties” window and select the “Nonvolatile Memory” tab.
  7. Press the “Load” button to transfer Non-Volatile memory to Controller’s memory.
  8. Go online with the Controller once more and verify the program in Controller memory is now the original program downloaded in step 1.

To test the “Load Mode” of “On Power Up” follow these steps:

In this test you’ll download a program to the Controller’s memory, then transfer it to the non-volatile memory with a load mode of “On Power Up.” Next, you’ll download a different program to the Controller’s memory to prove when you cycle power to the Controller it loads the original program from non-volatile memory.

  1. Using RSLogix 5000, download a program to the Controller, go online and insure the Controller is in program mode.
  2. Open the “Controller Properties” window and select the “Nonvolatile Memory” tab.
  3. Change the “Load Image” setting to “On Power Up” and then press the “Store” button to transfer Controller’s memory image to Non-Volatile memory.
  4. When the transfer is done, go back online with the Controller and download a program different than the one you used in step 1.
  5. Cycle Power, go back online, and verify the first program has been reloaded on power up from Non-Volatile Memory.

RSL5K Controller Properties Non-Volatile Memory SettingsThe third and final “Load Mode” is “On Corrupt Memory” which can be a little tricky to test, but these steps should make it easier:

In this test you’ll download a program to the Controller’s memory, then transfer it to the non-volatile memory with a load mode of “On Corrupt Memory.” Next, you’ll reset the Controller to erase it’s memory to prove when you cycle power to the Controller and it detects no valid program that it loads the original program from the non-volatile memory.

  1. Using RSLogix 5000, download a program to the Controller, go online, and insure the Controller is in program mode.
  2. Open the “Controller Properties” window and select the “Nonvolatile Memory” tab.
  3. Change the “Load Image” setting to “On Power Up” and then press the “Store” button to transfer Controller memory to Non-Volatile memory.
  4. After the “store” process is complete, turn off the Controller and remove the non-volatile memory card (CompactFlash, SD, etc.)
  5. To erase the program from the Controllers memory, follow step 6 if your controller has a battery, or step 7 if it does not:
  6. For Controllers with a battery: Remove the battery and turn the Controller back on.
  7. For Controllers without a battery: Turn power on while pressing and holding the “default comms” button below the key switch
  8. Reconnect to the Controller and verify the original program is no longer loaded, and that the Controller has loaded the default blank program.
  9. Note on step 8: When the Controller powers on and finds no program in memory, and no non-volatile memory, it loads a default blank program. This program is not considered invalid or corrupt which is why step 10 has you erasing the Controller’s memory again after you reinstall the non-volatile memory. Also note that if you try to connect to the Controller when it has the default blank program loaded you’ll find you can’t go online unless you download an RSLogix 5000  program.
  10. Install the non-volatile memory card from step 3, and repeat steps 5-7  to erase the default blank program in the Controller’s memory to simulate a new out of box or corrupt memory condition
  11. Reconnect to the Controller and verify the original program (stored to non-volatile memory in step 2) has been loaded back into the Controller’s memory after the Controller found no valid program in memory on power up.

Have you ever needed to test your non-volatile memory? Do you have additional thoughts or comments on the above procedures? If you do, please share them below using the “post a comment or question” link.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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ControlLogix, CompactLogix – Why your Controller’s Real Time Clock (DateTime) may be a few hours off

By
Shawn Tierney
-
Logix DateTime Off By Hours


Logix DateTime Off By HoursA client recently called frustrated that the real time clock in his CompactLogix processor was always off by 4 hours. While I had heard this complaint in the past, since I hadn’t run into it myself I needed to do a little research to understand what this client was experiencing.

I found that prior to RSLogix 5000 version 16, using a GSV (“get system variable”) instruction to read the Controller’s WallClockTime object’s “DateTime” attribute was a popular way to get the actual time into Program or Controller tags. I also found that prior to v16 there had been no support for Time Zones (TZ) or Daylight Savings Time (DST.)

Note: You can listen to our companion podcast about why your Logix clock may be off a few hours HERE.

Then in RSLogix 5000 version 16 Rockwell added support for Time Zones (TZ) and Daylight Savings Time (DST,) both of which act as offsets from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When creating a new program, or importing an older program, the software defaults these new settings to zero which allows programmers to continue to use the “DateTime” attribute as they always had, without any consideration of the new TZ and DST settings.

However, many programmers began to enable the TZ and DST settings inadvertently when using the “Set Time” button in Controller Properties. In v16 and later this button not only sets the Controller’s clock to match the PC’s date and time, but also sets the Controller’s clock to match the PC’s TZ and DST settings.

Interesting enough, if you enable TZ and DST in my region, the result is a UTC offset of -5 for the Eastern Time Zone, and +1 for Daylight Savings Time, which combined gives you a UTC offset of -4, or exactly how much time my customer’s Controller was off.

Logix DateTime Off By HoursThe reason for this was that, with the Time Zone (TZ) and Daylight Savings Time (DST) settings in effect, the “DateTime” attribute no longer represented the current time, but instead represented UTC. So if you’re going to use the new TZ and DST settings, the “DateTime” attribute isn’t going to be of much use for representing local time.

Fortunately, when Rockwell introduced support for TZ and DST in v16 they also added a new WallClockTime object class attribute, “LocalDateTime.” This new attribute does take into account the controller’s TZ and DST settings, and provides an accurate representation of local time.

To demonstrate this, I created the program pictured in this article with uses GSV instructions to read both the WallClockTime’s “DateTime” attribute as well as it’s “LocalDateTime” attribute. Running the program with the Controller’s clock set to match my PC’s settings of a -5 Time Zone and DST on (as my client did) shows that the “DateTime” attribute will indeed be -4 hours from the “LocalDateTime.”

 Have you run into the above issue? Do you have additional thoughts on this topic? If you do, please share them below using the “post a comment or question” link.

UPDATE: You can hear Shawn’s thoughts on “Why your ControlLogix time may be off a few hours” in Episode 6 of The Automation Podcast HERE.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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The case for virtualization: Does using VMWare or other virtualization software make sense?

By
Shawn Tierney
-
VMware9 on Windows 7 running virtual images of Windows 7 and Windows XP
Click on the above image to see our previous coverage on Virtual Machines


VMware9 on Windows 7 running virtual images of Windows 7 and Windows XPHave you ever installed a new program only to find an older program no longer works? Have you ever had the need to run two versions of the same program, but only one version can be installed at a time? Have you ever dreaded getting a new PC because of the time required to reinstall all the software you need to do your job?

Well, if you’re like me you’ve run into all of these issues! But if you’re willing to try something new (virtualization) you could say goodbye to them for good.

Note: You can listen to our podcast about virtualization HERE, or watch the first of our video series on virtualization HERE.

Virtualization software, like VMware’s Workstation product, allows you to run multiple “images” of “virtual PCs” on top of your existing “host” PC. It gives you the power to create as many of these virtual PC’s as you need, and once you have them running just right you have the ability to take “snapshots” to preserve the exact state of your virtual system which you can roll back to if  something goes horribly wrong in the future.

You also have the ability to “clone” your virtual PC’s to allow for multiple running copies of the same operating system, on which you can install different versions of your applications. And when your new company computer finally arrives, to make the migration you’ll only need to install your virtualization software and copy your (albeit large) virtual PC images to your new PC. Your new system will be ready in minutes versus hours, and you’ll have avoided spending long periods watching installation progress bars slowly creep across the screen.

While all those benefits are appealing, there’s another more pressing reason for virtualization in industrial automation: the inability to get modern PC’s to run legacy operating systems. If you’re not familiar with industrial automation, hardware devices in this segment are designed to run for decades – well past the point that contemporary PC operating systems (like Microsoft Windows) are available and supported.

VMware 9 Splash ScreenHowever, these hardware devices (like PLC’s, HMI’s and Drives) run mission critical systems like your local fresh water plant, power station, bridges, and even amusement park rides. So relying on a 25 year old PC and its hard drive can be quite risky. One false move climbing a staircase, or working near leaky pipes, and your antique Compaq Portable PC from the 80’s will be on it’s way to the dumpster leaving you with no way to connect to and maintain your legacy automation control systems.

But with virtualization, running every previous version of Windows (or DOS) isn’t a problem. In fact, with many virtualization software packages you can make a virtual image of an existing host PC. And hardware incompatibilities are a thing of the past as the virtual PC hardware has been specifically designed to work with all previous versions of popular operating systems.

So whether you maintain legacy systems, have the need to run multiple OS’s and software versions, or are fortunate enough to receive regular computer hardware updates, virtualization can go a long way to solving software and hardware compatibility issues as well as greatly reduce the time you spend installing or re-installing software.

Do you have an opinion on virtualization in general, or on specific virtualization software like VMware? If you do, please share your comments with us below using the “post a comment or question” link below.

UPDATE: You can hear Shawn’s thoughts on “virtualization” in Episode 5 of The Automation Podcast HERE.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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View Studio Site Edition – Alarm and Events: Resolving an Area Issue

By
Shawn Tierney
-
Fresh Water Plant Under Construction Featured Image

Fresh Water Plant Under ConstructionA good client recently asked me to visit a site with him to help troubleshoot an odd issue he was having with FactoryTalk Alarm and Events. The site had redundant high-end Dell servers, each with FactoryTalk View Site Edition Server, RSLinx Enterprise, and FactoryTalk Alarm and Events running in redundant configurations.

My client had designed the application with each software service (FTVSE, RSLE, and FTAE) in their own areas, much like you see Rockwell do in RSTechED Labs, View SE samples, and on the Rockwell Knowledgebase.

Strangely though, after running in this configuration for several weeks some of the binary “BITS” in certain arrays stopped triggering FTAE alarms, even though the same BITs were correctly animating graphic objects. Stranger still, other BITS in the very same DINTS still continued to trigger FTAE alarms…?

The only way the engineers found to get these non-responsive alarm BITS to work again was to copy their existing alarm definitions into new alarm definitions. When this was done the new alarm definition would work, albeit in most cases only for a limited number of days. This behavior also followed the project when it was copied from the server and run on the engineering laptop.

We spent much of the morning on the phone with Rockwell Tech Support, and tried many different product software patches and settings, but nothing we tried resolved the issue. It was at this point I recommended we move the FTAE server into the same area as the RSLinx Enterprise server. It was a stretch to be sure, as I could find no documentation stating this is how the system should be designed. In fact, I found many examples of FTAE in being located it’s own area. But as soon as we made this change all the alarms which previously had stop working began to work.

If you’ve run into a similar problem, or can add some insight to the above situation,  please use the below “post a comment or question” link to add your comments to this article.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Point I/O – Large rack communication issue

By
Shawn Tierney
-
Large Rack Of Point I/O

I was recently called into a “consumer goods” plant to look at a communication problem with Point I/O. The night before I was told all the Point I/O, which had been successfully tested overseas, was no longer working. However, when I arrived on-site the problem was limited to just four of the many racks.

Point IO in PanelThe on-site engineer described the problem as a lack of communications between the Point I/O and ControlLogix. The symptoms included flashing red network indicators on the Point I/O adapters, and error messages displayed in the RSLogix 5000 I/O tree. Initially they suspected the Point I/O Ethernet adapters had failed, but when they were swapped with known good units the problem persisted. They then called Rockwell Tech Support and were told (among other things) that they needed additional 1734-EP24DC power modules based on the vertical installation of the Point I/O, but even with the additional modules installed the problem remained.

It was at this time they began to consider the large number of I/O modules in the Point I/O racks not communicating. Each of these racks had forty or more Point I/O modules, several more than the many working racks. To test the theory that the problem had to do with the number of I/O modules, they re-sized one of the racks down to 34 modules, changed the RSLogix 5000 program to match, and when they put the system back into run mode the new smaller configuration worked.

Below is a picture of the Point I/O rack mentioned above with several modules removed to reduce it’s size to 34 modules (the picture is rotated horizontally to better fit on this page:)

Point I/ONext, we headed to the engineering office to join a pre-scheduled conference call with Tech Support. After introductions were made and the history of the situation was repeated, Tech Support began going down their list of likely causes.

When the question of firmware arose, the customer said they didn’t upgrade any firmware because the Rockwell Compatibility Website clearly showed which firmware was compatible with which versions, and that the newest firmware for the Point I/O adapter module and the 1756-EN2T Ethernet Bridge Module (acting as the Ethernet I/O Scanner) were not compatible with the version of RSLogix5000 they were using on this project.

It was at this point when a Tech Support lead, who was new to this situation, spoke up. He informed the customer and techs that they had been misreading the compatibility site and that the versions listed are not the “compatible version,” but the “lowest compatible version” (we later went back and confirmed that the compatibility website does not state anything of the sort.) He also went on to say that they must upgrade the firmware, especially on the 1756-EN2T, because it is a known issue that it will not communicate to racks of Point I/O with forty or more I/O modules without the latest firmware.

The old Dual Port Ethernet Device issue with Single Port Ethernet Devices.

When Rockwell released it’s new products with dual Ethernet ports, I began to receive calls from customers using these new products to communicate with the older single port devices. What they would experience, and I confirmed in the lab, was the single port remote Ethernet I/O would repeatedly connect and disconnect from the parent PLC if a new dual port Ethernet device was being used as the master/scanner. The fix for this condition was to simply flash the firmware on the new dual port Ethernet device to the latest version, which also turns out to be the same fix for the above problem with large remote racks of Ethernet Point I/O.

If you’ve run into similar Ethernet I/O issues, or would like to add your own insights to the above, please use the below “post a comment or question” link to add your comments to this article.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Welcome to “Insights in Automation”

By
Shawn Tierney
-
Shawn Tierney at Worcester Water Trade Show 2002


Shawn Tierney at Worcester Water Trade Show 2002Here you’ll find thoughtful insight into the world of industrial automation, including solutions to common (and not so common) problems, “how to” information, and first hand reports from my time in the field working with controls engineers implementing PLC, HMI, SCADA and MES solutions.

Please feel free to join in the conversation by taking Shawn teaching PLCs in 2005advantage of this site’s “post a comment or question” feature at the bottom of each article, or get in touch with me directly by using the site’s “contact” form.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

RSView32 Water Bottling Demo

By
Shawn Tierney
-
Shawns-RSView32-Horizon-Water-1x600


Shawns-RSView32-Horizon-Water-1x600This RSView32 project is an updated version of my famous old Juice Bottling demo.

It was updated to simulate a portion of a water bottling plant for the purpose of providing data for RSSQL, Historian, and PlantMetrics.

New in this demo is a Labeler and Printer.

Requirements:

  • RSView32 Version: 7.0
  • Shawns-RSView32-Horizon-Water-2Additional Requirements: 1024×768
  • I/O Size: 0
  • File Size: ?.?MB
  • Uploaded on: 02/28/05
  • Developed By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download link: Shawn’s RSView32 Horizon Water Bottling Demo

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

RSLogix 500 Program for PanelBuilder32 Demo Compilation

By
Shawn Tierney
-
RSLogix-500-Program-for-PanelView-Demo-Compilation-Fi


This SLC-500 project was compiled from four separate ladder programs, each independently developed for four PanelView projects.

RSLogix 500 Program for PanelView Demo CompilationRequirements:

  • RSLogix 500 Version: 6.0
  • Additional Requirements: None
  • File Size: 60 kb
  • Uploaded on: 03/16/04
  • Modified By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link: SLC-500 Program for PanelBuilder32 Demo Compilation

Note: The accompanying PanelBuilder32 file can be found here

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

PanelBuilder32 Demo Compilation Project

By
Shawn Tierney
-
PanelView Demo Compilation


This PanelBuilder project is the “compilation” of 3 Rockwell projects and my own “Providence Beer” application. 

The Rockwell applications include the standard PanelView product and features demo, as well as the factory’s slot machine and black jack apps

Note: The demo appears to cheat at Black Jack.

PanelView Demo CompilationRequirements:

  • PanelBuilder32 Version: 3.80
  • Additional Requirements: None
  • File Size: 296 kb
  • Uploaded on: 03/16/04
  • Modified By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link: Shawn’s PanelView Demo Compilation.zip

Note: The accompanying RSLogix 500 file can be found here

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

MicroLogix to PowerFlex 4

By
Shawn Tierney
-
MicroLogix-1200-to-PowerFlex-4-Modbus


MicroLogix-1200-to-PowerFlex-4-Modbus

My first sample program is based on the example in the appendix of the  22-SCM-232 Manual.

After unsuccessfully attempting to get an electronic copy from Rockwell Drives Tech Support, I broke down and typed in all the ladder and comments myself.

Once setup and testing was completed I added additional comments to the first run.

Requirements:

  • RSLogix 500 Version: 6.1
  • Additional Requirements: Micro1200 & PF4/40
  • File Size: 61 kb
  • Uploaded on: 02/09/04
  • Entered By: Shawn Michael Tierney

My second program is based on the first, but uses the Modbus Master protocol available in the latest release of the MicroLogix 1200, as well as a 1761-Net-AIC.

The biggest obstacle in getting this configuration to work was trying to find the polarity of the comm lines (i.e. does + comm on the AIC go to A or B comm on the drive?) as well as realizing all the modbus addresses are offset by 1 (which even Rockwell Drives Div. missed in Rev 1 of the subsequently release tech note).

Since this file was published, Rockwell has release (and fixed) a tech note, and also has an excellent 2004 HOT LAB.

Requirements:

  • RSLogix 500 Version: 6.1
  • Additional Requirements: Micro1200 & PowerFlex 4 /40
  • File Size: 60 kb
  • Uploaded on: 02/09/04
  • Entered By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link:

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

MicroLogix 1200 to PowerFlex 4 from 22-SCM-232 Manual

By
Shawn Tierney
-
MicroLogix-1200-to-PowerFlex-4


SLC-500 Micro 22-scm-232This first program is based on the example in the appendix of the 22-SCM-232 Manual.

After unsuccessfully attempting to get an electronic copy from Rockwell Drives Tech Support, I broke down and typed in all the ladder and comments myself.

Once setup and testing was completed I added additional comments to the first run.

Requirements:

  • RSLogix 500 Version: 6.1
  • Additional Requirements: Micro1200 & PowerFlex 4 / 40
  • File Size: 61 kb
  • Uploaded on: 02/09/04
  • Entered By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link:

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

RSView32 Simple Access Query Demo

By
Shawn Tierney
-
ap_hmiscada_rsview32_projects_accessquery


ap_hmiscada_rsview32_projects_accessqueryThis demo addresses two questions:

First, how can you populate a list box in RSView with a list of part numbers from an Access database.

Second, how you can retrieve additional information about a particular part from an Access database when only the part number is known.

Requirements:

  • RSView32 Version: 6.40.03
  • Additional Requirements: 1024×768 recommended
  • I/O Size: 0
  • File Size: 375KB
  • Uploaded on: 06/14/03
  • Developed By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link:

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

RSView32 Security Popup Demo 2

By
Shawn Tierney
-
RSView32-Security-Popup-Demo-2


RSView32-Security-Popup-Demo-2RSView32 allows for security to be assigned to Tags, Screens, Commands, and Macros.

But, unless you have the activity bar turned on, there is little feedback when you try to change a tag value on which you don’t have security for.

The latest versions of RSView32 will now turn the input field “Red” if you don’t have the right permissions, but sometimes even that is not enough, and it also doesn’t address buttons which change bit values.

The good news is it’s really easy to create a small VBA script to display a small popup based on the last message logged to the activity bar.

This demo looks for the string, “does not have security” which is part of the message that gets logged when you try to change a tags value without proper permissions, and when it occurs it launches a pop-up.

Project Details;

  • RSView32 Version: 6.30.16
  • Additional Requirements: 1024×768
  • I/O Size: 0
  • File Size: 255KB
  • Uploaded on: 04/27/03
  • Developed By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link: Security Popup Demo 2

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

RSView32 Menu Bar Demo 2

By
Shawn Tierney
-
RSView32_Menu_Bar_2


RSView32 definitely has options. Especially when it  comes to how you display your graphics.

In this demo, I try to show the many different ways to set up an RSView32 project that consists of body screens that change, but that also have common Title and Menu Bars.

The good and bad of each method is also explained.

RSView32_Menu_Bar_2Requirements:

  • RSView32 Version: 6.30.16
  • Additional Requirements: 1024×768
  • I/O Size: 0
  • File Size: 1.8MB
  • Uploaded on: 03/02/03
  • Developed By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link: Shawn’s RSView32 Menu Bar Demo 2.zip

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

shawntierney avatar
Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

RSView32 Juice Bottling Demo

By
Shawn Tierney
-
RSView32 Juice Bottling Demo 1


RSView32 Juice Bottling Demo 1

This RSView32 Juice Bottling demo was designed to simulate a juice bottling operatino. I designed it specifically for use in a PlantMetrics demo. The main purpose of this simulation was to mimic product scrap and line breakdowns, which then could be tracked in Rockwell’s PlantMetrics software.

First, a bottle filler and capper had to be created and animated from scratch. A video and picture of a FOGG system (included in project directory) was used as a baseline. Once the screens were finished, it became apparent that there was just too much going on for RSView32 Juice Bottling Demo 3RSView32 to animate smoothly. To resolve this problem the main screen was simplified, and two detail screens were added.

The scrap which is simulated comes in four types: Over-filled bottles, under-filled bottles, bottles without a cap, and bottles with a high (unsealed) cap. Each type of scrap condition can be simulated on the detail screens.

Breakdowns are also simulated and can be forced from the main window. They come in 8 types that are listed in a pop-up window at the end of the breakdown event.

RSView32 Juice Bottling Demo 2Requirements:

  • RSView32 Version: 6.30.16
  • Additional Requirements: 1024×768
  • I/O Size: 0
  • File Size: 3.9MB
  • Uploaded on: 10/13/02
  • Developed By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link: RSView32 Juice Bottling Demo

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

shawntierney avatar
Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

RSLogix 5 Ladder Logic Sum a Integer File using a FAL

By
Shawn Tierney
-
RSLogix 5 Ladder Logic Sum a Integer File using a FAL


RSLogix 5 Ladder Logic Sum a Integer File using a FALThis is a simple RSLogix 5 program designed to show how the FAL Instruction can be used to sum and entire integer file for use in calculating a running average.

Requirements:

  • RSLogix 5 Version: 4.10
  • Additional Requirements: None
  • File Size: 16.9 kb
  • Uploaded on: 10/11/02
  • Developed By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link: Sum a Integer File using a FAL

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

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