Timer

At work I was asked to change a bot of code, which I did but I thought one of the more experienced programmers might have come across an easier way.
Here goes, we have 2 conveyors, one of which controls the other one. So when the main one comes on, the minor one comes on at the same time. And when the main conveyor stops the minor one stops simultaneously. However i was asked if it was possible to stop the minor one slightly before the main one. I got round the problem by introducing a ton as an and statement with the dn bit normally closed on the same rung as the output to the minor one. I then messed around with the pre timing until I got the timing perfect. It worked but I thought somebody out there might know an easier way

You want the Minor conveyor to stop first or the Main? What is the Source of the Stop command.

Sounds like you got it to work but I'm the curious type.

Actually, that sounds like a good approach to me - simple, effective, and easy to debug.

Pretty much the easiest method I can think of offhand

Easy to read + Easy to debug = no calls at 3am. Sounds good to me!

scott1873 said:

I then messed around with the pre timing until I got the timing perfect. It worked but I thought somebody out there might know an easier way

Click to expand...

I agree with everyone else. Simple is good.

But, is it the "messing around" that you were concerned about? Didn't you already know how long to let the main conveyor run? What was your test proceedure for figuring out how long the timer should be?

AK

scott,

Your approach, that is, the way you have described it, seems a little convoluted.

It sounds like you are using your start and stop buttons to control the main. When you press stop, you are stopping the main... but not yet... first stop the minor and then, after a delay, stop the main.

Why not simply have the main "slaved" to the minor?

Instead of having the minor follow the main, have the main follow the minor. Use your buttons to directly control the minor.

That is, your start button starts the minor and the main follows immediately, because the minor is ON. Your stop button stops the minor immediately but your main is maintained through an Off-Delay.

Am I missing something???

Terry - I think that Scott is inexperienced enough that he didn't want to take a chance on rewriting the basis of the control, just do this one delay. Yes probably swapping around the major/minor assignments would be more logical in the end but he's just trying for something quick but reasonable.

Thanks guys for the help. Bernie hit it on the head, i wasn't going to change a whole lot of code just for a small delay. But what terry said has made me think that now i will,
thanks again guys