Beijer E700 Alarm Handling...

For those familiar with the E-terminals, I have a question about the alarm acknowledge (ACK) function. Here's the scenario:

In the PLC, I have individual bits that get SET when a fault occurs. One specific bit for each fault. When the ACK button is pressed, I use the "Acknowledge Notify" to RESET that specific alarm bit in the PLC. This works fine the majority of the time, as there's usually only one alarm bit ON at any given time. Since that alarm is the only one active, pressing ACK resets the bit and the alarm is cancelled (and acknowledged in the HMI).

The problem happens when more than one alarm is active. Pressing ACK only resets the most recent alarm. The only way to reset additional alarms is to go to the alarm history page, then individually highlight and ACK the other unacknowledged alarms. This is too confusing for the operators.

What I'd rather do is have the ACK button trigger one bit in the PLC to reset ALL active alarms. This is how I normally do it with other HMIs. The problem is that I can't assign the ACK button to trigger a bit in the PLC. Sure, I could just assign one of the other buttons as an alarm reset, but I'd rather use the ACK button.

I've tried changing all the "Acknowledge Notify" bits to use only one specific bit (instead of the bit related to the alarm). I then use that to reset ALL alarms in the PLC. This DOES reset the alarm bits in the PLC, but it doesn't show up as 'acknowledged' in the HMI. I can't uncheck "Acknowledge Required", because then I don't get the ability to trigger a bit in the PLC...

Anyone know of a possible 'workaround' to this?...

beerchug

-Eric

What I have done in the past was to uncheck "Acknowledge Required" and handle the alarms with the PLC.

Changing devices colors with the Set bits handling the alarms.

I used the alarm pages only for historical function.

I have not found a way around your problem. Nor have I looked very long into it either. The manual does not help.

Thanks, Pierre. That's what I was afraid of...

I played around with a few other ideas. One thing I found odd was that if you use the "Remote Acknowledge" bit, it cancels the active alarm, yet does NOT 'acknowledge' the alarm (it still has the $ prefix). Weird...

Sounds like I'll have to allocate a different button to acknowledge alarms. The hard part will be retraining the operators to use it...

beerchug

-Eric

Hey Eric, you have now tried to make me use my brain over the holidays.

I dont go back to work while 4th Jan and I was enjoying a total absense of PLC's

But somewhere, I have written down some undocumented features of the E series HMI terminals.

I am nearly sure that you can map all of the keys to plc bits.

I know for sure you can use the arrow keys (cos I used em for a crude joystick once)

Hmm, let me get back to you

Sorry to 'disturb' your holiday, Goody...

The manual DOES explain how to map the arrow keys. Oddly enough, Beijer calls that "Joystick Mode"...

Since you can customize nearly every aspect of the E-terminals, I'm surprised that I don't see a way to remap the ACK key. Hopefully, it IS some undocumented feature... :nodi:

beerchug

-Eric

I've worked with the E700 and E900 series for several years, and I'm afraid Pierre is correct. I've also never found a way around the problem. I do all of my alarm trapping in the PLC with a totally seperate screen on the HMI for the alarms, using a "first out" type program. However, here's an interesting little trick that I figured out about two years ago. By using a "button" on the HMI, I can trigger a fake alarm which calls the alarm screen (the program doesn't go to it, but) the thing is, to "save" the HMI, I turn the back light off after 5 minutes. That can be a hassle when I want to watch something. Well, when the "alarm screen" sees an "active alarm" the back light function is disables and my screen stays active until I clear that "alarm". Very useful.

Think I might have a solution - well it works for me anyway. Go to Functions/Alarm Groups and use the Remote Acknowledge for the Alarm Group. Then use any Function key to Set that bit and so Ack all Alarms in the group. The only time it gives me any problem is if a new alarm happens in the time it takes for the change in bit status to get from the HMI to the PLC and back again. I just do a bit of fiddling in the PLC program to allow for that.

Bryan