displaying digital I/O on trend

RSLogix 500 I am trying to display a digital bit on a trend plot that ranges from 0 to 20000.

the analog inputs fit within that range pretty well, but I can't get a digital bit to display... it is always at the bottom regardless of its state.

I set the minimum at 18000 and the maximum at 20000, thinking that it would display across the top of the display, but it doesn't... Its' state can be seen by hovering the cursor over it and it seems to go between 0 and 1 on the display , which isn't discernable on a scale of 0-20000.

1.How can I get it to display so that it can be seen

2. can these trend plots be saved ? how? somehow I saved a couple of these a long time ago, but I don't know how and I don't know how to retrieve them to view them either...

they say your memory is the second thing to go.
thank you.

Each pen can have it's own scaling, see picture. You then click on the pen to change the Y-axis display when viewing the trend data.

Also treads are saved when created, see picture.

1) I am sure there are other ways of doing it. However, I set the Y Axis to use the Pen Min/Max, and then set the Digital Inputs to a Min 0 - Max 1.

2) Yes, it should be saved automatically as soon as you create it. Give it a good name.

3) Scroll down in the Project Tree until you see Trends. Double Click your Saved Trend, and it should open up and start Trending.

Allen Bradley Trends are actually pretty flexible compared to some of the other PLC Programs I work with.

Stu....

In addition to the fine advice above, you can use the isolated graphing tickbox (see Mickey's screenshot) so the digital trend is not on top of the analog one.

In the picture below, I used isolated graphing with 10% isolation so the trends are not butted up against each other vertically.

Bit to Integer Value

I often trend several digital and analog trends on the same trend for diagnostics, and proof of process.

Ones and Zeros don't scale well when a 0-20000 count process is also trending.

My solution is to use integers
Bit 1 off MOV 0 to N7:1
Bit 1 on MOV 1000 to N7:1

Bit 2 off MOV 0 to N7:2
Bit 2 on MOV 2000 to N7:2

Then trend the N7 values on the same trend as the analog tag.

You will see the unique leading and trailing edges of the binary tags via the use of the N7 values to prediefined levels of 1000, 2000, etc

I guess I didn't 'splain myself very well... yes, the trends are there in the project tree, and if I open them WHILE ONLINE it will begin trending.

I guess what I wanted to know was : Is there a way to save one of these so it could be looked at offline? SO I could maybe show someone else: "this is what it was doing".

I am off line and I open the trend while in RSLogix 500 and it does nothing

I am about to go out there again... I will try the "each pen has own scaling" ...hope that works.... sounds like the MOV to an integer would work, but a very big part of the problem with this whole endeavor is the lack of online running edits.

thanks to all who responded.

Well, it looks like you need a Historian application which would run separately from RSLogix.
The configuration/development application software (such as the RSLogix family) are designed and built for CPU applications development and not for data storage. Yes, there are built-in Trend tools, however, they are running within the Online software interface only; data is not permanently stored for further evaluation- you could export it prior to going offline but that's about it.
Some HMIs allow for data logging (within the terminal's memory!) and some controller families permit data logging within the CPU's memory, however this implementation requires code programming and extreme care in order to not increase the processor's burden.
For Rockwell systems deployment, I'd look into FactoryTalk Historian/FactoryTalk VantagePoint
http://discover.rockwellautomation.com/IS_EN_Data_Historian.aspx

or Wonderware
http://global.wonderware.com/EN/Pages/WonderwareHMISCADA.aspx

While online, you can save the trend data as a CSV file and open it later with Excel. But this require some excel work to display it.
The data can also be saved in the native RSLogix trend format. Can this be used to show the trend offline?

I don't think this is possible when running RSLogix 500.
RSLogix 5000 (tested V19 only)could log the trend data and save it as a .TBS extension capture; then within the Offline file a right-click on the Trends project tree folder("Open Trend Log") will allow you to view the previously logged and saved data.

Screen Print

I use trend with analog and digital tags.
I set my "X" axis time to have the sceen width to best fit the event to be captured.

I run the trend during the event, then pause or stop the trend, this freezes the captured data on my screen of my laptop. Then I press the "Print Screen" button on my laptop, this captures my screen to a clipboard.

Then open a blank Word Document, set the page style to landscape. Press Ctrl+V for paste, and the captured screen shot will paste into the word doc. Save the word doc, and distribute it to your intended audience.

Plastic said:

I use trend with analog and digital tags.
I set my "X" axis time to have the sceen width to best fit the event to be captured.

I run the trend during the event, then pause or stop the trend, this freezes the captured data on my screen of my laptop. Then I press the "Print Screen" button on my laptop, this captures my screen to a clipboard.

Then open a blank Word Document, set the page style to landscape. Press Ctrl+V for paste, and the captured screen shot will paste into the word doc. Save the word doc, and distribute it to your intended audience.

Click to expand...

You absolutely could do that ... I do that all the time with other things.
Yesterday I was running a trend and used an option called "create snapshot" It saved a file and everything.
Now I don't know ow to display it... an earlier post said excel.

I'll have to try that. see what happens

As always you guys are the best... thank you.