help with DirectSoft-5 and Automation Direct 06

Hey All,

I got an older piece of equipment here, controls done with an Automation Direct 06 plc (OEM is long gone).
I'm trying to piece together documentation and figure out how this thing works.
I do have a schematic of the panel showing the I/O for the PLC, and I have an old copy of DirectSoft-5 and have managed to upload the ladder from the PLC to my computer, and now I am trying to connect the dots, as I may soon be recreating the controls into something a bit more current....

I don't have much experience with this DirectSoft-5 software, and at this point, it seems kinda cryptic to me.
I have gotten my digital I/O labeled in the ladder, now trying to figure out the analog I/O.
seems there should be a place where you assign an analog to an integer (a "V" number in this software?).

The Help section in DirectSoft refers to I-box instructions of ANLGIN, ANLGOUT, and ANLGCMB for configuring analog modules.
But, a search through the ladder shows no reference to these.

Anyone out there have experience with this software?
Is there another way of getting the analogs assigned to integers?

any insight would be appreciated...

Regards, JohnR

What is the hardware part numbers?

They have a TON of some of the best manuals I have seen, see the link below

https://www.automationdirect.com/ad...eries_plcs_(micro_to_small,_brick_-a-_modular)

If you can post the program that may also help or post the issues you are having trouble with

The iBox instructions are relatively recent additions to the software and PLC firmware. I was in your shoes a few years ago and had to do square root math in a DL06 for a venturi flowmeter. I found it well worth the time to upgrade the firmware to use those handy math blocks because even simple math in the old method is very tedious.

For your case, you just need to reverse engineer it so you will need to pick apart the logic to determine how to replicate it.

I looked for a link that will help you from the A/D forum but their search tools are ... not very good.

I do recall that there are some good examples in the literature for the specific analog modules.

Be aware that with Directsoft, data types can be confusing. You may have to deal with values in binary, BCD and perhaps floating point representations, all of which can be stored in V memory locations. And some types of logic require multiple manipulations between the types, so what might seem like a simple operation to multiply two numbers together might take a lot more than one instruction.

In the programs that I have "inherited" the analog configuration was done on the very first or 2nd rung along with logic to set up 2nd serial ports and things like that.

looks like these parts are still available from Automation Direct

DO-06DR PLC
FO-4AD-1 4 CH analog Input module (2)
FO-2AD2DA-2 2 IN/2 OUT combo module
HO-ECOM100 Ethernet module

I've zipped up the program files if anyone wants to take a look....


what I'm trying to figure out at this point, is how (where) the analog I/O's are addressed in this project

JohnR

from the DL06 Micro PLC User Manual Volume 1 of 2 said:

V700-V707 Sets the V-memory location for option card in slot 1
V710-V717 Sets the V-memory location for option card in slot 2
V720-V727 Sets the V-memory location for option card in slot 3
V730-V737 Sets the V-memory location for option card in slot 4

Click to expand...

On rungs 59 and 60 they're setting up the I/O.

V700-V707 Sets the V-memory location for option card in slot 1
V710-V717 Sets the V-memory location for option card in slot 2
V720-V727 Sets the V-memory location for option card in slot 3
V730-V737 Sets the V-memory location for option card in slot 4

On rungs 59 and 60 they're setting up the I/O.

Click to expand...

That's the V-memory I was looking at, but sorry, I still don't see how that defines the I/O. as I said, this software seems pretty cryptic to me...

"V7701 is a system V-memory location used as a pointer to a user V-memory location where
the analog input data is stored. The V-memory location loaded into V7701 is an octal number
identifying the first user V-memory location for reading the analog input data. This V-memory
location is user selectable. For example, loading O2000 causes the pointer to write Ch 1’s data
value to V2000, Ch 2’s data value to V2001, Ch 3’s data value to V2002, and Ch 4’s data value
to V2003."

Rung 59 is moving O2000 into v701, so V2000 would be channel 1 from the first card.

https://cdn.automationdirect.com/static/manuals/d0optionsm/ch3.pdf

JohnRatHolten said:

...as I said, this software seems pretty cryptic to me...

Click to expand...

yeah, it's ancient and not exactly user friendly for anything beyond basic ladder logic.

well I appreciate the help guys...


I guess I need to see if I can download the 06 manual as reference.
mostly lack of experience with this hardware...


looking deeper, it looks like we are only using the first two inputs and only the first output, the rest have been defined for options we don't have.


We have a bit of A-B stuff, and I've been using some Unitronics stuff in the past few years, and they are both pretty straight forward, but every now and then you get stuck with some one-off piece of equipment, with some controller you've never seen before making you scratch your head...


Regards, JohnR

JohnRatHolten said:

looking deeper, it looks like we are only using the first two inputs and only the first output, the rest have been defined for options we don't have.

Click to expand...

That should make it a lot easier... once you get the hang of the software you will like it but it takes a little adjustment

I have use that same setup in the past

JohnRatHolten said:

I guess I need to see if I can download the 06 manual as reference.

Click to expand...

See the link below, they have some examples in there that have helped me in the past

https://cdn.automationdirect.com/static/manuals/directsoft6m/directsoft6m.html

JohnRatHolten said:

well I appreciate the help guys...


I guess I need to see if I can download the 06 manual as reference.
mostly lack of experience with this hardware...

Click to expand...

You might also take a look at Bernie Carlson's website, he has a couple of pages devoted to helping folks with AB experience transition to AD.
http://www.theplcguy.com/ABtoAD/Introduction.htm

You can also go to the AD website and download the literature for the analog card. It includes examples of configuration that might help explain it better.