In Control

Rob wrote:

I have a programming/operational question as follows; My machine has a vacuum arm which contacts an empty bag and picks it up. The vacuum arm has a spring-loaded micro switch on it (normally open) which, when it contacts the bag, closes (an input). This causes the vacuum arm to reverse and now the spring loaded micro switch is, physically (open), OFF.

From a programming view, do I still need to tell the controller that the switch is OFF (open) in order for it to be used again (eg. waiton) as an input to do a different function??

This may sound like a stupid question but it is to clear up what is physically going on versus what the controller believes is the state of an input.

Kelly wrote:

Hi David

I'm converting some older code to multitask.

In subroutines where I have used PAUSE or similar, can I just use the
supertimer and do I need to have all "yieldtask" instructions in the
task itself ?

Kelly wrote further:

In the example below with a star delta type setup, where there is Pause instruction in the subroutine which is illegal. I guess I would have to move the StarDeltaStart subroutine into the Task1 routine itself.

LaunchTask      Task1
LaunchTask      Task2

Task1
 yieldtask      
 gosub  StarDeltaStart
 goto   Task1

StarDeltaStart
 on     StarRelay
 pause  200
 Off    StarRelay
 pause  50
 on DeltaRelay
 return

Dean wrote:

How can CC16's be connected to a RS485 network?

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.

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

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 ?

Andrew wrote:

I'm interested in using the CC16 to control a small automatic switchboard (PAX) for the old decadic dial type telephones. This would be used as a demonstration unit for a collection of old phones.

Could one of the inputs count a variable number of pulses (i.e. 1 to 10) at a rate of 10 pulses per second for a second and then have the program store the count as the digit dialled?

Nathan wrote:

Hello, For a device I am developing I need to be able to output a PWM signal (for servo control) in fractions between 1 and 2 mS. I have seen that there is a command which can output a signal in whole units of mSecs, but is there a way to break it down into finer incremements?

Richard wrote (edited for confidentiality):

Hello David; I have a problem that I have been wrestling with for a week or more and now need some help with it.

I have a geared AC motor which I turn on with a 24V relay. When it is in its target position a PEC turns on, turns off the relay and the motor stops. But the motor free-wheels long enough that the mechanism overshoots the position where it should stop. No problem! I just reverse the motor, wait for the PEC to turn on again, turn off the motor but it overshoots in the other direction. No Problem. I just turn it on, pause (say 50 mS), then off (50 mS) while waiting for the PEC to turn on again. In other words, use short pulses to pulse it back into position to prevent overshooting. But here's the problem:

Is there any way to set a PAUSE with a number in W? I have an j indexed program (15 channel) and need to have a pause for each one set by a multitude of parameters.

I want to measure a slow-speed (~1 sec) digital event using an input line on a CC16. The On time is about 50mS. What is an example of efficient MultiTrack code to measure the pulse interval?

Kim asked:

Hi David,

Can I connect 2 x FP16 and 1 x XIRO16 to a MMi202 and still see the IO's in the simulator window?

Kim asked:

Is it possible to use just one I/O on a XBIO16 with bidirectional I/O's and connect both a button and a LED to one I/O and when the button goes low the input changes to an output and turns on the LED (and stays until canceled by the program) ?

Kim asked:

Is there an easy way of converting inputs into semaphores, ie:

Read 8 inputs into X

Convert each bit into a semaphore (presume a bytes or 8 bits has been allocated, ie SemOne, SemTwo etc)

or do I have to save each one separately?

Kim, look here. The secret is that you must declare the semaphores using manual (mEQU) rather than automatic memory allocation (defSEM).

George asked:

Hello David,

Quick question if you don't mind regarding your convention in SKB for your use of the letter "t"

I've noticed t seems to refer to timer number in old scheme, but
tt )
tttt ) I'm wondering what the difference is.
tttttt )

With apologies to Damon Runyon

I'm sitting at my desk late one afternoon, thinking I could get lucky and be out of here by 5 o'clock, when the phone rings. I pick up the phone and I say as follows: "Hello, SPLat support line".

On the 'phone this voice says: "Is 'dat 'de SPLat support line?".

Now, where I come from if someone answers the phone with "Mindy's Restaurant" I know I've gotten through to Mindy's. In fact, if I dial the number for Mindy's I'm going to give very long odds indeed against the phone being answered "White House Washington". So I decide to ignore a question being answered with a question, and I say: "How may I help you?"

Kim asked:

Hi David

On the Xwire scheme is it possible to have a master and a slave and if the master drops out, the slave becomes the new master ? Like a redundancy type setup.

Also, based on the redundancy scheme, if 2 separate power supplies are used to power each board, what special considerations do I need to take ?

Hi David

I have 5 semaphores declared as

sVeryImportant     defsem   1
sQuiteImportant    defsem   2
sImportant         defsem   3
sLessImportant     defsem   4
sNotImportant      defsem   5

The above semaphores decided which task controls a motor. Obviously only one task can control the motor at any one time.

However, the above semaphores are prioritised and the Very Important semaphore cannot give up the task until its finished its task. And likewise a less important semaphores cannot take over from a more important semaphore, though a more important semaphore MUST take over from a less important semaphore.

Dick asked:

Hello David; I just re-flashed my mmi201i board with V.3.17 which resulted in dialect 18. I was planning to use the instruction fPULSE0 but it can only be used with D=>19. Is there anything I can do to have D19 on my board?

Also, when re-flashing, the panel identified my board as $0040. Where on the board or elsewhere can that number be verified?

Keith asked:

I have recently purchased a MMi202 and am trying to connect the board to my PC. I have checked the following- The MMi202 board has power. The serial cable is straight through (used a multimeter to check pin to pin). Tried to connect to board from 2 separate computers.

After clicking on the connect button of the Module window the display changes to Disc/Run/Stop display for a few seconds and then returns to the connect button display.

Any suggestions on how to proceed. Thanks.

Henry asked:

Hi.

Just a quick question on the MMi202 memory. When I use the PermStore instruction am I saving to flash or eeprom?? I need to know the life cycle of the memory. I read in the knowledge base somewhere that the memory can wear out. Or has the MMi202 got both? I need to write to flash since it has a greater life span then eeprom.

George asked:

I'm currently debugging a sizable program (approx 2500 lines in the editor, lots of comments). I'm setting strategic breakpoints - F9 - so that I can step through bits I'm having problems with. Can I, and if so, how, load the breakpoint character into the Find window (Ctrl+F) so as to remove these breakpoints when I'm done.

Denny wondered:

What is the dialect for my MMi201 controller?

I checked on the hardware, the Help Section, did a search, etc., but I couldn't find it.

George asked:

I'm setting MMi02 up to read 0-5V Pressure Transducers. I gather from SKB that no jumpers are required at all on the analogue input configuration pins for 0-5V Mode. Would you please confirm this?

When programming for 0 - 5V does 10 bit range then refer to 5V equ 1.0 or do I still have to base the maths based on 10V equ 1.0? It's not clear to me from SKB.

Kevin asked:

Is it possible to extract the elapsed time into W since the MARKTIME command or the actual time itself?

And the GETTICK 10 & 100 commands, I do not quite get how they are intended to be used.

Michael asked:

I have a new CC16. Is there a means of online communication with a PC? For Data Acquisition, setting control parameters, MMI connection etc.

I will have no difficulty learning to use program however I need to use as many as five outputs on one line. I can not find the method in the tutorial. Great program

Rab asked:

In a Multi Tracking program with 4 Tasks and each task has the ability to turn on a (common) siren if in a trouble situation.

How can I disable the siren output for a period (say 20 min) from a input and have the siren reset and be ready to operate again after the 20 minute period?

Don wondered:

Howdy, bought a controller off you last week and I was wondering how do you read the program back off the board? I have worked through the online tutorial (love it) and I couldn't remember what the last program I transferred was, and I couldn't find any reference to it in the SKB.

Karl queried:

I'm working on a project where I need to control a motor, based on the feedback from an quadrature encoder.

I'm trying to do on the fly speed calculations of the encoder but can't get my head around how to do speed calculations as I need to know the time constant between pulse readings.

Any suggestions ?

Hi David Please --- is there provision on the MMi202 Board of a voltage supply to run the 0-20 mA current loop. I have a PT100 transmitter/amplifier which will run from 10 to 30v and is powered by the current loop itself and would like to be able to use this thing for temperature sensing for control. many thanks cheers