PanelView Plus 1250 V5.10 Migration to V7

[Hal9000]

Hi,

I have a customer that has an intermittant issue with a PV+ (2711P-T12C6D1) and they would like to replace the PV+ with the latest PV+7.

They can only supply me the .mer file (at version V5.10). No .apa is availabe.

I have a couple of questions:

1. I presume I can downgrade the PV+7 firmware to V5.10 to accept the .mer file?

2. Can I then upgrade the fimware to V7 and be able to generate an .apa file?

Regards,

 

[Ken Roach]

The PanelView Plus 7 hardware is new and cannot run firmware from older-generation terminals. You cannot load v6 or v5 or v4 or v3 firmware onto that terminal.

What it should be able to do instead is run the v5.10 *.MER file without modification. All PanelView Plus terminals are intended to allow you to run older Runtimes.

The principal exception to that support is that ActiveX objects from pre-v6 projects won't run on v6 or later operating systems, so those projects need to be manually re-created.

What you may be able to do with the *.MER file is open it in FactoryTalk View Studio v7 or v8, and have it decompressed to re-create a full FactoryTalk View Studio project. Then you can create new MERs, create APA archives and edit the application.

Many older projects don't include enough stored information to be "decompressed" from MER to a Project. In v5.10 was when RA got that option right for the first time, though you can select to exclude decompression info from the *.MER.

Remember also that the PanelView Plus 7 made a major change to the model descriptions: A PanelView Plus 7 "Standard" has limitations (number of displays, only one PLC) that are similar to an older PanelView Plus "Compact" model.

 

[JeremyM]

Import the .mer as a new project - it should be converted to a v7 project. When you compile it, you can select a 5.10 target if need be (or 6, 6.10, or 7). The default compile version is the latest ViewStudio version you're running, so I'd compile to v7 anyway. No need to alter firmware.

I recently standardized our plant's FT ViewStudio version to 8.10 - we target earlier PanelViews in the manner above.

Preserve a copy of the original .mer, too.

 

[Hal9000]

Gents,

Thanks for your replies.

The existing PV+ has a DH+/DH485 comms adaptor fitted (RN6 module) so it looks like the PV+6 HMI (2711P-T12C4D8) is the route I need to take to support legacy comms.

I guess I can achive the same here and import the .mer file as you have prescribed or do you see any issue with PV+ panels?

Kind regards,