Calling all B&R Automation PC Guru's

I am currently setting up a B&R APC620 which will eventually have a AP920 panel as well. I have used the X20 series "PLC" units previously & with a little hard work they are not a bad unit. My problem is this.... According to the manual for the APC the "Hardware security key" is an option to protect your software from being duplicated. We don't care about this as the machine is a one off custom built for the client who will get the source code at the end of the build.
When I generate the CF card for the PC using Automation Studio and then boot the PC off this card, it appears to start loading but comes up with an message "Security Key not connected"
1. is this the Dallas DS1425 security key mentioned in the manuals (as optional)?
2. How do we disable this if it is optional?
3. If this is looking for another security key (possibly automation run time) what is this & where do I get information on it?

Previously with the X20 CPU's we have simply created the CF card, pulgged it into the CPU and turned on the power and baring any software bugs all was up & running.

???

I'm not sure if this key is required for the PVI variables. Looking at the b&r website I found this:

APC620/PPC700
Model NumberDescription1A4601.06B&R Automation Runtime AR106,
incl. License Label and Security Key
That possibly is what you need. Contact your local b&r office, they should be able to help

You need a dongle for AR106, AR010 (Automation Runtime under Windows), and ARNC0 (CNC).

You do not need a dongle for just Windows XP/CE or Linux.

The dongle looks like a battery.

Please contact B&R support at
http://www.br-automation.com/cps/rde/xchg/br-automation_com/hs.xsl/service_5640_ENG_HTML.htm
if you need further assistance.

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but i have the same problems now. I contact our technical support in asia but they said that this is not part of industrial PC from BnR. Is this problem resolved?

Kind of sorted, the APC (automation PC) is just a computer and like any other computer you can run windows/Linux but if you want to use the PC as a programmable control device from the B&R automation studio workbench software it requires the B&R automation runtime middleware or operating system. This is automatically bundled with the compiled code however requires a security key/dongle on the device to actually run. This is ordered separately from B&R.
For my project we were using an APC & an automation panel (touch screen). We ended up returning the APC and the panel to the supplier and using what B&R call a power panel which is not a PC and does not require the security dongle.

Thank you for your feedback. My current situation is that this PanelPC720 is kind of broken. Only the middle part of the screen is responding to touch but overall function is working. So we decided to buy another PanelPC 720 from another vendor because this Unit is obsolete from BnR and then it turns out the Unit has no dongle key. If we change it to a Power Panel and transfer the CF Card to a new PowerPanel will it run the program? We dont have the source code because this unit is from an OEM.

Best Regards,

Without the source code you will not be able to change the hardware the program runs on.

Have a look at the side of the old PC. Below the slot for the CF card there is a PS2 port, below that is the backup battery compartment and below the battery is the "Hardware Security Key" compartment.

The security key looks like a battery so could be easily mistaken for one. You should be able to remove this from the existing hardware and install in the new hardware.

Mr. Woody yes I know where the Hardware Security Key is located. Will that really work If i transfer the security key from the Old Panel PC to the New Panel PC??? I never tried it because as i have read the DS1425 Manual it says that it contains a unique serial number. So I assumed It is bounded to one Panel PC.

If your hardware is exactly the same model with all the bits attached (remote bus or what ever) then you should be able to transfer the CF card and hardware security key from the old to the new. The program and all settings reside on the CF card and it will look for the security key when starting the automation runtime.

NOTE: This is correct for 99% of cases - I have encountered an older B&R industrial PC where this did not work because the OEM had mucked with the BIOS of the PC.

Worth giving it a go.

This is the specs of the Old PC:



This is the New PC:



I will try it when I go to the site. Thank you Mr. Woody for this valuable informtaion.

For temporary if the new panel is not ready maybe you can use your personal computer with software VNC viewer to remote your machines.

Hi Mr. Pong, As far as i know you can only use VNC viewer if you have the source code in your PC and in RUN mode. In my case I dont have the source code available in me. and to run VNC viewer you need the port number and the IP address from the ETH config of the Panel. Also I dont know the "Password for view and control to this VNC server". All this information is only available from the source code which I don't have.

VNC will only work if a VNC server was setup in the project; if it was, you should be able to connect to the VNC server with any VNC client software (I like RealVNC, B&R liked TightVNC, MochaVNC works well on mobile and Mac). You do not need any B&R software nor the source project to connect to the VNC server. Our company started making VNC server setup standard on all B&R projects around 2008 or 2009 and I know projects done by B&R directly (which includes many European OEM machines) would most likely have it setup. The default port is 5900 and if there is a password, the default is 'v' for view only and 'c' for view and control. If there is a VNC server running, you might want to check if there are hidden management screens. We often hosted maintenance and statistical screens on other ports (try port 5901, 5902, etc.).

This may simply be a calibration issue, the HMI or program should have some way to trigger a screen calibration, where you poke the targets in the 4 corners. Incorrect calibration will usually let you actuate all the buttons on the screen, you just have to figure out where to poke. The most common calibration loss shrinks the touch area to the middle of the screen, so a button in the center of the screen can be touched directly while one in the upper left corner might require you to touch halfway between the button and the center of the screen. That said, I have seen one or two screens fail where a quadrant or entire side of the screen would not register a touch event (both failed from having 110V applied to the 24VDC input power).

You can get a spare CF card and put a basic B&R program on it that is just one big calibration button to calibrate the HMI if you can't figure out how your existing program triggers screen calibration. The calibration file is stored on the CF card, you can copy it from that CF card to the exiting project's CF card or even just delete the faulty calibration file from the existing CF card via FTP. I forget the file name, probably something starting with 'vc' (they call their HMI system Visual Components), maybe 'vccalibdata' or something like that.

You can take a CF card out of one B&R device and put it in another, as long as the model number and all hardware is the same. In the case of a 720 panelPC, you just need it to be the same base model, all the extras inside (CPU board, interface card, etc) can be moved from the old unit to the new unit. WARNING: I think it technically voids the warranty to move the memory and CPU board yourself, you can get permission to do it from B&R and, most likely, the warranty is long over for the part you purchased.

The license puck actually doesn't care what it is in, you should be able to stick it in any B&R APC and have it work. By default an APC either comes with an ARemb license or ARwin license, it is a special case to order an APC without either license puck. ARwin is when your run the realtime OS along side windows. ARemb is just the realtime OS. The realtime OS in question is a version of VXworks, not "middle ware".

I should point out that if you have recipe data that is not saved not saved to the CF card, then you will need to upload it from the old APC. This can be done with the free Runtime Utility Center (also called PVI Transfer Tool). You can make a script that uploads all the variable values to a file and then a second that downloads all of them from that file to the new APC.

Mr. woody your suggestion really works thank you!!