Crazy idea. Let them assign points to cards.

[JeffKiper]

I have an OEM that their IO is always in groups. I use an 8 port 16 point IO block. So every port is an input and output.
Everytime we send drawing to the field guys they change the wiring locations because its easier for them to wire. Sometimes the fight isnt worth the argument. Its only 1 hour of work to fix it on the prints and the program. They wpuld spend several hours wiring it to the print.

Im thinking is there a way that I can just use the HMI to assign what IO point is assigned to what physical point. These are all cookie cutters the amount of IO is all that changes.
1 system may have 6 and the next 16. The logic is all the same.

I know its crazy and not the norm. Im trying to not go in the road to do commissioning.

 

[Rob...]

Yes, pretty easy to do.

 

[JeffKiper]

Rob you interested in offering a way to do it? I will be using AB Logix family plc

 

[seth350]

I can’t imagine how you guys keep up with drawings. As a customer, I would assume that all of your machines are the same.

I was thinking 16 OR branches and some interlocks to disallow multiple assignments.

Better still....
Do the field techs always seem to wire it up the same way? Or is it just haphazardly depending on what wire they grab next?

Even better still....
Train one of them to map the IO after they are done.

 

[parky]

Bad idea, I'm convinced that any mistake in documenting the map comes with the possibility of errors, using an HMI to re-map I/O could mean some person in the future accidently changing it even if it is password protected. Also it would require retentive data in the plc to hold the map & this would need to be documented as well in case of flat battery or accidental overwrite of data etc.
A well laid out terminal plan at design time is essential plus cable plans so the terminals are laid out especially for multicore cables there is nothing worse than a field multicore being wired in a hap hazard way i.e. an 18 core cable wired into consecutive terminals instead of being spread across the entire terminal rail. failing this sack the installers if they cannot follow the drawings.

 

[Jasondelane]

I put something together for practice. Let me know if this would work or not.

You would have to program the HMI with User input integer fields.

Switch_1 - Input 1

Lamp_1 - Output 1

The underlined integer would be the user input field.

 

[JeffKiper]

These are basically start and stop stations. The customer changed locations of all the IO after design drawings where made. The wiring was on the outside of a machine and it moved to the inside. So we used 1/2 the IO as before , way less then half the labor, etc.etc.
When the IO was on the outside if the machine I only needed 4 ports per IO block. There was plenty of spares.

These are start and stop stations for a conveyor lineusing zone controls with Mechanical delays. The motor runs all the time.

 

[OkiePC]

With A/B, it is pretty easy to use indirect addressing for bit logic. So you could use numeric tags for the array index and have those tags edited on the HMI. You could use generic names for the field side of the mappings and leave the internal addressing of the addresses they are mapped with meaningful names that are used throughout the rest of the logic. If your real world input/output tags span multiple cards, you might need two layers of indirection in order to first get all the inputs into one long list (same for outputs). This would allow you to leave the PLC code alone.

You would still want to update the electrical drawings to match reality, and will be left with the risk that your drawings become inaccurate again if changes are made after they're updated.