FactoryTalk Alarm Tag Variable?

[mcswc3]

All the other machines on the line have real words in the Message alarm field and they display great. However one machine seems to be using some kind of variable to display the alarm message. See attached, does anyone know what the "/*S:0 {tag}*/" means or what they're trying to do? Thanks!

 

[dcooper33]

All the other machines on the line have real words in the Message alarm field and they display great. However one machine seems to be using some kind of variable to display the alarm message. See attached, does anyone know what the "/*S:0 {tag}*/" means or what they're trying to do? Thanks!

What the syntax you're referring to means is that the alarm message is stored on the PLC as a string tag. The FTView message is displaying whatever value is in "UN01_PackML_Admin.Event[xx].Message". I've often seen alarm messages handled this way with PV+'s, but I don't really get why. Now you are not only relying on the FT alarm trigger/message handshake to work properly, but also on the logic in the PLC to put the correct message into the string tag at the time the alarm is active. In some cases, this may be the easiest way to accomplish things, I can't say without seeing your application.

How are the alarm messages malfunctioning on this machine? What does the alarm banner display when an alarm occurs?

 

[mcswc3]

The exact alarm message displays the title with 12 question marks where the variable field is suppose to be ("FILLER - ????????????").

 

[dcooper33]

The exact alarm message displays the title with 12 question marks where the variable field is suppose to be ("FILLER - ????????????").

This means that either the tag the \S:0 etc.\ is pointing to doesn't exist or is in the incorrect format, or the shortcut "[Filler]" doesn't point to the correct PLC. Check the comms setup in the FTView project tree.

If you still can't find an answer after looking at these things, then it would probably be best to just post your .apa or .mer and .acd files on the forum so we can give more specific help.

Good luck,
Dustin

 

[mcswc3]

Thank you.

 

[tuxfather]

Hi mcswc3,
Did you solved this problem?
If so, please post the solution.

Thanks.

 

[Phrog30]

I have run into this situation before. From what I understand, the HMI alarm trigger tags and the HMI embedded variable tags update separately. Generally this becomes a problem if the HMI boots with the PLC running. The alarm trigger tags will update before the embedded variable tags update. Therefore, you will see the question marks. If you were to "clear" the trigger tags, then you should see the correct message(s). To combat this problem, I generally have a refresh button on the screen that temporarily clears all triggers in the PLC. Hope this helps.

James