PLC P.O.S Printer

cire3621 · Dec 21, 2011

I have been using an idec microsmart pentra and hooked it up to an epson tmu220 rs232 printer and built my own cable to go into the 25 pin serial on the printer and used a rs232 right hand expanion module on my plc, but the printer is really glitchy...it is communicating but sometimes printing non sense. Anyone have success with any P.O.S printers that are serial rs232?

jrwb4gbm · Dec 21, 2011

Just remember, only 50 ft max cable length on RS232. Even less if possible. Try a lower baud rate also, if available.

cire3621 · Dec 21, 2011

Im using 5 foot of cable and tried 4800 baud and still dont work right...I need a different printer i think.

shawn_75 · Dec 21, 2011

Have you verified that you are always sending good data?

I'd plug into a PC and use a terminal program along with a serial port monitor to verify that the correct data is being sent. I use this monitoring software http://www.serial-port-monitor.com/index.html and it is free.

Shawn

cire3621 · Dec 21, 2011

Im using a one shot that goes to a tx command that transmits to the comport the printer is on. It is not just sending the msg once...it prints it like 2 1/2 times or 3 times...and the printer has dip switches to switch baud and parity on it...but even if you change those to what the printer should be on it does not work at all...only works on 9600 8 none 1...makes no sense to me

shawn_75 · Dec 21, 2011

Seems like all the more reason to verify what is actually traveling down the wire to the printer.

cire3621 · Dec 22, 2011

I built a cable to go from idec rs232 port into db9 serial port on my laptop and monitored com 1 from hyper terminal and told the PLC to transmit "Idec Print Test Data" and it sent it one time with the one shot just like it should and showed up just like that in hyper terminal...so I dont know if the printer is bad or what...because it is a 25 pin rs232 connection to the printer and if I try and one shot that message to the printer it prints the message 2 1/2 or 3 times or sometimes doesnt print at all until I send the tx command 3 - 20 times...I dont understand why it is so hit and miss...any suggestions on a POS printer that works well with PLC's? Im using an Epson TMU220 printer right now.

cire3621 · Dec 22, 2011

I know what the problem is...I need to turn the buffer off on this printer if at all possible...but i only see dip switches for 40 byte buffer or 4 kb buffer.

jrwb4gbm · Dec 22, 2011

Just some random thoughts since i really dont know anything about this printer. Maybe you can size your message with nul characters to fill the buffer. Maybe you could send a few blank messages at startup (powerup) to get the buffer cleared. I don't know if that would help or not. Have you tried to print directly to the printer from Hyperterminal thru the serial cable? Maybe some of the pins on either end of your serial cable need to be jumpered to handle the CTS to RTS as well as the DTR signals. If you can, zip and post your program for others to take a look.

shawn_75 · Dec 22, 2011

I tried to get the manual for your printer but the mfg. website wants me to download an .exe???

Are there any termination characters that need to be sent? If so, those may be in hex format and hyperterminal may not be showing you the correct data.

Shawn

cire3621 · Dec 22, 2011

I talked to my PLC provider and they said the buffer needed to be turned off or ESC and that is why i was having to trigger the one shot multiple times to fill the buffer before it would print and when it would finally print it would not print the full sentence multiple times in full and would be cut off cause the buffer. the PDF for the printer is at http://www.icscale.com/TECH MANUALS/TMU220_TRG_RevD.pdf but I asked epson POS and they said you could not turn the buffer off and just send directly to the printer and they did not make a POS printer that you could.

cire3621 · Dec 22, 2011

My program is just one line of ladder so it really does not need to be zipped...it is just a normally open m bit that goes to a one shot up and then to a tx command that says send "Printer Test" in ascii to com port 3 which is my right hand rs232c port on the idec plc. It will send it to the printer and it will print it...if i dont use a one shot it will print "Printer Test" over and over and over and over until i turn the normally open m bit off.

jrwb4gbm · Dec 22, 2011

shawn_75 said:
I tried to get the manual for your printer but the mfg. website wants me to download an .exe???

Are there any termination characters that need to be sent? If so, those may be in hex format and hyperterminal may not be showing you the correct data.

Shawn

@Shawn:
This is a link to the mfg. website that I found, maybe this is what you were referring to.
Link:
http://pos.epson.com/developers/techresdetails.htm?ProductPK=545
The .exe file at the mfg. website is just a self-extracting file that contains a .pdf file. There is also a users manual available in .pdf form.

shawn_75 · Dec 22, 2011

Do you have the OPOS software that the manual references?

If so, using a serial port monitoring software, send "Printer Test" out from the PC and compare the results with what your PLC is sending.

I'd look at the ASCII and the hex data. Some of the hex values it may be sending may not be representable in hyperterminal. It could be sending hex FF as a line end from the OPOS software but that hex value has no ASCII equivalent.

Shawn

cire3621 · Dec 22, 2011

Ive sent hex ascii and bcd characters from the plc to hyperterminal and they all come across fine...The problem is in the buffer...If i could find a printer that would just spool instantly without a buffer, or i might have to use null characters as someone suggested to fill the buffer at the start of the program...hmm...wonder why other POS printers at places dont need a certain amount of data sent to them before they will print such as restaurants or gas stations.

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