Red Lion Help

I have 4 Red Lion G4 15" units and I am having a very hard time with this Crimson 3 software. Seems the documentation does not really cover much of the features in detail and I have not found many training options other than some YouTube videos.

I have some errors in the database it says at the bottom but I am not real clear on how to make it show what and where the errors are?

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Just click on the red text that says error, it should take you to them one at a time.

In addition to the advice given by padees, use the F8 key to view search results after clicking on the Errors indicator in the bottom border on the right. You can also bring up the Search Results from the View Menu.

If you can zip and share your cd3 file, we can help you find them too.

Thanks for the Info. I had some of my GoTo actions Messed up. Got that straight but now I have to make a tag be retenative and always equal another tag but I can't seem to figure out how to do that in crimson.

I have a tag named taped Count and I have a retentive tag named Taped Count Backup and in the data tab i have it set to general and put in TapedCountBackup=TapedCount but it says the expression has side effects?

What does expression has side effects mean?

Saying ok and downloading with that expression anyway lets you downlaod but does not work and the number is not the same.

Not sure I understand the purpose... You can just put the tag without the assignment as the source of the other tag. Not sure why you can't just make the first one retentive. Is the first one from a comms device?

I am just making a new HMI for an existing PLC Program. The Primary count gets cleared out on machine power loss etc. There is another system that keeps a retenative total of the counts but if something happen there the count is lost.

The existing RsView HMI had the counts tag mapped to another tag that was retenative and I was just trying to replicate it.

How is the new HMI going to know when the count has been cleared out? I think you need to make a program to detect this in crimson. You can make that program the source of the tag if it returns a value. Without knowing your application in more detail the program may be as simple as finding the greater value and returning that.

Is there something like a MOV instruction in crimson? so I could move the TapedCount to the TapedCount Backup?

Just "=", but if that's all you want it to do, simply assign the source data to the "backup" tag as Tag, and choose the other tag. or just drag and drop it from the tag list in the right pane.

Be aware that when the tag goes to zero, so will your backup tag.

If you want to assign it within a program or complex code field, use "=" or ":=".

TagBackup := Tag;

I want the backup tag to retain the count when the main count tag is cleared. I only want the backup tag to clear when I do it my manual intervention?

Also in the TapedCountBackup tag data box I did TapedCountBackup=TapedCount and that produced an error?

the programming for Red Lions is based off C ++ so when your doing your tags make sure you put a space between the tag name and = and then what it equals.

For instance: tagbackup = other tag name

Tim Ganz said:

Also in the TapedCountBackup tag data box I did TapedCountBackup=TapedCount and that produced an error?

Click to expand...

One more time:

Put that in complex code, or just drag and drop the tag into the field for the other tag...

This, however, will not do what you want. Doing that will result in the tags always being identical. You want to preserve the greater of the two values (when it boils down to it):

I want the backup tag to retain the count when the main count tag is cleared. I only want the backup tag to clear when I do it my manual intervention?

Click to expand...

You can't have the tag alter itself as part of its own definition. Crimson will give you an error "Circular reference"

So do this:
On the tag TapedCount, go to the triggers tab and add an action "Rise in Value". For Value put 1 (assuming we are dealing with an integer).

For the action, choose complex code and in the code window put:
if(TapedCount > TapedCountBackup) TapedCountBackup:=TapedCount;

This will cause TapedCountBackup to be set to the same value as TapedCount only if it is greater than Taped CountBackup. It will only execute when TapedCount changes, so it is quite efficient.

Now, if TapedCount should be I dunno let's say 15. And along comes whatever situation that causes it to reset to zero. Then it begins to increment again. TapedCountBackup will still have a value of 15 until TapedCount gets back up to 16, then TapedCountBackup will start following it again. If you want TapedCountBackup to just freeze whenever TapedCount gets set to zero, then we need to add more logic and another retentive flag tag to keep up with all that.

If you could explain the bigger picture...the why and what for behind this thing you're doing, we might be able to offer something entirely different and perhaps wholly better for your operation.

It is quite common for counts to be reset at shift change, product changeovers, daily, etc. Would it be nice to have a month's worth of data ie. daily counts for each product made? Maybe I'm reading too far into your application...

You say your machine resets the count when it loses power. Is there some reason you can't just fix that problem? And if you can't, do you maybe want to have the Red Lion go even further and stuff the known greater value back into the TapedCount Tag (write it back to the PLC)?

Thanks OkiePC your example works perfect for what I need.