Step 7

Is there a math function to do x to the power of y included in the instruction list as I cant seem to find it.
Also has anyone had problems with their license being corrupted. I am using step 7 5.3 installed on a pg with 2000 professional. The battery is goosed and last night I unplugged by accident and so the machine was not powered down properly. Came into work this morning and the license is corrupt AGAIN!this problem happened about 3 weeks ago. So I ve just been on the phone to Siemens and I am waiting for a call back to recover it. Give me AB any day it beats this lark hands down.

There's no direct function to do x to the power of y available but there are natural Logs available in STL and in SCL (ST) you have both natural Logs and Logs to base 10. So you can do your calculation that way.

x=(a to the power of b) is done in stl as follows using real variables (from Berger):

L a
LN
L b
*R
EXP
t x

There is also FC125 "ACCU 2 to power of ACCU 1" in the Standard Library under S5-S7 Converting Blocks. Use that if you are uncomfortable doing STL math.

About the licensing systems in Siemens and Rockwell softwares, well I have had Rockwell licenses fail on me as well, and when that happens you are REALLY left in the dark. At least STEP7 allows you to keep working, only with the occasional nagscreen.

I thought 5.3 didn't work at all without a license, can anyone confirm or deny this ?

I am 100% certain that the current version of STEP7 BASIC runs without a license. Only you will get frequent nagscreens (been so at least since v5.0).
Runtime softwares (Simatic Net, Protool RT, Win CC Flex RT, etc.) are guaranteed to run without license. This to make certain that production isnt stopped just by some software problem. This contrasts with RS policy of "no license no run".

In the past (pre v.5) I believe that STEP7 either didnt work, or worked with limitations.

I am not certain that STEP7 PROFESSIONAL will work, maybe not.

I thought 5.3 didn't work at all without a license, can anyone confirm or deny this ?

Click to expand...

I'm running V5.3 on several machines, including a Laptop with no Floppy which makes it a bit of pain transferring the license (Just spent half-an-hour loading the license for PLCSim on it!) so unless I'm going to be doing a lot of work on the laptop I don't usually bother with the license. It runs fine without the license and the nag screen's not too bad as long as your not making lots of small modifications. However, it can become a bit of a pain if you're working with lots of Blocks, every time you open a new one you have a ten second wait plus another ten seconds if you're changing editors, finally another ten seconds when you want to save the results.

Facit, yes you can use V5.3 without the license but if you've got a lot of work to do on different parts of the program, then there comes a point when it's better to transfer the license over.

I thought V5.3 STEP7 was for XP only, not Win 2000? Could that be an issue?

STEP7 v5.3 is approved for Win 2000, but Win 2000 must have at least SP3.

It's said from one of Siemens sales that S7 5.3 will work without license for about 12 days or something (sorry I forgot the exactly how many days) and then you have to transfer a license and keep using.

After that, it's up to you to transfer out or stays.

Step7 V5.3 (and probaly most other current S/W) are supplied with a 14 day Trial license.

I've just received WinCC Flexible 2005 and there it says that after the 14 days are up, if there is a full license installed, but not activated, then WinCC will continue to work with nag screens. If there is no full license installed, WinCC will no longer work once the 14 days are up.

I assume the above is probably true for Step7 V5.3 as well and it would explain why it seems to work OK for some people and not for others.

There different versions of the "14 days".

1st - you can definitely use a full version of STEP7 v5.3 without a license for longer than 14 days, only you will get nagscreens.
2nd - if the full license is lost, then there is a timelimited license on the floppy that will run for 14 days. With that you can work even without nagscreens for a limited time.
3rd - if you install a demo version of STEP7, then it will be limited to 14 days. It does not need a license floppy to install the trial license.
I think that the full version of STEP7 also will suggest to install a trial license for 14 days, if it cannot find a license at startup. This can only be done once (figures).

S7 Function to do X power of Y

Thanx for the replies. I wrote the function block Ive attached the other day to do the job. Couldnt use STL as the project spec states everything must be done in ladder. Anyways Im not to familiar with STL and havent needed to learn yet but Im sure Ill come across some applictaion where I need to.
Siemens got back to me, and I had my license recovered within 90 minutes I was really surprised. But I dont see why a license should be corrupted just because the machine wasnt shut down properly.Come on Siemens whats the deal?
Also I see a few people are using Win cc flex 2005 im also using it at the minute and it gets the big thumbs down from me. Difficultly selecting items on screens,slow to run on the machine,shuts down when opening the help files,30 minutes to compile the project the list goes on.Thats my rant for today.Now looking forward to a long weekend off (we have a public holiday in the UK on monday)lazing around with plent of beer.

license corrupted

Hi,
Sorry for digging out old thread, but my problem is same, LICENSE GOT CORRUPTED of S7 Simatic Manager V5.3 on Windows XP Professional, all of a sudden.
I do not think improper shut down is the reason. Also I have licence for both S7 and WinCC on same drive, with later working perfectly.
What can be the reason. Does internet connection has anything to with this? Virus?
Manmeet.