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TIA Portal Basic HMI Language Switching

By
Brandon Cooper
-

It doesn’t matter where you and I live and work in the world, the native language that we speak, read and write is not always the same native language that the next person does.

Thus, the need for multiple languages in the manufacturing environment is necessary for clarity and continuity in operations.

The good news is that automation vendors see this need and have tools in place to accommodate many languages, and today I’ll look at the language switching feature that Siemens has in TIA Portal and implement it in my Basic HMI project.

Select Project Languages

First, any language to be used can be found in the “Languages & resources” folder by selecting the “Project languages” tab.

Here, I scroll across and add “Spanish(Mexico)” to my project.

Runtime Settings, Enable the Language(s)

After selecting project languages, they are still not available by default. In the “Runtime settings” tab, select “Language & font” and then I can see any selected projects and enable them. Here, I will enable the “Spanish (Mexico)” language.

Spanish Enabled

Graphics

I can now build a graphics test page and I call it “LANGUAGE_TEST”. I added a couple of flags from the “Graphics” folder in the bottom right corner of the TIA Portal window.

I then added an invisible button over each flag. I set the “Events” tab with a command to “Set Language” with the priority number of the language that I wish to use. English was “0” and Spanish was “1” (See above picture under runtime settings for priority number).

I also added some text boxes to my display. In the first text box, I have the word “Pump”. Under the “Texts” properties box, I can add the Spanish Translation “Bomba” here.

A cool tip is that you can click in the background of the screen itself and get a list of all texts used in the screen as shown here.

Runtime – Simulation Mode

In the initial runtime, you see the default “English” is selected. The texts “Pump”, “Valve” and “Tank” are in English.

When I select the Mexico Flag for Spanish, the texts change to “Bomba”, “Valvula” and “Tanque” as shown below.

Advanced – Exporting the Project texts to bulk edit languages

If you have a large project and wish to translate all the texts in excel, then you can export the project texts as shown below. Click “Tools” and then “Export project texts”.

Select the language(s) to edit and click “Export”

The Project text file is now exported to a file that can be modified with MS Excel. Open the file to edit. You will see a column for each language.

Here you can see the “Tank” or “Tanque” as translated in each language.

Finally, after making edits, you may “Import” the file back to the project. Select “Tools” and “Import project texts”.

Click “Import”

Conclusion

While such a task has many steps, they are simple steps and can be performed rather quickly. If you are implementing language switching in a large project, you could spend considerable time with the translations in the exported project text file, so keep this in mind.

I hope this helps you in your TIA Portal project using multiple languages.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

PanelView 800 – Language Switching

By
Brandon Cooper
-

As we have looked at language switching in the PanelView 5000 and View Designer recently, I wanted to follow-up on that article with this one in which I’ll implement the same feature in a PanelView 800 using Connected Components Workbench.

PV800 Settings – Language Tab

The initial setup of languages is all managed from one location. In the general settings of the PV800, select the “Languages” tab.

Here you can access all the needed features to manage languages in the project. All added languages will show up here in columns where you can translate words or phrases manually.

Adding or Removing Languages

To add or remove languages from the project, select the “Manage Language List” button and the pop up shown below will appear. Here, use the arrows to select the languages that you wish to have in your project. Select “OK”.

Note that each language has a code (ID) number associated with it. English is 1033 and Spanish (Mexico) is 2058. This value will be important when changing languages at runtime.

Export or Import Language Lists

Just as you can manually make the language translations here, you can also export the language lists to excel by clicking the “Export Language List” button. This can make copy/paste of use and can be a little faster when having to do a large project of translations.

After making the changes in excel, save the file and use the “Import Language List” button to import the file back into the project.

Switching Languages at Runtime

I learned that you can change languages a couple of ways.

You can use a numeric input object and change the code to the appropriate language. That is not the most user-friendly option for an operator, but it does work.

The recommended method is to use the “List Selector” object, as shown below, so that an operator can scroll through the languages and select the language of choice.

No matter which graphical method that you use, you will write to the “$SysCurrentLang” parameter as well as use it as the indicator (read) tag. As shown below, you will also want to disable the “Write on Enter” parameter on the list selector, because with a touchscreen, there is no ENTER key.

By double-clicking on the list selector, you can modify the colors, text and other attributes of the list selector. You will also assign the language code (ID) in the “Value” column of each language.

This looks simple, but there are also other color modifications in the “properties” column on the right side of the CCW window. I worked for nearly an hour trying to make the list selector look like I wanted it to, change colors how I wanted it to at runtime and for the most part, never did get it to look exactly like I wanted.

However it did work, and does change the languages as needed. With 20 years of HMI experience, that button is too complicated for me.

At Runtime

English

Spanish

Conclusion

As far as language management, translations, export and import goes, the PV800 is as easy and straight-forward as any other system I have used. All the parameters and management is on one page and easy to set up.

The only overly-difficult and time consuming task was configuring the list selector to work properly at runtime.

Also, the fact that there is no HMI simulator means that after every change I had to download to a PanelView to see the changes. This took a lot of time and I am not personally happy spending a lot of time on things that shouldn’t take that long.

At any rate, I hope you were able to pick up something here today and language switching in your PV800 is successful.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

Micro800: Using the PID instruction

By
Brandon Cooper
-

I am still getting familiar with Connected Components Workbench, and have yet to implement a function block program prior to this article.

In this first program I walk through how to setup and use the IPID instruction to accomplish PID control in a Micro820 controller.

Programming the PID in the Micro820

The first thing I need to do is create a Function Block Diagram by right-clicking on the “Programs” header in the controller organizer and clicking “Add” and then “New FBD: Function Block Diagram” as shown below.

In the toolbox, find the “instruction block” and drag it into the Function Block Diagram. This will bring up all of the available instructions to choose from.

By typing “ip” in the search bar, you can narrow the selection down to just a few instructions and select the IPIDCONTROLLER.

This is a PID Controller with autotune function. I’m not going to cover autotune function here today, but if it works like the EPID in Studio 5000, it is a good feature.

In this manner, you can bring in any needed instructions to the function block diagram. As in the screenshot below, hovering your mouse over each instruction will show all parameters and their data types. This is helpful, because many of the data types need to connect with an “ANY_TO_* ” instruction.

Another important thing to consider is to create any tags that you would like to use in the Panelview 800 as Global Variables. If you create them as Local Variables, the Panelview 800 will not be able to access them.

In this screenshot, I create the “PID_SETPOINT” tag as a Global Variable.

Here, I have downloaded my program to the Micro820 controller and placed the IPID in auto mode.

Panelview 800 Display

Here, I add a new screen called “PID” and begin adding objects such as a bar graph with Connections to the parameters that I wish to view or change with the IPID controller.

I also added a “Numeric Entry” for changing the setpoint.

Finally, I add a Trend object. Double-Click the trend to add the Pens, Colors and Line appearance and the rest of the properties, colors and parameters for the background of the trend are in the right side of the screen in the “properties” window.

I then download my additions to the Panelview 800.

Conclusion

I often tell myself “There has to be an easier way to make a living”, but I know that it just wouldn’t be as fun or challenging as figuring out how to accomplish tasks in a PLC, DCS, network device, server or whatever it is I am working on at the time.

If you are familiar with Studio 5000, then creating a PID in CCW is not that far off, but it will have you going in circles for a little while and take more time than you thought it would. Hope this helps you along the way.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

Message (MSG) – ControlLogix Writing Data Over Ethernet to a Micro800

By
Brandon Cooper
-
Automation-Fair-2014-AB-Micro800

If you are implementing a Micro800 series PLC, there is a chance you are doing a small, standalone project that needs no communication with other devices or centralized control system, but that is not always the case.

The Micro820, 850, and 870 all come with an Ethernet port that will communicate with your existing ControlLogix or CompactLogix controllers, and allow you to integrate and share data with the rest of your system.

Today I’ll walk through setting up communications between a ControlLogix controller and a Micro820 controller using MSG instructions to read data from the Micro820 to ControlLogix as well as write data from ControlLogix to the Micro820 controller.

Micro820 Setup

The Micro820 will only have the array tags that will need to be created for reading from and writing data to. I will create two arrays. The first array will be “Data_toLogix” and the second array will “Data_FromLogix” and they will have a data type of “DINT”.

To create an array, use the [1..20] syntax in the dimension column to create the needed amount of array tags.

ControlLogix Setup

The ControlLogix or CompactLogix processor will read and write data using Message instructions utilizing the “CIP Data Table Read” or “CIP Data Table Write” type connection parameter.

In ladder logic, you will need to set up a timer and two MSG instructions. One for reading data from the Micro820 and one for writing data.

First, we will look at the MSG “CIP Data Table Read” setup. The source element is the exact tag that will be read from the Micro820 and the starting array element. Second, the number of elements to read and last, the ControlLogix tag to place the data once it is read and the array element to start with. These tags are of the same “DINT[]” data type.

On the communication tab, you will have to define the path from the ControlLogix processor to the Micro820 controller. For my setup, I browse to the EtherNet module in slot 2, then add a “2” for EtherNet communication and then the IP address of the Micro820 controller. The same communication path will exist for both my read and write messages.

For the write MSG instruction, we will use the  “CIP Data Table Write” type. The source element is the ControlLogix tag that will be written to the Mirco820 controller and the number of elements is how many elements to write. The destination element must be the exact match tag that resides in the Micro820 controller that will receive the data.

Testing

To verify that communication is working, we can add values in the Micro820 controller tags and see if the ControlLogix tags are populated with the data.

Lastly, we can insert values to our ControlLogix tags and verify they are written to the Micro820 controller tags.

Conclusion

Since the Micro820 used a completely different software for programming, I wanted to test and make sure that data could be shared with other Rockwell controllers. The last thing I would want to do is implement something that doesn’t play nice with my existing systems.

What I found is that is does allow for CIP reads and writes and that makes it a team player. The Micro820 can control a smaller scale system as well as report back to the rest of the control system any needed data that needs to be shared.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

FTLinx, RSLinx Enterprise – DH+ / Data Highway Plus Timeouts (Q&A)

By
Shawn Tierney
-

In this edition of “Community Q & A” (formerly “Insight’s Inbox”,) I discuss with one of our community members at TheAutomationBlog.com/join what might be causing one of his Data Highway Plus devices to keep timing out.

Note: To see a list of all our Data Highway Plus videos and articles, click HERE.

Community Question:

I’m having an issue that I hoping you could help with. I have DH+ communicating with multiple PLCs and HMIs.

PanelView Plus 700My issue is this have one PVPlus that keeps timing out with a SLC 500 in same panel? Thought it might be heat issue, but that has been resolved.

I also changed out communication card on back of PVPlus but the issue remains. Also of note, the SLC 500 in question is not timing out with other PLCs on the network?

I’ve also redone DHP connections, but I’m still getting timing out issue.

What else can I try? This set up has been working for years up to a couple of days ago.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Shawn’s Reply:

Good morning and thanks for posting your question.

Since the system has been running for a number of years without issue, it’s likely to assume it’s not a network wiring issue, however let’s review some things to check just to be sure:

  • Data Highway Plus should always only use Belden 9463 (or the Rockwell brand-labeled version, 1770-CD)
  • All connections MUST only be daisy chained. This means absolutely no T’s or Y’s or Stars. The only exception is that you can use the official 1770-SC box to add a T to the network, but you must follow the strict instructions that come with it.

Note: I’ve personally seen new T’s, Stars, and Loops added to a DH+ network that resulted in timeouts of devices on the network.

  • You also MUST have a resistor between the clear and blue wires on each physical end of the daisy chained network. Depending on your network speed, those resistors are either 150 ohm or 82 ohms. While you can get away without resistors on a short network, you will run into issues without them on longer networks.

Note: All devices on the same DH+ MUST be set to the same network speed.

  • Finally, it’s also important to check for frayed and loose wires since this can also cause timeouts.

Following all of the above wiring rules, you should be able to eliminate any network wiring issues.

In fact, back in the 90’s I had an integrator use these same rules to not only eliminate timeout issues, they were also able to get reliable communications with a network that exceeded the supported length by 2,000ft!

Once you review all your network connections, and feel that your Daisy Chain of Belden 9463 is pristine, it’s time to look at the hardware.

If you physically replaced it and the replacement has the same issue, the first thing you could try is just replacing the DH+ wire running to it.

You could also try to see if the PVPlus worked when it was just the SLC-500 and PVPlus connected together. It they work when they are the only devices on the network, you can feel confident the hardware is working but there’s an issue with the overall network. In this case you’d want to go back to the first part of this post and review the network wiring.

Some other issues I have often seen on Data Highway Plus networks is a lack of bandwidth.

For instance, sloppy programming of MSG instructions can “overload” the capacity of DH+ network. This often happens when PLCs on the network have their MSG instructions set to continuous, or when PLCs have multiple MSG instructions firing at once (instead of interlocking them.)

Another issue I’ve seen is PanelView programs that try to read data quickly from all over the data table of the PLC-5, SLC-500, or MicroLogix. Note that on DH+ data can only be read in consecutive blocks, so if your project is trying to read tags from all over the data table (N7:0, F8:0, N21:0, F22:0, etc,) each tag will require an entire packet. This is as efficient as sending a bus to pickup one person.

So I always tell my students to avoid reading from addresses located all over the data table of a PLC-5, SLC-500, or MicroLogix, which is also know as the scatter tag approach.

In those situations when the PLC Programmer has not done a good job organizing his data, network bandwidth can often be saved by using the COP and MOV instructions to reorganize the data you need to read into a new consecutive block of addresses so they can be read in large blocks by a single packet.

Note that this is mostly an issue with the legacy PLC-5, SLC-500, and MicroLogix. As I teach in my courses, Logix controllers actually do the work of building the data packets (aka Trend files) to be given to the HMI.

One last issue I want to mention which is rare but should be avoided. In the past you could overload the PVPlus communications by assigning a lot of unneeded devices in the “Target/Device” tab of the RSLinx Enterprise Communications Setup.

Often designers will do an online browse when setting up their shortcut, and then copy the entire online browse to the Device/Target tab. This can cause the PVPlus to try to connect to all those devices, even if there are no shortcuts for them, thus slowing the PVPlus down and filling the network with traffic.

So whether it’s too many MSGs executing too fast in your PLC’s, too many scattered tags (or tags being request too fast) in the PanelView Plus, or too many unneeded devices in the communications settings in the PVPlus, any of these could be eclipsing the bandwidth of your DH+. But I’d consider these as secondary issues to actually checking the physical wiring of the DH+ network.

Hope this helps – please let us know what you find,

Shawn Tierney

Community Follow-up:

That was a big help!

I found out that they have added red zone to our system while I was out for a couple of months, so our DH+ has been extended beyond its limits.

For now we have taken the cooler out of the communication net work to standalone, and so far no issues. We are looking into splitting the line to 2 part communications to hub back to our main system.

Thank you again!

If you have a question you’d like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to post it to me at https:// TheAutomationBlog.com/join.

To learn more about the PLC-5, SLC-500 and Data Highway Plus, check out the pre-orders for my Ultimate PLC-5 and Ultimate SLC-500 courses.

And to learn more about the PanelView Plus, check out my PanelView Plus course at TheAutomationSchool.com in which you’ll learn how to setup, edit and maintain the PVPlus HMI.

For a limited time, students who enroll in my PVP Basics+™ course also receive my upcoming PVPlus course, Ultimate PVP™ free of charge.

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.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

Micro820, PanelView 800, PowerFlex 525 – New Project

By
Brandon Cooper
-

One of the positive attributes of the Connected Components Workbench project is the ability to program multiple devices with one software package.

A CCW project can contain the Panelview 800 HMI, the Micro 800 controller and as we will see today, a Powerflex drive.

This makes configuration simple and provides quick access between devices that need to work together for a successful project.

Powerflex 525

Here, I have a PowerFlex 525 drive that I wish to add to my CCW project. The drive has an IP address of 192.168.1.25 and I connect it to my Ethernet network to communicate with my PanelView 800 HMI and Micro 820 controller:

Adding the PF 525 to the CCW Project

As with adding the Micro820 controller, we can select the “Discover Device from connection browser” and select the PowerFlex drive by browsing to it in RSLinx:

Select “OK” to connect to the Drive in the CCW project, and then on the Drive Overview Tab, click the “Add to Project” button.

Now on the left you will see several selections including Parameters, Faults/Alarms, Device Info, Wizards and Address Information

With Parameters selected, you’ll see the drive parameters as shown below:

With Drive Faults selected, you can view the drive faults as well as perform fault resets. By clicking the “Clear Trip” button, I can clear a PowerFlex drive fault. And by clicking the “Reset Device” button, I can completely reboot the PowerFlex drive.

Micro820 – Ladder Code

In today’s example, the PV800 HMI, the Micro820, and the PowerFlex 525 are used together to allow an operator to control the running a motor.

The operator will interact with the HMI, which communicates to a controller that has the interlocks and programming needed to control the Drive, which in turn controls the motor speed and provides protection for both the Drive and Motor.

PV 800 HMI

So that the PV800 can interact with the Micro820, we need to create tags that communicate with the commands and feedback signals for the Drive that are in the Micro820 controller.

In my example, I entered the following tags in the PV800 project tag database to connect to the Micro820 controller.

Next, I created a screen called HOME_820 with a few pushbuttons and numeric displays to interact with the drive and view the feedback data.

The first numeric display shown below has a “Read Tag” connection of “FIRST_SPEED” which is the first drive speed that will run during its sequence.

Next, this pushbutton has an “Indicator Tag” (System_ON) to create animation of the button (change colors and text) and a “Write Tag” (STOP_PB) to write a command to the Micro 820 controller.

TIP: You can Double-Click on an object to bring up the color changes, text and animation properties, however the “Tag” properties as well as other object properties are in the “Properties” window on the right side of the CCW project window.

The final step is to validate, download and test our PV800 and Micro820 programs.

Runtime

The rewarding part is when it all comes together. You interact from HMI to controller to drive/motor running and it displays for you to see.

Conclusion

Here we took a high-level overview of everything from having the HMI, controller and a drive connected together in our CCW project, adding the drive to the project and a look at parameters and interaction with the drive. Then a little HMI and programming work to make it all come together.

I hope you were able to pick up something today to help you make your next project a success.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

Introduction to EtherCAT (P72)

By
Shawn Tierney
-

In this episode of The Automation Podcast, I sit down with Nathan Eisel of SMC to get a detailed introduction to EtherCAT.

For more information, check out the “Show Notes” located below the video.

Watch the Podcast:


The Automation Podcast is also available on most Video and Podcasting platforms, and direct links to each can be found here.

Listen to the Podcast:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Automation Podcast, Episode 72 Show Notes:

Special thanks to Nathan Eisel of SMC for taking the time to come on the show and give us an introduction to EtherCAT.

Vendors: Would you like your product featured on the Podcast, Show or Blog? If you would, please contact me at: https://theautomationblog.com/contact

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.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

PanelView 800 – Connecting to a Micro820

By
Brandon Cooper
-

One of the interesting aspects of automation is “making things talk.” Connecting devices together, whether we are talking about a host of network switches, HMI devices, drives, servers, controllers or any other intelligent device, gives you a sense of accomplishment when the devices are connected together and speaking each other’s language.

As a programmer, after you get them talking to one another, you can start the automation and controls code that you are so eager to implement.

Today, I want to set up the communication similar to the way that I set up communication to the MicroLogix 1100, but with the Micro 820 controller that I will be using in the rest of this series.

Micro 820

The Micro 820 controller I will be using has an Ethernet port, Serial Port terminal block, and two slots for expansion I/O boards. The exact model number is 2080-LC20-20QBB:

In addition to the controller, the demo case I’m using also has a Remote LCD display which is wired into the serial port of the Micro820.

In the bottom right corner of the Remote LCD Display (2080-REMLCD,) there is a USB port for connectivity (Note – using this display is the only way to get a USB port on the Micro820 – ed.)

Setting the Micro 820 Ethernet Address

After connecting to the USB Port on the remote LCD, open RSLinx Classic and you should see a new driver named something like, “2080-REMLCD_X, DF1.”

Use this driver to connect to the Micro820 controller as shown in the image below, then browse to the Micro 820 controller.

Next, right-click on the Micro 820 controller and select “Module Configuration” and select the “Port Configuration” tab as shown below.

Here you can setup the IP Address of the Micro 820 controller. In this example I have the IP Address set to 192.168.1.20 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 for this test system.

When done, click “OK” to save your settings.

CCW Project – Adding the Micro 820 Controller

In this example I’ll use the “Discover device from connection browser” to browse RSLinx and add the Micro820 controller to the CCW project in which I already have my PV800 (from last week’s articles:)

Now the Micro820 shows up as part of my CCW project along with the PV800:

CCW Project – PanelView 800 Device Communication Settings, Controller Comms

Now I’ll double-click on the PV800 terminal to bring up the terminal settings. Here communications, user accounts, languages and all other main parameters are set to make the terminal a connected part of the rest of your project.

Under the “Communication” tab, I selected “Ethernet|Allen Bradley CIP” as the communication protocol.

I then added the controller name of my MicroLogix 820 as shown below, as well as the IP address of the Micro 820 controller. The controller type is Micro800.

Validate, Download your CCW PV800 Project

Next, you’ll want to validate and download your PV800 project to have the PV800 communicating with your Micro 820 controller. In the next article, I will get into adding tags, graphic screens and other features to consider.

 Remote LCD Display Settings

Since we discussed the remote LCD in this article, I bring to your attention the remote LCD display tab in the Micro 820 controller properties. Here you can change the “Message” that appears on the display.

Conclusion

Communication setup from the PV800 to the Micro 820 was very similar to the MicroLogix 1100, only a different protocol/driver and controller type was selected.

Hopefully, you were able to pick up something here today and you are able to get easily acquainted with a PanelView 800 and Micro 800 Controller.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

PanelView Plus – Error on Replacement Unit: Kepware Drivers Missing

By
Shawn Tierney
-

In this edition of “Community Q & A” (formerly “Insight’s Inbox”,) I discuss with one of our community members at https:// TheAutomationBlog.com/join what might be causing the issue he is having with his replacement PanelView Plus.

PanelView Plus 600 Front

Community Question:

Our PanelView Plus 600 went bad, so in it’s place we installed a PanelView Plus 6 600.

Everything works fine, except for the A-B motor that was setup with KEPserver Enterprise.

I’ve never worked with the KEPware drivers so the PanelView Plus can communicate with this device (motor).

How can I get the new panel to communicate with the motor?

Shawn’s Reply:

Thanks for posting you community question! Below I’ll share my thoughts:

When a PanelView Plus Project file, a .MER file, is created it includes all the RSLinx Enterprise and KEPserver Driver configuration files used in the application in FactoryTalk View Machine Edition.

But while the Runtime includes the configuration, a brand new (or reset to defaults) PanelView Plus only has the RSLinx Enterprise drivers pre-installed, and any additional KEPserver Drivers you wish to use must be installed by the user.

So based on the information in your post, the first step I would recommend would be to install the same KEPserver driver that the original programmer installed on the old PanelView Plus onto your new PanelView Plus 6.

The way you install KEPserver drivers onto a PanelView Plus is to flash the terminals firmware (which also erases it, so don’t forget to backup any files or settings you need a copy of.)

For more information about flashing your PVPlus’s firmware, check out my previous content below:

During the firmware flashing process, you will be asked if you would like to include any KEPserver drivers, at which point you should choose the same KEPserver driver that was installed on the old PanelView Plus (see example of this in the below picture.)

In summary, once you get the KEPserver driver installed on the new PanelView Plus, the old configuration files in your existing Runtime file should work.

If you have a question you’d like me to answer, please don’t hesitate to post it to me at https:// TheAutomationBlog.com/join.

And to learn more about the PanelView Plus, check out my PanelView Plus course at TheAutomationSchool.com in which you’ll learn how to setup, edit and maintain the PVPlus HMI.

For a limited time, students who enroll in my PVP Basics+™ course also receive my upcoming PVPlus course, Ultimate PVP™ free of charge.

To find out more, check out the PVP Basics+™ course homepage 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.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

PanelView 800 – Connecting to a MicroLogix 1100 via Ethernet

By
Brandon Cooper
-

In my first article on the PanelView 800 I discussed getting acquainted with the terminal and software and creating the CCW project.

In this article I plan to connect to a controller and cover the necessary steps to start making things happen needed to implement a project.

MicroLogix 1100

To setup the MircoLogix I gave it a name of “HOME,” an IP address of 192.168.1.11, and also added a couple of lines of logic to be used in my PV800 graphic displays. Note that MicroLogix 1100 is programmed using RSLogix 500 software.

Editor’s Note: The MicroLogix 1000 and 1100 can also be programmed with RSLogix Micro Starter Lite which can be downloaded for free here.

CCW Project, Panelview 800 Device Communication Settings

After adding the PV800 to the project, simply double-click on the terminal to bring up the terminal settings.

Here, Communications, User Accounts, Languages and all other main parameters are set to make the terminal a connected part of the rest of your project.

Under the “Communication” tab, I selected “Ethernet | Allen-Bradley MicroLogix/ENI” as the communication protocol.

I then added the controller name of my MicroLogix 1100 as shown below, as well as the IP address of the MircoLogix 1100 controller.

CCW Project Tags

Any tags that I plan to use in my graphic displays will need to be added to the “Tags” database.

Here I add three Boolean tags and one processor status tag (16 bit integer) to the tag database and select “HOME” as the controller, which is of course, my MicroLogix 1100.

The tags will be pushbuttons to Start/Latch an Output and Stop/Unlatch the same Output as well as monitor the Maximum Scan Time of the Processor.

CCW Project Screens

I built my first screen and named it “HOME_1100” to interact with the MicroLogix 1100, then added two momentary pushbuttons to the screen.

To change color properties, fonts and other information, double-click on the pushbuttons to get the pop-up window below. On the right side of the display will be the “properties” window where you will actually assign the “Tags” to the pushbuttons.

The “Write Tag” will be “PB_START” and the “Indicator Tag” will be “RUN_OUT”, as shown below.

I also wanted to make use of the drawing tools. While they are adequate, don’t expect to be too fancy. I was disappointed that there is no ability to “Group” objects together and/or downsize the object after drawing it.

I drew a MicroLogix controller, but had no way to group the objects or downsize it, so just be aware that this isn’t as full featured as other Rockwell software.

Next, on the Terminal Settings Page, I “Validated” and “Downloaded” my project to the PVP Terminal.

Runtime

At runtime, I pressed the “Start” button and the Status on the display changed to “Running” as well as turns green as it sees the feedback from the “RUN_OUT” tag.

I also see the processor Max Scan Time value of 31ms display as well.

Conclusion

Communication setup from the PV800 to the MicroLogix 1100 was very straightforward and configuration time is very short with this system. Once you get a project started, you can be connected and functional in a just a few minutes.

With very few settings and ease of configuration, the PV800 is a viable option for small projects. Hopefully, you were able to pick up something here today and I hope your first Connected Components Workbench project goes smoothly.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

PanelView 800 – Getting Started

By
Brandon Cooper
-

When I’m given a project to implement a new control system, my first inclination is to go out and get the latest and greatest processor, HMI and any other toys that I can to make the project “cool”, I mean successful.

However, when the budget constraints are conveyed to me, I must evaluate what will do the job within budget constraints. One option when looking at a small-scale project, is the PanelView 800 HMI.

This Allen-Bradley HMI is configured using the Connected Components Workbench software, and connects to Micro800 series controllers, as well as MicroLogix controllers, and some CompactLogix controllers (in addition to many Modbus devices, as well as compatible SLC-500 and PLC-5 controllers – Ed.)

In this series, I want to investigate some of the features and “how-to” aspects of the PV800  and share what I learned along the way.

Software

My first order of business was to download the latest version of Connected Components Workbench, version 13.0, which was released in March of 2021.

Terminal Navigation

Terminal navigation is essentially the Communication Settings, File Management, and System Settings, like Clock and Display Settings, similar to most Panelview models.

The only parameter that I set up is the IP Address to connect to my Ethernet network.

Terminal Firmware

The PV800 Terminal I was using was at version 4.013 (You can find this under the “System Information” button from the Main Menu) and needed to be upgraded to match compatibility with Connected Components Workbench version 13.0, so I flashed the terminal firmware with ControlFlash Software to bring the terminal’s firmware to 6.011.

Creating a Project in CCW

After opening the Connected Components Workbench software, under the “Project” area in the middle of the page, I select “New..” and give the project a name “HOME_TESTING” and select “Create”.

Adding a Device in the CCW Project

My next step is to add my PanelView 800 (model: 2711R-T7T) to my CCW project. There are two ways to do it.

First, as shown below you can click the “Add Device” option in the project window, scroll down and find the correct component, click “Select” and then “Add to Project” to add it manually.

Another option to add a device to the project is to select the small button (that looks like three small components connected by pins) that has the tool tip shown below “Discover device from connection browser”.

This button will open RSLinx Classic and allow you to browse to a device and add it to the project automatically.

This will be a good place to leave off with initial setup of the PanelView 800 and Connected Components Workbench software. In the next article, we will dive into the project and start making things come together.

Conclusion

Some of the most time-consuming pieces to starting a project take place before you can even start to build your first graphic display.

Downloading the latest version of Connected Components Workbench and researching version compatibility (from Rockwell’s PCDC) are time-consuming but necessary tasks.

Flashing any needed firmware, thinking through your network, setting up IP addresses for your engineering station, PanelView 800 and any controller the PanelView will connect to, are also necessary tasks and covered further in the next articles as we progress through the project.

Hopefully this series will be as beneficial to you as it is to me. Learn something new and make something better every day. That IS what we do for a living.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

Siemens, Rockwell, Wago Events This Week and Next (M5E13)

By
Shawn Tierney
-

We review the agendas for this week’s Siemens Innovation Virtual Event and Wago’s NodeRED Webinar, as well as next week’s ROKLive Event from Rockwell in Episode 13 of The Automation Minute Season 5.

The Automation Minute, Season 5 Episode 13 Show Notes:

Below are links below to each event discussed in today’s video:
– Siemens Innovations – the Future of Automation, June 23-24
– Edge Computer & NodeRED in gateway applications, June 24th
– ROKLive June 29-30, Virtual Event

Join our new community at TheAutomationBlog.com/join!

Become part of our community to take part in the Q&A as well as get early access to many of our Podcasts and Shows with a one-time or monthly pledge of $5

Vendors: Would you like your product featured on the Podcast, Show or Blog? If you would, please contact me at: https://theautomationblog.com/contact

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.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

First Look: IFM Temperature Sensor (M5E12)

By
Shawn Tierney
-

We take a first look at the TN2511 Temperature Sensor from IFM in this episode of The Automation Minute.

The Automation Minute, Season 5 Episode 12 Show Notes:

Special thanks to IFM for sending us a sample of their TN2511 Temperature Sensor.

Join our new community at TheAutomationBlog.com/join!

Become part of our community to take part in the Q&A as well as get early access to many of our Podcasts and Shows with a one-time or monthly pledge of $5

Vendors: Would you like your product featured on the Podcast, Show or Blog? If you would, please contact me at: https://theautomationblog.com/contact

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.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

View Designer – Trend and Emulator

By
Brandon Cooper
-

While many times underutilized in an HMI, everyone involved in a manufacturing process benefits from trended data, or at least, they would benefit if they used it.

Operators can monitor the direction of their process and better understand how things are controlling and operating, maintenance personnel can use trends to detect and troubleshoot problems and engineers can use them to tune controls and stabilize operations, just to name a few.

In today’s article, I’ll take a look at setting up a Trend Chart in Studio 5000 View Designer.

Adding a Trend to a View Designer Screen

In my simulation project that I have covered for several weeks, I have now added another user-defined graphic page called “TrendData” in which I will add a Trend Chart to view at runtime.

In the following screenshot, you can see the toolbox has a section called “TrendCharts” and a “Trend Chart” object that I will add to my blank screen.

Here I add the “Trend Chart” to my HMI Screen called “TrendData”

Under the Properties tab on the right side of View Designer, I set my trend background colors, widths of lines and other basic properties to get my trend chart looking the way that I wish for it to display at runtime.

Adding Traces

Traces are what would also be called “pens” in trending terminology. They are the values that are to be trended at runtime.

On the “Traces” tab, click on the “Add Trace” button to begin adding values to the Trend Chart.

Here, I have added four traces and assigned tags from my Compact Logix Controller tags.

Project Emulator

Normally I would download my Trend Chart additions to my PanelView 5510, but here I want to make use of a feature in View Designer – the Project Emulator.

The emulator will allow you to test your View Designer project without having to download to physical Panelview hardware. This is only a testing solution, because the maximum runtime for the emulator is two hours.

The only setup to running the emulator is found in the project properties, under the references tab. Here I set the path for my emulator to reach my controller as shown below.

Next, under “Project” select “Emulate Project” to start the Emulator.

Here my emulator is running and I view my “TrendData” screen. When I am happy with all of my changes, then I can download to my Panelview 5510.

References

Conclusion

Building trends and traces in View Designer is about as simple to figure out as any other graphical addition, but putting forth the forethought and adding the needed trends to your project can make all the difference.

Testing with the emulator is a great feature because it allows you to see your changes at runtime without having to download to your Panelview hardware each time. My best to you in trending your valuable data.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

TIA Portal – v17: What’s New (P71)

By
Shawn Tierney
-

In this episode of The Automation Podcast, I sit down with John DeTellem and Luis Narvaez with Siemens to learn what’s new in TIA Portal v17.

For more information, check out the “Show Notes” located below the video.

Watch the Podcast:


The Automation Podcast is also available on most Video and Podcasting platforms, and direct links to each can be found here.

Listen to the Podcast:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Automation Podcast, Episode 71 Show Notes:

Special thanks to John DeTellem and Luis Narvaez with Siemens taking the time to come on the show and tell us all about the new features in TIA Portal v17!

Catch the Siemens online event next week here.

Vendors: Would you like your product featured on the Podcast, Show or Blog? If you would, please contact me at: https://theautomationblog.com/contact

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.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

View Studio Machine Edition – Editing Projects, Applications, Runtimes

By
Shawn Tierney
-

The PanelView Plus from Rockwell Automation was released back in 2003, and over the years countless thousands have been installed in applications across the world.

And like with any HMI, over time many End Users find they want to make changes to the project running on their PanelView Plus, but many quite honestly don’t know where to start.

To help address that question, today I’ll walk through the seven steps you need to take to successfully change or update the project on your PanelView Plus HMI Terminal.

NOTE: The best and quickest way to edit a PanelView Plus application is to start with the latest PanelView Plus View Machine Edition Application Archive File (.APA) as this is the file that the development software backs up to and restores a project from.

To learn how to backup (and restore) projects to an .APA file, see this article.

If you don’t have the .APA application file (or don’t have the password to it,) you may or may not be able to “recover” the project from the PanelView Plus itself, as it users a .MER runtime file.

In the rest of this article I’ll cover what you need to know if you’d like to try and “recover” the project from a .MER Runtime, file with links to several articles that dive deeper into this subject.

The bottom line is, if your .MER file is of a newer version and was created allowing conversion (see image below,) and it is not passworded or you have the correct password, you should not have an issue “recovering” / restoring / converting the .MER Runtime File into an Application you can edit in ViewStudio:

Step 1) Find the exact Catalog Number of your PanelView Plus HMI

The first step is to identify the exact model you have, which can easily be done by safely looking on the back of the HMI itself.

PanelView Plus 6 600 Compact Rear

This is necessary because over the last 18 years many different models have been released, including the original PanelView Plus, the VersaView CE (later renamed the PanelView Plus CE,) the PanelView Plus Compact, the PanelView Plus 6 and Plus 6 Compact, and the PanelView Plus 7 Standard and Performance.

Step 2) Finding your PanelView Plus Firmware Version

One thing I’ve always appreciated about the PanelView Plus is how (contrary to popular belief) newer PanelView Plus firmware is backward compatible with older runtime files.

By this I mean if you have a PanelView Plus 6 with firmware 8, it will run a project from an original PanelView Plus designed in version 3.0 of the software.

That said, the hardware itself has changed over time, with each iteration of the PanelView Plus supporting fewer communications options.

For instance, while the original PanelView Plus supported Remote IO and DeviceNet, the PanelView Plus 6 models dropped support for those two IO networks.

And the latest model, the PanelView Plus 7, only supports Ethernet. This change prevents those using the PVPlus or PVPlus 6 with DF1, DH-485, DH Plus, and ControlNet from easily migrating to the Plus 7.

This is why many End Users upgrade from the original PanelView Plus to the Plus 6 as most option boards, networks, screen resolutions, and cutouts are identical.

Step 3) PanelView Plus Programming Software

Next, if you want to edit the project file yourself, you’ll need a copy of FactoryTalk View Studio Machine Edition, which was originally released as RSView Machine Edition and included support for the PanelView Plus in version 3.0.

If you need to purchase a copy of View Studio ME, you’re going to receive the latest version, which will allow you to avoid a lot of issues that previous versions had trying to open old 32 bit projects on 64 bit operating systems.

But the downside of using a new version of the software to edit older projects is that newer versions will only create runtimes file back to version 5.0.

So if you have version 4.0 or earlier firmware in your PanelView Plus you’ll need to flash it up to 5.1 for maximum compatibility.

For more about flashing your PanelView Plus’s firmware, see my articles below:

Step 4) Uploading your PanelView Plus runtime file

Whether you think you have the latest runtime file or not, it’s always a good idea to backup the actual runtime project on the PanelView Plus prior to flashing a PanelView Plus’s firmware, or downloading an updated runtime file.

You can do this by using the free Transfer Utility, or by using the built-in Configuration Menu. You can even use “auto-run” scripts on a flash memory card or USB drive to copy the runtime files on your PVPlus:

Step 5) Editing the PanelView Plus project

When attempting to edit a PanelView Plus project, users can run into one of three issues:

  1. The Runtime (.MER) or Application (.APA) file has a password you don’t know
  2. The Runtime (.MER) file was set to be un-editable (set to “never allow conversion”)
  3. The Runtime (.MER) file is of a legacy version that is not editable

If you’ve run into one of these issues, see my article below where I cover them in more detail:

Step 6) Creating and Downloading a PanelView Plus Runtime File

Once you’ve made your edits, you’re ready to create a compatible runtime file and download it your PanelView Plus, something I do using the free Transfer Utility in the below videos:

If you prefer to use a memory stick, I also cover that procedure in the below article:

That said, it’s very important to set your “new application” as the “default application” if you’d like it to automatically start whenever you powerup your PanelView Plus.

I cover this in the above two videos, pointing out the checkbox you need to check when downloading to the PVPlus using the Transfer Utility.

But if you’re using another means to copy your runtime file onto your PVPlus, you’ll need to set your “new runtime” file as the “default” yourself (unless you use the same file name as the runtime file currently set as the default) which I cover in the below article:

Step 7) Testing your new project

Once you’ve downloaded a new runtime file to your PanelView Plus, you should thoroughly test it prior to going back into production.

Whether it’s to be sure you didn’t make any typos, or you just want to verify you edited and downloaded the correct project, testing any new code prior to going into production is a best practice that should always be followed.

Step 8) Become Proficient using View Studio and the PanelView Plus

While many facilities will opt to hire an integrator to make changes to their systems, some will prefer to have this ability in house.

If you’re in the latter category, consider enrolling in my PanelView Plus course at TheAutomationSchool.com in which you’ll learn how to setup, edit and maintain these the PVPlus HMI.

And for a limited time, students who enroll in my PVP Basics+™ course also receive my upcoming PVPlus course, Ultimate PVP™ free of charge.

To find out more, check out the PVP Basics+™ course homepage 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.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

First Look: PLCnext Starter Kit (M5E11)

By
Shawn Tierney
-

We take a first look at the PLCnext Starter Kit from Phoenix Contact in this episode of The Automation Minute.

The Automation Minute, Season 5 Episode 11 Show Notes:

Special thanks to Phoenix Contact for sending us a sample of their PLCnext Starter Kit.

Join our new community at TheAutomationBlog.com/join!

Become part of our community to take part in the Q&A as well as get early access to many of our Podcasts and Shows with a one-time or monthly pledge of $5

Vendors: Would you like your product featured on the Podcast, Show or Blog? If you would, please contact me at: https://theautomationblog.com/contact

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.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

View Designer – Language Switching

By
Brandon Cooper
-

One of my favorite things about my home state of Louisiana is culture. We have a blend of many beautiful cultures and out of that comes some of the best food, entertainment and zeal for life I have known anywhere.

While I could write volumes on all of that, I will move on to my point, that, no matter where you are in the world today, the diverse cultures will likely bring the need for different languages in the manufacturing environment.

In this article, I want to implement language switching in my View Designer/Panelview 5510 project and discuss what I learned along the way.

Default Language

  • In the main “Project Properties” tab, you can set the “Default Language” for the Project that will begin when the project starts up.

Adding a Language or Languages to the Project

The first step is to export the project language file (to excel) so that it can be modified. Select “Tools>Export Languages…” as shown below.

Next, I need to select additional Language(s) that I want to add to the project. In this example case, I am going to add Spanish to my project as shown below. Then click “Export”.

When you open the excel file, you will see the added language column to the right of the default language column and it will be empty. All the translations are manually done, so I had to look up translations for every word or phrase and add them to the project. Note: Any translations that are left blank will revert to the default language at runtime.

After making all needed translations, it is time to import the language file back to the project. Select “Tools>Import Languages…” as shown below.

Select the language file and click the “Open” button.

You will see the following message with the language to be added. Click the “Import” button.

Changing Languages at Runtime

To change languages at runtime, I added two buttons to my project. One button to swap to Spanish and the other to swap back to English. The button to swap to Spanish is shown below. Under “Button Behavior”, I chose “Switch Language on Release” and Selected “Spanish (Mexico)” from the drop down menu. I then saved and downloaded my project.

At Runtime

When I select the “spanish/espanol” button you can see in this screenshot that the button texts all change to their translation that I placed in the language file.

A consideration when switching languages, you will see in the below screenshot that due to the translation differences, text lengths will change often at a loss to the viewer.

These text length changes will have to be resolved at each translation so the text appears correctly at runtime.

For example “Running” in English is translated to “Corriendo” in Spanish. I would need to make this text display just a little longer in the project to display correctly in both English and Spanish at Runtime.

References

Conclusion

Language switching in your project is a valuable tool in a diverse manufacturing environment.

Even if a person can speak more than one language, if there is confusion, they can always switch to their native language and resolve the confusion.

Best to you in your endeavors ahead in multiple languages.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

Sponsor and Advertise: Get your product or service in front of our 75K followers while also supporting independent automation journalism by sponsoring or advertising with us! Learn more in our Media Guide here, or contact us using this form.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)
 

CCW – v13: What’s New Connected Components Workbench (P70)

By
Shawn Tierney
-

In this episode of The Automation Podcast, I sit down with Jie Hong of Rockwell Automation to get an overview of the new features of Connected Components Workbench Version 13.

Note: As this episode was not sponsored by the vendor, the video edition is only available to our members here on The Automation Blog and on YouTube. For more information, check out the “Show Notes” located below the video.

Watch to the Podcast on The Automation Blog:

[/membership]

Listen to the Podcast:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Automation Podcast, Episode 70 Show Notes:

Special thanks to our members for making this show possible! To learn more about becoming a member, click here.

Learn about other releases:

Check out our coverage of other releases of CCW below:

Vendors: Would you like your product featured on the Podcast, Show or Blog? If you would, please contact me at: https://theautomationblog.com/contact

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.

Brandon Cooper
Latest posts by Brandon Cooper (see all)

Logix and View Designer – Using the HMIBC

By
Brandon Cooper
-

I really should investigate release notes more, you learn all kinds of things. I ran across something in the View Designer manual called an “HMIBC” so I was curious as to what it is.

Created for high-speed inputs from an HMI Device, this HMI Button Control is an instruction in Logix Designer that can be triggered from an HMI device at an I/O speed rate and provide an input to jog a motor or open a valve with high precision.

Notes about the HMIBC

  • A controller supports up to 256 HMIBC tags
  • An HMIBC tag only communicates with a Panelview 5000 series if it is in the I/O Configuration Tree in Studio 5000 Logix Designer
  • Rockwell recommends not writing to any other tags on the screen if an HMIBC tag is being written to

Setting up the HMIBC in Logix Designer

The first step is to add the PV 5510 to the I/O Configuration Tree in Logix Designer.

A little side benefit of adding the Panelview to the I/O Configuration tree is that you get status tags from the HMI.

There are a couple of good things I can think of to do with those.

The next step is to select an HMIBC instruction from the instruction set and add it to a rung in logic.

It is located in the “HMI” instruction header. Create a new tag with the “HMIBC” data type.

Setting Up the HMIBC in View Designer

In my View Designer project, I set up a Sump Pump in a containment area to pump out any excess or spilled liquid from the tank.

The Sump Pump would only run if the “JOG” button is pressed and to do this I set up my jog button behavior as “Logix HMIBC set to 1 on press, 0 on release” as shown in the following screenshot. I then saved and downloaded my project to the Panelview 5510.

 At Runtime

 At Runtime, I can press the “JOG” HMIBC and as expected the tag in the controller comes on:

References

Conclusion

While it could typically be used in special scenarios, it is always good to know the tools that are in your tool-bag, just-in-case the need should arise for the special tool.

If you are in to drive systems and other specialties, this may be a frequently used tool, but for those of us that do a little bit of this and a little bit of that, it would be a little less common.

Having said that, I learned something new today and that makes me a better control-systems’ engineer for it. Hope you picked up something here today as well.

My best to you in implementing your first high-speed  HMIBC.

Written by Brandon Cooper
Senior Controls Engineer and Freelance Writer

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Brandon Cooper
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