GE PC View failing to write data

Hola. GE/Emerson PAC 9.8 Sim 5 / PC View

Working on a PC View integration to a set of 7 90-30 PLCs (364s), one master and 6 gen PLCs under it. The master to the other six communicates with some produce / consume tags back and forth, and the PC View software is set up with Emerson TCPIP native drivers to the individual processors. I have all of the communication working and talking back and forth, and when I fire up the runtime on my laptop I get no communication errors / I read the proper tag state for the items I am looking at. However, if I try to change a state of a button by clicking it, I get no action on it / see nothing in the PLC. This is just an update to an existing HMI, so the button logic / config in the PC View should be solid.

There are a couple odd things going on aside that my limited GE experience isn't sure what to make of it.

1) When I fire up the runtime, the PAC View Integrated OPC driver window that pops up is empty. I'm used to seeing a bunch of activity in that, even if I'm offline. Further, when starting the runtime, I get a popup that states "Number of I/O Variables exceeds licensed capacity. Two Hour runtime simulation started"... I believe this is just because I am testing on my laptop to see if I can get this TCPIP to work or if I am going to have to run this all through a Moxa as we initially designed it (would change IP in all PLC to get on the computer network down the line)

(I do have OPC drivers set up, but they are for other equipment I am currently disconnected from. I was able to get them to work when connected to that network)

2) The Master PLC is the only one with anything configured in the Data Watch Lists. The items configured in the two lists correspond to all the I/O I cannot write to. I've tried setting up the publish setting for some of these variable to from False to the other options (internal, external r/w, etc) and don't get any change in action.

This is occurring with pure boolean buttons and with Integer numeric entry.

any thoughts? Forgive me if my knowledge and terminology is all off on the GE side, I run pretty much exclusively AB.

However, if I try to change a state of a button by clicking it, I get no action on it

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What action is the button set up to perform, momentary or toggle? Is View runtime the only thing writing to the tags?

when starting the runtime, I get a popup that states "Number of I/O Variables exceeds licensed capacity. Two Hour runtime simulation started".

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This is most likely because you have a development license on your PC. It is normal when starting a View runtime on a development license. Presumably you will eventually deploy your runtime project on a computer with a runtime-only license?

The Master PLC is the only one with anything configured in the Data Watch Lists. The items configured in the two lists correspond to all the I/O I cannot write to. I've tried setting up the publish setting for some of these variable to from False to the other options (internal, external r/w, etc) and don't get any change in action.

Click to expand...

If you connect the programming software to the PLC can you toggle the state of the points without having to force them?

Steve Bailey said:

What action is the button set up to perform, momentary or toggle? Is View runtime the only thing writing to the tags?
This is most likely because you have a development license on your PC. It is normal when starting a View runtime on a development license. Presumably you will eventually deploy your runtime project on a computer with a runtime-only license?

If you connect the programming software to the PLC can you toggle the state of the points without having to force them?

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So the button is set to toggle and it appears view is the only thing configured to reach out to them (again, no expert and covering for another guy)

I do have a PAC install with the runtime license to download on the on site computer, yes. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't having some sort of driver issue (9.8 has been a bit rocky of a rollout for me - updating everything to SIM 5 has helped a lot)

As for being able to toggle, I cannot on any of the boolean bits currently. I've done a search through the project and these are the only instances I can find of the bits as near as I can tell

Are any of the bits included in the produce/consume exchanges you mentioned in your original post? You originally mentioned "6 gen PLCs" talking to the master CPU364. What do you mean by "gen"?
The most recent version I have of the programming software is GE's version 9.5, otherwise I'd suggest you send me a backup so I could see if I can spot anything.

As for being able to toggle, I cannot on any of the boolean bits currently

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That suggests to me that something else is writing to those bits. When you perform a search using the programming software there are a number of options you can check. Be sure to check the "Implicit Addresses" box. That will find instances of usage that are hidden in word-type instructions. Also check the "Entire Scope" box.