EZAutomation HMI w/ MLX1400

arkansascontrols · Mar 27, 2018

One of my plants has an OLD EZAutomation EZ-T6C-FS HMI that is working with a paired Micrologix 1500. Since the 1500 is now obsolete they have upgraded to a 1400 but the HMI no longer works.

I haven't laid hands on the unit yet but am planning to take a look later in the week. According to the EZAutomation documentation on the Panel it is compatible with the 1000,1200 and 1500, but I don't think the 1400 existed at the time this unit was manufactured. The HMI communicates with the 1500 via RS232 so I can't imagine why it can't be configured to work the the 1400 as well but thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone had run into the same configuration before and could give me a little ammo before I get up there.

Also anyone that has used these panels before, please tell me if I can upload the runtime from the panel and convert/import it to an editable project with the EZ Software.

Thanks

OkiePC · Mar 27, 2018

It should work fine. I have some clients with the 1400 and EZTouch series HMIs talking to each other without problems.

There is probably a difference in the com port settings between the old PLC and the replacement. It appears that by default, the serial port on both PLCs will be 19.2k, N, 8, 1, CRC error checking. The defaults for a new file with a Micrologix driver in my EZTouch software pick the wrong parity and BCC error checking. So those details are where I would look first.

I do believe that you can upload from the HMI into the EZTouch editor software without too much hassle, although downloading any changes may or may not require a firmware update, depending on which version of EZTouch Editor you have.

I don't think the part number you posted indicates the CE version of the HMI. The Windows CE versions of those panels have some bugs and extra hassles to make changes to them.

When upgrading from a ML1500 to the ML1400, it is possible that the serial port settings either did not get set the same or they did but for a different port, so I would look first at the old vs. new RSLogix 500 files' channel configurations where changes are much simpler to implement than with the EZTouch.

arkansascontrols · Mar 27, 2018

OkiePC said:
It should work fine. I have some clients with the 1400 and EZTouch series HMIs talking to each other without problems.

There is probably a difference in the com port settings between the old PLC and the replacement. It appears that by default, the serial port on both PLCs will be 19.2k, N, 8, 1, CRC error checking. The defaults for a new file with a Micrologix driver in my EZTouch software pick the wrong parity and BCC error checking. So those details are where I would look first.

I do believe that you can upload from the HMI into the EZTouch editor software without too much hassle, although downloading any changes may or may not require a firmware update, depending on which version of EZTouch Editor you have.

I don't think the part number you posted indicates the CE version of the HMI. The Windows CE versions of those panels have some bugs and extra hassles to make changes to them.

When upgrading from a ML1500 to the ML1400, it is possible that the serial port settings either did not get set the same or they did but for a different port, so I would look first at the old vs. new RSLogix 500 files' channel configurations where changes are much simpler to implement than with the EZTouch.

Thanks Okie! That's what I'm hoping it is that would be the simplest explanation as well. I haven't messed with these EZTouch panels before but I assumed worst case scenario was to edit the OPC shortcut in the project if it's not the comm channel configurations.

EZAutomation HMI w/ MLX1400

arkansascontrols

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OkiePC

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arkansascontrols

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