Another techincal question/answer session from our GE PLC Specialists:

Question:  The PLC Battery died over shutdown.  The electrician had to reload the program.  The re-loaded program didn't have the register values.  I don't think I know all I should know about saving programs in Cimplicity ME.  Can you put me in touch with and ME subject matter expert?

Answer:  When you are online with a PLC, and you want to make a backup that will include the register values, you should go to the top level menu Target, and under this select Upload “Target1” from Controller (Note- if you have renamed the Target, the name will show in the “ “).  When you click on upload, a pop-up window will give you options to select of Hardware Configuration and Motion, Logic, and Initial/Forced Values.  All of these selections should be checked to get a complete upload.  The Initial/Forced Values selections will make sure that the register values are uploaded.  After the upload is complete, you can go offline and close the project using the File-Close Project command.  If you choose to you can then use the File – Backup Project to put the project into a zip file tat can be easily stored or transferred.

From this point, if you want to load the project to a PLC, you would open the project, go online with the PLC, and with the PLC stopped, select the Target – Download “Target1” to Controller .   This will pop up an options window, where you can select Hardware Configuration, Logic, and Initial/Forced values.  If you choose all of these, after the download is completed the register values will contain the values from your backup.

Manufacturers who are still running legacy Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) systems - like a GE Series Six, GE Series One, Allen-Bradley PLC-5, or Siemens S5 - are often confronted with one scary question - "How can I get to the program in my Legacy PLC if I ever have an emergency?"  Many older PLC programs used programming software that had to run under - gasp - DOS.

So then the bigger question becomes "How can I run my DOS-based programming software on my Windows-based laptop?"  Well, it can be done, but you have to wrestle with ansi.sys and config.sys files which gets harder and harder with each release of Windows.

Then you have to deal with a maor hardware problem - laptops don't have serial ports any more.  USB-to-Serial connectors work sometimes but that is another path frought with trouble.   This just doesn't seem to get any easier....

Until now.  Qualitrol International is pleased to announce its Logic Developer Platform (LDP). It removes ALL of the headaches in Legacy PLC Programming.  NO ASSEMBLY REQUIRED - IT WORKS RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!

• Don't worry about getting DOS to run under Windows or getting the software to run properly - We've already done that for you!
• Don't worry about getting the USB-to-Serial converter working properly - We make sure it works before we ship it!
• Run multiple PLC Programming packages from one programmer - eveen from different PLC manufacturers!
• SHHHHH....We don't call it a computer so IT will never know it is one...but it is a full-functioning unit that runs any Windows application like email, Internet Explorer, and has a solid state drive option so there are no moving parts.

Users of Legacy PLCs are all over this new device.  Never has one PLC Programming device solved the problems of Legacy, DOS-based programs while still being a viable programming tool for Windows-based programming software.  Just another innovative product from Qualitrol International.

Question:  What Programming Languages are supported by Proficy Machine Edition (ME)?

Answer:  The Proficy Machine Edition (ME) software Logic Developer PLC supports Ladder Logic, Structured Text, Function Block Diagrams, and Instruction Listing programming. Not all of these are supported by all CPUs; for example, Function Block Diagrams are only supported in Rx3i and Rx7i systems.  The standard version can program GE Fanuc Versamax, GE Fanuc Versamax Micro, and GE Fanuc 90-30 PLCs, the the Professional Version is required to program GE Fanuc 90-70, Rx3i and Rx7i systems.