Step7: Reusing timers

Can I reuse the same timer in a Function Block? I have a bunch of time delays that never run concurrently. I would like to just reassign a the new time value and start the timer again. On the page, these are independent timer boxes but all with the same symbolic name.

It is not working for me but I may be missing a simple step, such as having to reset the timer before reusing it. Currently I have not wired to the reset. I just wire to the SET input to start each of the timers. All are on delay timers.

No.

Why not declaring a couple of TON's (SFB4), no need to worry about assigning and managing timers

Thanks both for the definitive answer and suggestion for further learning. Since I have already assigned all the timers, I will look into the TON's after I wrap up.

To answer your original question, providing the timer is not scanned in the other instances then yes.

For example if the FB was a step sequence and the other steps are jumped over (therefore the Timer is not processed in the logic) then you can do it, but you would have to ensure the timer logic goes from an off to on state (and the logic must see it off before on).

Another way and one I used in S5 (limited timers) a lomg time ago, was to always process the timer near the start of the block, at the end of a step I would reset the timer, the next step would load a new preset and restart the timer. Normally in S5 I would count an integer on a timed one shot, easier.

With unlimited SFB4's in S7, I would do as suggested though and create a timer for each instance.