Siemens mobile panel leds on multiple plc's

Hi there!

I have a production line which consists of several plcs and displays and machines. I want to use a Siemens mobile panel for manual control of machines.

For each plc I will create a interface with the display. With the ID code I know where the mobile panel is plugged in so I can enable the functions for that part of the line.

The problem is the LEDs on the mobile panel. I want the leds to be controlled by the plc that belongs with the plug in point of the mobile panel.

I tried to multiplex the LED tag according to the ID code of the plug in point, but that is not possible! (selection of the multiplex tag is greyed out).

Is there anybody who knows how to solve this problem?

Why not do the mapping in the PLC instead of using multiplex tags. Assign a memory area from which the panels LEDs are always accessed and map the relevant data to this area in memory according to where the panel is plugged in.

I've pretty well abandoned multiplex tags now. I find it easier to do the multiplexing in the PLC and on a big project you can save hundreds and even thousand + tags.

RMA said:

Why not do the mapping in the PLC instead of using multiplex tags. Assign a memory area from which the panels LEDs are always accessed and map the relevant data to this area in memory according to where the panel is plugged in.

I've pretty well abandoned multiplex tags now. I find it easier to do the multiplexing in the PLC and on a big project you can save hundreds and even thousand + tags.

Click to expand...

The problem here is that this one panel can be connected to several different PLC's.

Take the panel to the start of the line, activate the functions for that separate PLC and the LED's should be controlled by that PLC. Move to the end of the line, activate functions for that machine and the LED's should be controlled by that PLC.

Since the LED's tag cannot be multiplexxed, it becomes a problem, since you are using several configured connections, I think

Doing the pultiplexing in the PLC.......which one then?

Now then. The way I would try and fix this:

(assuming you have a separate connection for each machine/PLC)
-Create internal tag(s) for the LED's.
-Create for each PLC the tag(s) that should control the LED's. -For these tags set continuous cycle and on the 'On Change' event, use the SetValue-function. Output tag is the internal tag(s), value is the current tag your configuring (when the value of this tag changes it'll automatically copy it to the internal tags used for the LED's)

I would also create a main screen with buttons for each machine. Configured with:
-Label of the machine
-On press/click-event use the 'SetConnectionMode'-function. For the target machine you set the connection to online and for every other machine/connection you set it to offline. This function can be used in a script with the ID code to verify if the panel in the correct pluggin point, I think.

The idea is to have a main screen, with buttons for each machine. Upon clicking the button, the panel would connect to the corresponding machine and disconnects to all others. Safety feature and ofc with the tag setup mentioned above, it'll solve the LED problem also....

This is one way to do it. Might be possible to implement in your project, or it might not, but think it should help you find a solution.....