Versamax Micro High Speed Counters

Hi everybody,

I registered to this forum because I simply can't figure it out, how to properly set HSC in Proficy Machine Edition for my Versamax Micro.

I wired Chanel 1 to energy meter which provides me with pulses for Wh. The reason why I need to go with HSC is that pulse length for this energy meter is 20ms and PLC sweep time is 100ms and I would lose pulses with normal method. BTWY: There are not a lot of these pulses, perhaps 5/second.

So I set the Chanel 1 for Type A, Counter, 0-32767, TimeBase to 1000 ms (because I don't know what is this)...

The idea is to run my Energy block and get current counter value which should be between 0 and 32767. I could store current counter value and calculate the differance on the next run to get number of pulses during last run. I could also program a logic if the pulse counter has rotated (if new value is less then previous value).

The problem is that I don't know how to make HSC work. Do I have to run some command to make him start or did he already started when I set the settings? In which register is the counter accumulater stored?
Will it work the way I planned?


Thanks, BK

The manual for the VersaMax Micro PLC is GFK-1645. Chapter twelve details the operation of the high speed counters. The accumulated value for counter 1 when the HSC is configured as four Type A counters is in %AI006.

Steve, thanks for your help. I have found this manual on the web and read it. I have set the new integer parameter on the %AI006 and it counts something (I am viewing the valuest through Watch windows).
The problem is that the value reset itselfs to zero every 1min aprox. 4 seconds. It should reset only when the high limit is reached, right?

When configured for continuous counting the accumulated count will roll over when it reaches the count limit. If you want it to stop until reset, configure it for one-shot counting.

No, I would like it to count from 0 to some value, let's say 32676. I would like it to reach 32676 and then reset to 0.
The problem is that iven if I have set Low limit to 0, and High limit to 32676, and direction UP, I can see value 3, then 10, then 15, then 0. It never reaches not even 100. Sometimes it resets at 37, sometimes at 48... always after apx. 64 seconds...

Is anything connected to input 2? By default configuration that is the reset command for counter 1.

Yes, I have all DI's used. On input 2 there is another energy counter - which currently have very stable usage. If this is the reset switch this could be it.
How can I change that?
Input 2 is not configured as HSC, beacuse the pulse length there is long enough for me to catch it with "normal" method.

In the configuration of the HSC, change the "Preload/Strobe" parameter to "Strobe". The input will then be interpreted as a command to copy the accumulated count to the strobe register (%AI007 for counter 1).

Thanks Steve, it looks much better now. Altough I get some weird values at %AI0006, the Strobe output at %AI0007 looks ok.
I will leave it like this for a while and then see if everything is ok (ompared with the value on energy meter's LCD).

Thanks a milion!

After few days of observation I noticed that DI at Chanel 2 (which is not configured as HSC) still triggers the read of Strobe value for Chanel 1.
This presents me with a problem because if I don't have energy usage at Meter 2, then I don't know what I use with Meter 1.

When you setup %I1 as Type A Counter %I2 is either a preset or Strobe for %I1, it cannot be used as a "normal" input for any other purpose.
This is explained in the GFK-1645 Manual.
From Page 392 of GFK-1645L

Depending on the configuration for Preload/Strobe, the Preload/Strobe Input can either preload a value into the Accumulator or strobe the accumulator value into a register. Preload/Strobe signals are always positive edge-sensitive.

Click to expand...

Russ thanks for the super fast response. I do not quite understand what is Strobe and what Preload... If I leave DI2 empty (move current Meter 2 to another DI), will I have values for HSC on Chanel 1 for every PLC scan?

Input 1 and input 2 are both assigned to counter 1. Input 1 is the count signal. You have configured input 2 to be interpreted as a strobe command. The action in response to the strobe command is to copy the value in the accumulator (%AI006 for counter 1) to the strobe register (%AI007 for counter 1). The copy action takes place at the off-to-on transition of the strobe command. The value in the accumulator (%AI006) continues to increase.
If you want to count pulses from the other energy meter, inputs 3 & 4 are assigned to counter number 2, inputs 5 & 6 are assigned to counter number 3, inputs 7 & 8 are assigned to counter number 4. The inputs assigned to unused counters can be used for any other purpose.
In my opinion GE made a poor choice in wording the instructions for the HSC function when they chose "preload" for the other configuration of the second input. I would have used the word "reset". When input 2 is configured to be "preload", the value in the accumulator (%AI006) is "preloaded" with the preload value. The default preload value is zero. So, when input 2 changes from off to on, the value in %AI006 is driven to zero. I prefer to call that resetting the counter rather than preloading it.

Thank you for explaining this. I am really impressed with this forum; I am simply not used of so fast and efficient responses.

So input 1 in counter and input 2 is command input - copy/read (strobe) or reset (preload). From my point of view (non-expert + my application is a little bit specific) I don't see any need for input 2. One should be able to just read the counter values... without having to have electrical signal teling him when he will read it. But I guess they had some reasons why it is generaly needed to have input 2.

Would it work if I left my configuration for chanel 1 as strobe, and wire energy meter 1 to both input 1 and 2? Just put a little brick between them. I can find another input for energy meter 2. This way everytime I would get pulse and I would also execute command to copy from counter to strobe register %AI007 which I would read eventualy during PLC scan...

Remember your original problem. You had the output from your second energy meter connected to input 2 which was resetting counter 1 every time the second energy meter sent out a pulse. I interpreted your comments to mean that you did not have any more discrete inputs available, and the pulse frequency from the second energy meter was slow enough that you could handle the signals in ladder logic. I suggested you change the configuration for the counter so that input 2 would be interpreted as a strobe signal instead of as a reset signal. By doing so, the value in %AI006 would be allowed to count up to the maximum value and roll over.
The high speed counter function is independent of the PLC scan. If the PLC scan time is 10 milliseconds and the pulse frequency is 1000 hz, the value in %AI006 will increment by 10 counts each PLC scan. The strobe function allows you to capture the accumulated count based on a hard-wired signal instead of being limited to the 10 counts per scan resolution.