Hi Andrew,
many questions, I hope we can work something out here
.
... system but unfortunately I got a massage that I need to use Runtime v2.38. Today I contacted B&R office in Austria and they told me to try to change the OS to runtime v2.40 through Project -> Change OS version. So I did it and I was going tomorrow to connect my computer to B&R 2003 controller and see if I would be able to monitor the system and to make some changers in the code on customer machine. ....
You have an OS configured on your project (Studio) and there is an OS installed on the PLC.
Both OS versions should be the same because of the libraries (library functions) that are nested in the OS and that are used throughout the PLC code.
If you change the OS version in the project, the Studio will compile all tasks and modules. So next time you go online
- you can watch PV's in the monitor, OK
- you can not use line coverage
- you can not download only one piece of code, but it will donwload all modules and tasks, also it will download all binaries of the libraries (part of OS)
So again, it is recommended (I guess it is not 100% necessary) to use the same OS on the PLC as you use on the Studio.
Therefor you need to update the OS on the PLC.
What does it mean? Yes, I understand that in order to monitor the system and to make some adjustments in present PLC code I would need to connect my computer to B&R 2003 controller over RS232 cable and in order to monitor the system I have as well to convert PLC code to Runtime v2.40.
Yes, understood well, the code is converted to V2.40, so once you start download, it will download all code. Although you dont change one piece of programming code, your binaries will be compiled.
Would that be the same PLC code that it was before that would perform in the same way after conversion or something would be different?
It is the same code but it is "linked" to OS function calls of different OS version. There is a good chance the code is doing exactly the same, but no guarantee. Compare it with using a newer DLL on a windows machine....
And if different how to save the present code in order to write it back if something would go wrong?
Use PVI-Transfer to upload all code from the PLC. Including data-moduls. Depending on the structure, also upload configuration data that may be located on permanent variables and so on. Analise of these problem is only possible in good knowledge of the program structure...
Also, you should have a backup of the original project folder and thus have the original version.
I am trying to understand as well how would I write the old code if my computer uses Runtime v2.40 and not v2.38?
At the moment the Studio OS is V2.40 and the PLC OS is V2.38 right ??
You can only download the current code if
- you have uploaded everything with PVI Transfer. You can also download all with PVI-Transfer.
or
- you make manually a transfer list for PVI Transfer from the original binaries folder of the studio project and download it with PVI Transfer (assuming that on the PLC is now exactly running the code from your original folder).
With Studio you can not download the current code, as you dont have the corresponding OS version on the studio project.
Either thing is not really trivial if you have no experience with it.
When you install OS version on the PLC, you will loose all data of variables and so on. Any recipes that are stored somewhere on the PLC (CF card should be safe). Permanent variables get lost (the ones that are kept after cold-start). And of course all code is gone, but that you can download after programming OS.
Resume: to be on the safe side, guessing the PLC has installed V2.38 I would try to get V2.38 for the Studio. Than you should have no problems making your changes and only changed code will be transferred to the PLC. No need to change the OS with all the risks it brings (100% compatibility can not be given).
I hope I did not bring the total confusion to you
br
bb
