How to set up a heart beat monitor between RSLogix 5000 and Panel View Plus 1500

To All,

Please help,

I am new to Rockwell automation and normally use Siemens, I am trying to finish up a program and now need to use a "Heart Beat" signal to throw an alarm if the panelview drops communication.

What logic do i need to write to make this happen?
I have looked and have found nothing to guide me and this code is different than Siemens.

I am using ladder logic to write my code.

Thank you all

jeramiah said:

To All,

Please help,

I am new to Rockwell automation and normally use Siemens, I am trying to finish up a program and now need to use a "Heart Beat" signal to throw an alarm if the panelview drops communication.

What logic do i need to write to make this happen?
I have looked and have found nothing to guide me and this code is different than Siemens.

I am using ladder logic to write my code.

Thank you all

Click to expand...

Well, the simple-most way to do it is to use the Remote Time feature, and have the Panelview send the PLC it's 'MINUTES' or 'SECONDS'..to an unused register.
Then, the PLC can simply watch that register for a lack of data changing.

The other direction is a bit more difficult. I've done it with a little color-changing graphic on each screen, using a bit that the PLC changes every so often (3-6 seconds). Be careful not to change the bit on an even multiple of the screen refresh time (!).

Others may have nifty tricks, using GSV and the like.

These ^^^^^ are just simple.

I use the "Remote Time" feature as well.

Go to the Global Connections item in the FactoryTalk View project organizer, and look at the first tab, "Date and Time".

The first 7 fields are values from the PanelView's internal clock that it will write to tags in the PLC. I enter a tag for "Second:", named something like "HMI_Watchdog_Seconds", and set up the Date and Time Output Interval for 2 seconds.

In my ladder logic, I use an unconditional timer that is re-set (RES) whenever the HMI_Watchdog_Seconds value changes. If the value stops changing, the timer expires and I know the PanelView is disconnected or has stopped executing the FactoryTalk View project.

Don't use the same tags for the first 7 and the second 7 fields in the Date and Time tab.... the values will chase each other in circles !

Thank you for your replies.

This is my first AB PLC/HMI project and I'm basically learning this myself...I never took a PLC programming class and have only worked with Siemens that I've learned on the job.

Ken, Do I need to set anything else in the date and time tab or just the seconds tab?

By "Unconditional timer" you mean a TON or TOF? if so, i will need to make this an add on instruction since only in there the timers have resets

Again, thank you for your help

You can use one or all of the Time elements... for a Watchdog feature, I just use the Seconds.

By "unconditional timer" I meant a TON with no pre-conditions on the rung. Such a timer will start when the PLC enters RUN mode, then set the /DN bit after the Accumulated value reaches the Preset.

There's a RES instruction in ControlLogix that resets a Timer or a Counter. It looks just like an ordinary Output instruction.

Here's how I did the HMI Watchdog in a recent project (screenshot attached).

Note that I intentionally set it to "timed out" when the controller goes into Run Mode (the S:FS first-scan bit). This is because I my particular machine waits for several devices to boot up and go into run mode before it's ready to begin running, and I have logic that prevents the operators from using the "Start Cycle" button before the PanelView is up and ready.

Thank you Ken

I will set up my code like you showed and see what happens

One other issue I am having....
I need to set a button to activate another screen where I have a button to function a action (Valve) with a position sensor (input) and then once that is released I need to return to the previous screen and then that same button needs to now show the position status of that valve.

The "Go To" button doesn't have the ability to show an input status.
Is there a button that can both change to another screen and show status?

I would stack the Go To Display button on top of a Multi-State Indicator.

You can make the Go To Display button entirely transparent by setting the border to None and the Back Style to Transparent, and not setting any Label text.

Or you could just make the Go To Display button have a visible border but a have Back Style transparent, then make the Multi-State Indicator smaller to fit inside.

Tie them together as a Group and you won't lose track of them if you have to move them around the display.

I wish that FactoryTalk View had a multi-action button that would set a value then change the Display, but it doesn't. It does have similar things like "Macros" that can be set to run on a keypress or when you open or close a display.

How is your panel view talking to your PLC?

If it is on Ethernet then you can get the connection status without all the hassle.

Use GSV to check the EntryStatus of the panel view connection.

GSV MODULE PANEL_VIEW EntryStatus PV_ENTRY_STATUS Where PV_ENTRY_STATUS is a DINT and PANEL_VIEW is the module name of your panel view in your E-Net tree.

Then check the bits with a mask.

CMP "PV_ENTRY_STATUS AND 61440=16384" OTE PANEL_VIEW_CONNECTED

TConnolly's method is the standard connection monitoring method for any I/O device on EtherNet/IP or ControlNet.

It works with PanelView Standard terminals when they have the I/O connection configured on EtherNet/IP.

It doesn't work for PanelView Plus, because they aren't in the I/O tree (or shouldn't be, anyhow) and don't have an I/O connection over EtherNet/IP.

Thank you guys.

Ken, your code worked perfectly for my application! Much thanks!

Also, as per your statement regarding the hidden "Go to" button required for me to have a single button to both indicate and switch between screens, thats what I figured would need to be done Its rather unfortunate that AB lacks these options.

After working with AB, Siemens offers more options in both their HMI button tagging and PLC code. Siemens also requires far less code for the same result.
This was definitely a learning experience.