Siemens TP170-A problems

Hi all
I have a big problem with a touch panel of type SIEMENS TP 170-A.
The panel is to slow, when I press a button it takes several of seconds to execute the command. If a number of buttons are pressed in a fast sequence, the panel either “lock it self up” or stays offline for several off minutes. I haven’t done the software my self so I don’t know if the problem is in there or the hardware.
If someone knows how I can solve the problem, or can give me some direction I would appreciate it.//Magnus D

I am guessing the Comm port speed is too slow.
What is the PLC and HMI set to?
Generally 9600 will seem very slow, but that is the maximum for some PLC's
19.2k is generally seamless and apears to work with no delay.

Since it works, even though you're not satisfied with the performance, the hardware is probably OK.

A couple of questions. What PLC is it connected to? Is it a point-to-point serial connection or is it on a network of some sort?

You are going to need to get a copy of the application that's running on the HMI to solve this. There are any number of things that can slow down the response.

The first thing that comes to mind is how the communications between the HMI and the PLC are set up. Some HMIs allow you to control how often the HMI polls the PLC for data.

If the HMI application uses a lot of alarms, that can slow things down. Most HMIs ask the PLC for whatever data is required to refresh the screen that's displayed. However, any points configured as alarms need to be updated constantly. That can slow down individual screen refresh rates.

If the HMI is on a network, make sure that the data for the screens falls within the scope of the data assigned to the HMIs node. Usually you assign a block of contiguous PLC memory to the HMI. The points in the HMI should use these addresses. If a point in the HMI is assigned to an address outside of this range, the HMI needs to send a directed message to the PLC to get the data. Most network protocols restrict the number of directed messages, and place pending ones in a queue, processing them as network bandwidth permits.

These are just generic suggestions. I don't have any specific experience with the TP170.

Hi Steve and Iant and all
I shall try to be as specific as I can, the HMI is connected to a PLC CPU 314 IFM.
The connection are MPI 185,5 Kbit, I have a copy of both the HMI and PLC software.
There aren’t any alarms or other apps to be updated so very often.
The main problem show when I press any graphic button on the screen, one after another it locks down or it doesn’t keep track. Perhaps its the PLC that is slowing down the HMI by not giving the answer fast enough?.

Thanks for the response
Magnus

When in doubt go back to basics or 'bare bones'.

Backup the HMI program and rewrite a 1 line screen program.

or

backup the PLC program and write a 1 line plc program.

Test the speed in this mode.

What is the Baud Rate?

Check the properties for the controller in ProTool. The system clock tells you how often the panel gets its information from the controller. Sometimes people set this value too high. It should be 1-5 times 100ms. Also check with the communication parameters that getting variables occurs periodic.

Thanks all!
I’m going to try your tips tomorrow, and soon get back to tell how it went…..
Regards +++ thanks
Magnus