I have a c300 panelview that has a number of numeric inputs that I have formatted ( many times) to be a thumbwheel input with one number behind the decimal point.
The input that I wish the user to have is in tenths of inches from 0 to 2, so that there are twenty possibilities ...
randomly, even after weeks and months of being in service, the numeric inputs will change from inputs with a decimal point to integer inputs. this makes the possible " in range" inputs 0, 1, and 2, and often throws the operation of the whole application out of whack.
when programming, the software forces me to make the total number of places for inputs at least two more than the number of significant figures that I want, and I have been to tech connect where the person told me that historically , with other panelviews, the number of places in the inputs had to be larger than the number of significant figures by a ceratin number to account for the decimal point and the minus sign. I went with his suggestion ( which was more than the software required ) and the thing did not change for probably two months... I thought I had it knocked.
Lo and behold, one of 'em changed the other day from a decimal point to an integer. Other things in the application seem to go whacko when this happens as well, but the bottom line is, I have no confidence in this thing at all now. ( where as I had very little before )
My bosses don't know anything about programming PLC's, and I think it looks like I don't know what I'm doing, when I feel its strictly a flaw in the product.
Truthfully, I don't think I am an expert by any means, and stuff like this really shakes one's confidence.
I don't know what to do about it at this point. Although this application is not hazardous, it is important, and very visible within the company. I can't see me ever using the CCW stuff again, although I think it could have a significant role because of its cost....It seems to me that stuff like that just can't be allowed by Allen Bradley to happen.
I have had a fit with this CCW stuff, much of it being my fault, but not all of it. I think this stuff has been put on the market without sufficient testing or documentation. AB has been quite reasonable in their response, sending a guy to my facility to troubleshoot, the tech connect people etc. But I feel as though I have been a larger part of their QC process than I should have been
I know it is a complicated subject, but I think the stuff should be better tested before it is marketed... and I don't think the end user should be such a large part of that testing.
I think there should be much better documentation of these products so that someone like me could easily find and read comprehensive and coherent instructions and tutorials.
There used to be books about programming with BASIC and visual basic that were much better and more informative than anything out today. The instructions with things like the Basic Stamp are far superior than anything out for PLC's. Why is that??? Especially with something that is fairly new like CCW. It seems to me that there is a large quantity of incomplete and disjoint information that is intended to pass for something that it is not.
Although it is too late to make a long story short, this is my question:
The C300 panelview seems to "lose" its properties. What can I do about it?
The input that I wish the user to have is in tenths of inches from 0 to 2, so that there are twenty possibilities ...
randomly, even after weeks and months of being in service, the numeric inputs will change from inputs with a decimal point to integer inputs. this makes the possible " in range" inputs 0, 1, and 2, and often throws the operation of the whole application out of whack.
when programming, the software forces me to make the total number of places for inputs at least two more than the number of significant figures that I want, and I have been to tech connect where the person told me that historically , with other panelviews, the number of places in the inputs had to be larger than the number of significant figures by a ceratin number to account for the decimal point and the minus sign. I went with his suggestion ( which was more than the software required ) and the thing did not change for probably two months... I thought I had it knocked.
Lo and behold, one of 'em changed the other day from a decimal point to an integer. Other things in the application seem to go whacko when this happens as well, but the bottom line is, I have no confidence in this thing at all now. ( where as I had very little before )
My bosses don't know anything about programming PLC's, and I think it looks like I don't know what I'm doing, when I feel its strictly a flaw in the product.
Truthfully, I don't think I am an expert by any means, and stuff like this really shakes one's confidence.
I don't know what to do about it at this point. Although this application is not hazardous, it is important, and very visible within the company. I can't see me ever using the CCW stuff again, although I think it could have a significant role because of its cost....It seems to me that stuff like that just can't be allowed by Allen Bradley to happen.
I have had a fit with this CCW stuff, much of it being my fault, but not all of it. I think this stuff has been put on the market without sufficient testing or documentation. AB has been quite reasonable in their response, sending a guy to my facility to troubleshoot, the tech connect people etc. But I feel as though I have been a larger part of their QC process than I should have been
I know it is a complicated subject, but I think the stuff should be better tested before it is marketed... and I don't think the end user should be such a large part of that testing.
I think there should be much better documentation of these products so that someone like me could easily find and read comprehensive and coherent instructions and tutorials.
There used to be books about programming with BASIC and visual basic that were much better and more informative than anything out today. The instructions with things like the Basic Stamp are far superior than anything out for PLC's. Why is that??? Especially with something that is fairly new like CCW. It seems to me that there is a large quantity of incomplete and disjoint information that is intended to pass for something that it is not.
Although it is too late to make a long story short, this is my question:
The C300 panelview seems to "lose" its properties. What can I do about it?