New to PanelView. Help!?

AltairWolfe

Member
Join Date
Feb 2011
Location
Kansas
Posts
5
We have an existing piece of equipment that suffers a lot of downtime because it is notoriously difficult to troubleshoot electrically.

It is already PLC controlled, however, and the addition of some rungs and a few inputs could speed the process up considerably. So I want to write a PanelView32 application for a PV300 or PV300 Micro (already have the software).

However, being new to PanelView programming, I really don't want to have to get everything hooked up to an active production line just to find out my very first program is buggy (we all write perfect code on our first shot, right?). It doesn't help that while I've been given the go ahead to do this (got me the software) the mucky-mucks really don't want to sink any more resources into the project until I have a proof of concept.

Any emulator, I'm aware of the one for the PV Component, or some other route to test drive how I'm progressing?

Thanks
 
Welcome to the Forum. You'll find a lot of veteran PanelBuilder32 users here.

Unfortunately, the PanelView Standard never had an emulator built for it. To test a PanelBuilder32 application you have to create the runtime file (*.PVA) and load it over a serial, network, or memory card connection into the proper hardware terminal, then connect it to the controller you want to communicate with.

The size of the PanelView 300 and especially the 300 Micro make it very difficult to get any readable or sophisticated diagnostics. The terminal I strongly prefer is the good old PanelView 550 or 550 Touch with the modern blue LED backlights. The backlight would run forever, the OS is stable, the editor is inexpensive, and the hardware is almost indestructible.
 
Thanks for the input!

A few Google searches gave me about the same answer you did, but I was hoping there was someone out there who'd figured out some 3rd party emulator or some way to use the RSLogix 500 Emulator through a serial port or something...

I choose the 300 series mainly because we carry them in parts as spare parts for a couple pieces of equipment. I'll look into the 500s.

I really am looking to trap some pretty simple information though. This one machine has no less than 20 magnetic safety interlocks and of course are on a separate circuit which drops control power . They are notorious for going out very intermittently and stopping the equipment, but being OK by the time you try to meter them. By sampling the safety circuit in parallel to inputs on the PLC I hope to be able to display an alarm "Stopped by Gate 12 Safety" message. You have no idea how much time just that would save.... well maybe you do! LOL
 
What PLC are you using? Is the serial port in use? Hang the spare on an unused port if it's available and supports the right protocol to test your program.
 
I misunderstood the question; I thought you were looking to emulate the PanelView terminal itself.

In fact you can configure RSLogix Emulate 500 to run the serial port of your computer, then connect a physical PanelView terminal to the PC to test your HMI application.
 
PLCs in question

Good 'ole fashioned SLC-500 series, Mickey.

I RSLogix it through an Ethernet/IP so the serial port should be available. I'm also trying to figure out how to pass-through and be able to download the PVA with RSLogix, but that's once I get this new software under my belt... oh did I forget to mention that I'm having to teach myself. Yeah, they aren't springing for any instructional material. ROFL!

It just means that I'll be traveling a lot between my office and the production floor as I learn this stuff. :eek:
 
Last edited:
oh did I forget to mention that I'm having to teach myself. Yeah, they aren't springing for any instructional material. ROFL!

It just means that I'll be traveling a lot between my office and the production floor as I learn this stuff. :eek:

I know what you mean, I'm also self teaching me how to use the PanelView terminals. So far I managed to program some alarms routines on the plc and show messages on the panelview regarding those alarms. I havent done a complete new program by myself I have modify some HMI our original machine builder made.
 

Similar Topics

Hi all, I'm in the process of upgrading a PanelView1200 HMI program to be developed in FactroyTalk View Studio. The filetype for PanelView 1200...
Replies
7
Views
238
Ive got an existing panelview plus 1000 with a logic module of 2711P-RP and an assembled pn of 2711P-T10C4D1 running out in the field. Its in an...
Replies
5
Views
1,128
Hi all, we have several identical machines running allen bradley plc's. they are all the same, same bit addresses, timers, counters. same...
Replies
3
Views
1,364
I currently have an issue trying to track down a tag in the PLC. This tag is for a panelview indicator that was custom created. Can someone assist...
Replies
3
Views
1,792
Hi all, Im having issues opening a .pva file in panelbuilder32. I do not know what version the file was written in, I currently have 3.81...
Replies
2
Views
1,744
Back
Top Bottom