Honeywell Plantscape Vista - PC Reboot Issues

[Genglish]

Hi all. Does anyone here have any experience with Honeywell Plantscape Vista? I have a customer who has it and is using it to control a very small process (coupled with a HC900) ~ 55 AI points currently, soon to be about ~ 110 points. Long story short, they are having issues with the trending screens, but under very unusual circumstances. If the PC is turned off, rebooted...etc, and then you reopen the package, go to the trends screens, the update for the trends takes about 1/2 hour before the data is finished and the screen is usable again! Interesting thing is this only occurs if the scan rate is set at 5 second polling. If it is set to 1 minute, the screens update much quicker. I have read the installation manual, tried adjusting the paging file, looked for bad paths...etc. Honeywell support said that there is nothing in the order (~2005 Purchase Order) for phone support, so the best they will do is quote me a rate for assistance. I am a seasoned Siemens guy, but little to no experience on PC Vista, so any assistance I can get would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[surferb]

I have a number of questions:
1. Is the application hanging or doing something? In Vista, you get the round hourglass with a transparent window.
2. What kind of database does the "trend" log to?
3. Are there any kind of cache settings?
4. What if you set the scan rate to another rate (15s, for example)?

 

[danw]

I have some HC900 experience, no Plantscape experience.

>the update for the trends takes about 1/2 hour before the data is finished

This sounds like a fact-of-life in the HC-900 Operator Interface design, but I'm not sure why if it is the same thing appearing in Plantscape (which is an historian).

One of the selectable screens on the HC operator interface is a 1/2 hour time span trend screen for which there is no long term 'memory'.

The trend(s) on that screen start(s) as soon as the screen is selected, meaning comes in from the right, advances to the left, with a mostly blank screen when starting, because the trend starts at the moment the screen is selected for viewing.

If another screen is selected, the trend for the former trend screen will not re-appear if/when the trendscreen is reselected.

What is viewed on the trendscreen is not data from a database, but data from a temporary RAM memory that is only valid as long as the trend screen is the screen selected for viewing.

It doesn't sound like the same thing in Plantscape, because a different data scan rate seems to populate the trend screen at a much faster rate than the 5 sec. scan rate, correct, and presumably from the database, not with current, updated realtime values?

One would assume that Plantscape's historian is used as a database for the trendscreens, not a temp buffer.

Sorry can't be more of a help. Dan

 

[Genglish]

Hi surferb,

To answer your questions.

1. No, the application does not hang. You can go to the process screens, but you cannot view one of the 5 second updated trend screens until approximately 30 minutes later.
2. I believe the database is a proprietary database called Plantscape Quickbuilder.
3. I am not aware of any cache settings.
4. If you set the scanrate of the trends to another timebase (any other than 5 seconds according to the customer), the trends will appear much quicker. Obviously, this "quicker" is a relative word.

 

[Genglish]

Hi Dan,

Yes, with the HC900, I would expect it to lag a little. The thing that leads me to believe this is a PS Vista issue is that the customer says that this did not start occuring until about 3 months ago... The customer is very laid back, and his memory of the exact time he first noticed it is not very clear. You are right though, the vista is working as the historian, and obtains the data for the trends from the database, then builds to that trend (real time) with new values as they come in. The issue with not knowing exactly what happened is not great because all he can remember is, "it was close to when the co-op student was here". One day, the PC got turned off on accident. It was at this point they realized the update was not like it was when the system was originally installed. Oh well. Thanks for the suggestions! I will post here once we get the issue resolved so maybe it can help someone else out in the future.