PanelMate 1700 Configuration Editor

[JAK]

Hello all,
I hope there are some PanelMate aficionados in here. I have a pretty simple question that Cutler-Hammer doesn't seem to be able to answer.

I am doing offsite development for an application for a project on the other side of the country and would like to know if I am in trouble using DINT with implied decimals?

I am carrying 3 decimal places in most of my registers and when you look at the Template configuration you have the ability to apply an expression to the read variable and assign decimal places to the actual readout template. I am tempted to assign the expression [400292#S32]/1000 and adjust the decimal to three places, but I am not sure if the PanelMate will truncate the DINT or not.

If anyone can help me here I would appreciate it. I would like to know ahead of time if I need to adjust these registers to REAL (I hope not) or if I am OK with using DINTs. I have a couple hundred registers that would have to be corrected.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[Steve Bailey]

I wish the Panel Mate software Help file would show some examples. I looked through the configuration files on a laptop that has the software and found one example. The expression was [40276]/409.6 and the display attributes was set for a four character wide field with two decimal places. The text alongside the numeric display was "Volts". To me that implies a twelve bit analog signal where 4096 represents ten volts. So I think your method will work. If you have a value 1234567 in the DINT at 400292, the expression [400292#S32]/1000 will render it as 1234.567 if your display attributes are set for 8 or more characters wide with 3 decimal places.
It has been a long time since I worked with a Panel Mate, so I could be mistaken. Let's hope OkiePC sees this and jumps in. He has more recent experience.

 

[JAK]

Thanks for the reply Steve.

You're right about that documentation.

I did some "shot in the dark" searching and located a document titled: "How to mimic the PanelMate template with Vijeo Designer" from Schneider-electric. I am attaching a couple pages from the pdf. Their example shows an integer register which would be similar to what I am trying to accomplish. Of course it isn't necessarily apples to apples.

In my project, if my register [400292#S32] contains a distance of 6.25", the register is actually holding 6250. I am wondering if the PanelMate is converting the numeric value to a string or float for display purposes? If that is the case, I am inclined to think now that I shouldn't add the expression and merely select the 3 places decimal point? However, on the control definitions tab for the Input Value I would still need the [?]*1000 and then the target register of [400292#S32].

Looking at your example, [40276]/409.6, suggests that if the analog counts is currently 4096 then the display would be 10.00. But the question is by doing the division with a floating point number does that convert the integer to a floating point and then does the decimal selection on a floating point work differently than on an integer or dint? For example if [40276] := 3098, then I assume the display would show 7.56 V. But if the scaling was done in the PLC, and the register contained 756 on an int, if you applied two decimals to this register would it display 7.56 or 756.00?

Perhaps one alternative would be to just do [400292#S32]/1000.0?

Again thank you for taking the time to help me out with this.

 

[JAK]

Just as a follow up. Cutler Hammer did get back in touch with me. The verdict was that the decimal place does no math and to get the correct display I do need to divide by 1000 and apply the decimal.

After dealing with some truncation issues I guess I was a little apprehensive about how the unit would interpret the divisor. But I think my question has been answered.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply Steve.

Best Regards