03 December, 2002

Nexgen-4000/5000 Connectivity to E-Terminals

(Checked with E-200 and E-300)

Sr.
Feature / Object Remarks / Observations
No.
The 'Analog Numeric' object with different data types
are displayed in following ways –
1. Signed 16-Bit ==> INT (-32768 to 32767)
2. Signed 32-Bit ==> DINT (-2147483648 to
INT, DINT and 2147483647)
1
REAL Numbers 3. Float with Exponent ==> REAL (+3.4E38 to -
3.4E38)
The Scaling and Reverse-Scaling (Gain) is checked
for these data types and it is working fine.

In case of ASCII objects, the characters in a word

are displayed in reverse order. For e.g. If a STRING
type of variable is defined as –
VAR
2 ASCII Objects
NAME AT %MB200: STRING (8) := ‘GANESH’;
END_VAR
Then on E-Terminal display it is shown as ‘AGENHS’

The X-Y plots are working properly. However, the

values for ‘X Analog Signal’, ‘Y Analog Signal’ and
‘Register Pair Count’ should be properly defined, so
that the variable address does not become invalid.
For e.g. If the X-Y Plot object is defined as –
X Analog Signal = MW100
Y Analog Signal = MW250 and
3 X-Y Plots Register Pair Count = 10,
Then ‘Y Analog Signal + Register Pair Count’ is
exceeding the valid range for ‘M’ type variable
(MW254) for Nexgen-4000 PLC.
In such a case, there is no check in E-Designer
during project compilation and in runtime the HMI
indicates ‘Comm. Error’ message.

The ‘Trend’ object is working properly. Also the

4 Trends printing of current trend is working fine.
 This feature is working fine.
5 Message Library
The Alarm Triggering, Acknowledgement and Info
6 Alarm Handling Block invoking is working fine.

Recipe Read / Write from E-Terminal to PLC and

vice a versa is working fine, but following are
observations –
1. The name of the Recipe is displayed with
reverse order of characters within a word.
2. If a ‘Page’ variable is defined as ‘Recipe
Control Block Register’, then the ‘Starting
Address’ of the Recipe-Block is considered as
offset within the same page.
3. Total 300 consecutive words can be written
from PLC to E-Terminal as a ‘Recipe’.
4. The Recipes stored within E-Terminal can be
7 Recipes
read in PC by using ‘HMI Tools’. The ‘RS-232’
port should be assigned to ‘HMI Tools’ under
‘Setup ->Peripherals’ menu.
5. If the recipes are stored from E-Terminal, by
using ‘Save Recipe’ functionality of the
‘Function Keys’, then after reading those
recipes in HMI-Tools, the data types are
properly indicated (as defined in E-designer).
However, if the recipes are stored from PLC,
then those can be stored as an ‘Array of
Word’ and not as of any other data type.

The printer interface is checked on RS-232C port of

E-300 and it is working properly. The printer
connected was dot matrix printer – EPSON LX-300.
8 Printer Interface
In E-Designer, ‘Printer’ should be assigned to RS-
232C port under ‘Setup->Peripherals’ menu.

The Time-Channels were defined for ‘Memory Bits’

9 Time Channels and ‘Page Bits’ - found to be working properly.
 Index Addressing was checked for ‘Word’ type of
variables by defining ‘MW50’ as ‘I1’ (Index Register).
It was kept maneuverable with gain of 0.5, so as to
achieve the ‘Even Addressing’ for words. It is
working fine.
However, the ‘Base Address + Index Register’
should not exceed the valid range for selected
variable type. Otherwise, the E-Terminal does not
check for validity of the effective address generated
in its query to PLC and then PLC does not respond
to the query. If such situation occurs, then HMI
shows ‘Com Error 01’ and does not recover, even
10 Index Addressing
though the Index Register is appropriately modified
in the PLC.
In case of BOOL type variables, the Index
Addressing is checked and found ok. The bits of
consecutive words are properly accessed, as per
contents of Index Register.
For e.g. A ‘Digital Text’ object was defined at ‘M0.0’
with Index Register at MW50. When the contents of
MW50 were zero, the M0.0 bit was getting modified.
If MW50=7, then M0.7 bit was getting modified and if
MW50=31, then bit M3.7 was getting modified.

This feature is not supported for ‘Nexgen4000’

11 Transparent Mode driver. (All versions).

This feature is not supported for ‘Nexgen4000’

12 No Protocol Mode driver. (All versions).

The modem connectivity is supported. It is possible

to dial a number stored in E-Terminal or in PLC. Also
it is possible to send ‘Init’ string (Hayes Modem
Command) to modem, either stored in E-Terminal or
13 Modem Connection
stored within PLC.
We are working on application, where this feature is
used to send an error code (numeric) to pager.
 The IFC-128E board works fine, till the number of
configured keys is within 40 (checked with keyboard
designed for M/s. Superbead).
If 128 keys are configured, then response becomes
very sluggish. (It takes 2 to 3 seconds to inch an
14 IFC 128E Interface
output bit). This could be due to communication lag
in writing the status of all 128 keys to the CPU.
Hence it is necessary to configure optimum number
of keys for better performance.

Defining ‘Nexgen4000’ as ‘Controller1’ and ‘RTU-

Slave’ as ‘Controller2’ checks dual driver support.
The Port-2 of Nexgen-5000 was configured for ‘RTU-
Slave’ FB and Port-3 was configured for
‘Nexgen_Slave’ FB. The communication between E-
300 and Nexgen-5000 CPU was checked on two
different protocols simultaneously. The ‘Data
Dual Driver
15 Exchange’ feature was checked and found ok.
Support
However, if the E-300 is configured to exchange 100
words from ‘Nexgen’ to “Modbus’ and vice a versa,
at every 1 second interval, then terminal response
gets hampered at 9600 Baud Rate. If both the ports
are configured for 38.4kb, then the response is
acceptable.
Note:

If MW0 and MW10 are defined in a block, then all in between

variables are read by E-300.

If MW0 and MW60 are defined in a block, then also all in between
variables are read by E-300.

However, if MW0 and MW62 are defined in a block, then these two
variables are read by sending two separate commands from E-300.

Hence while designing the project, the blocks should be defined with
objects, for which the associated addresses are in close vicinity. This
will ensure proper response time for the HMI.

Apart from the dynamic information, which depends upon current

block being displayed, the static information accessed by HMI – like
Time Channels, RTC updating, Alarm Signals, Trend object variables
and ‘Recipe Control Registers’ should be assigned with the
addresses in close vicinity. Then sending single command fetches all
the information from PLC and ensures better response for the HMI.