In Control

Peter wrote:

We are using a MMi202 controller in conjunction with an instrument which has a 4mA-20mA signal output for control. Does the voltage of this signal have any significance? We have measured the signal at 15Vdc.

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When you sign up for something online, like a newsletter or to make a purchase, you have to give out an email address. With this comes the risk of your address being harvested and used to send you spam.

Now there's a neat way of protecting yourself from this.

Just over a year ago (May 7 2006) I launched a web page comparing SPLat programming with other controller languages. At the same time I issued an open challenge to any competitors. So far no competitor has come forward. Here's the challenge:

Rich wrote:

Hi David; I am considering the separate purchase of the LCD for my MMi202OEM controllers, in production. Can you tell me the name of one or more manufacturers whose mounting holes would match the face panel? Also, what other components would I need to purchase( driver, contrast pot)?? Thanks, Rich

We recently launched our non-technical Tour for OEMs. This has worked very well in helping new visitors to our website get a quick overview of SPLat from one point of view. We now made a new tour for the more technically minded. The Tour for Techies will give you a quick sample of what it is like to use SPLat from an electrical and programming point of view. It is accessible from our home page.

Hi David,

I'm trying to make a fault code which display onto the LCD.

I wish to make it like a circular buffer which has up to, say 10, faults recorded. Also I wish to display the most significant fault onto the LCD.

The way I visualise it, is that I give each fault a number, ie 0 to 255 (or to whatever the highest fault number is) and then sort the faults and display the highest priority first, until cleared, and then the next fault etc.

However, I'm having trouble doing a sort in splat, any ideas ?

A friend just forwarded me one of those self-perpetuating emails that go around. This one was about credit card scams. It makes an interesting read.

I had noticed that our Field Engineer in Boston, Fred Pacilli, had not been visible on my Skype screen for a couple of days. That means his computer was turned off. Fred just wrote me this:

Australia's ABC television just aired an incredible documentary about oil, where it comes from and what burning it is doing to our planet. They have posted the whole program here. It makes a very convincing case for why and how our planet could soon be plunged into a runaway super greenhouse effect.

If you run a small business, have you considered the dangers of losing a key employee? This brief article in the online newsletter Get to the Point is a must-read! It's written from the point of view of a sales force, but applies equally to any area of your business.