PLC with no HMI/display

[snimra]

Hello!

I have several cases where our HMI/display for my PLC failed. Some can be repaired and some others not. Recently one of our Panelview (PV900) had failed and what made it worse was that the PV file was missing.

My question is what option do I have temporarily, with several parameters to monitor and inputs from the temporary display?
Any way of using PC to hook up to the PLC? I've heard about this RSView but not sure whether it is practicle for temporary solution.
What about the "Custom Graphical Monitor" in RSLogix 5? But that one is if only I have the Pro version.

Thanks.

 

[snimra]

The one that failed was PLC-5/25.
TQ.

 

[Mickey]

If you have one of the higher versions of RSLinx (Pro,OEM,Gateway) Excell might work for you.
Create a DDE topic.

 

[JesperMP]

Custom Data Monitor (which is in the regular version of RSLogix5) is not so bad.
You can set comments, and split it up into several logically grouped pages, so it will be quite useful.

 

[snimra]

That sounds good. I never tried it before but I can start searching on how to do it.
But isn't Excel just for monitoring?

 

[Mickey]

That sounds good. I never tried it before but I can start searching on how to do it.
But isn't Excel just for monitoring?

This is from RSLinx Help File
I think the Custom Data Monitor is probably the easy way out.
It does leave the programming software exposed though.( Could be a problem if in wrong hands)


Block write sizes

You can write blocks of data to processors using RSLinx. The format specifiers for this are the same as they are for a block read. The major difference between the reads and the writes is that a block read (in polling mode) must be equal to or less than the maximum sizes while a block write can be any size that is valid for the processor and its file size. Therefore, while you may only read in 33 timer accumulated values with a single DDE block read, you may write up to 1000 timer preset values with a single DDE item.

Write operations may require multiple network packets. In addition, due to anomalies in some PLC-5s, any writing of timer, counter, or control word values are all done separately. If your DDE-compatible application wants to write 30 counter presets, 30 communication packets are required.

This table displays the maximum number of elements that can be written with a single communication packet. You can write more than the listed quantity of elements; however, if you want more than the listed quantity, use more than one communication packet. This number can not be any larger than the size possible for reading to occur. The result is a longer period of time before DDE reports back to the application that the operation succeeded or failed.

Data type

PLC-5

SLC 500

SLC 5/03c or SLC 5/04

Bytes per packet



40



Binary

100

40

100

ASCII

100



100

Outputs

100





Inputs

100





Status

100

40

100

Integer

100

40

100

Timer

33

13

33

Counter

33

13

33

Control

33

13

33

Floating Point

50



50

BCD

100





High-order Integer







Pointer







String







​

 

[snimra]

Wow! That was way too high for me grab but I can see the idea though. I've seen some applications using the same way for data collection. At the moment I opt for the Custom Data Monitor while I try out the OEM RSLinx & Excell using DDE topic. It'll take some time for me but worth trying.
Thanks to all..