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Messages - benb2000

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16
Technical support / Re:Losing Program when the electric goes out
« on: November 30, 2007, 10:10:30 AM »
I have 27 T100MD888+ units operating in a mobile application, getting its 12.0 VDC power from the Battery in the vehicle. The system has a "Mother Board" that supports the PLC and on the MB is a steering diode and then a 10,000 uF 35 VDC Aluminum Electrolytic cap supplying power to the PLC. In the Last 3 years I have replaced 6 ( Six ) M2017P EE-Proms because of the above mentioned issue. How much capaciatnce would you recommend?

has any one added any capacitance to the power rails adjacent to the EEProm? Say 10 uf Tantalum? Not knowing the part, I cannot look at the specs to see if it should be powered down slightly before or after the CPU.



17
Technical support / Re:Life Expectancy of MX-RTC Real time clock on T100MD888+
« on: February 23, 2007, 02:02:01 PM »
I'll add another quirk to the puzzle... We have 3 of the finished instruments in our warehouse, two that have been there since we built the units, December of 2005. and one that was checked on March 30, 2006. These are units that have been powered up several times, run for 24 to 48 hours to check programming and the Time/date, before being warehoused.

Checking all 3 today, I found that all three had no voltage on pin 28 of the MX-RTC. Upon powering up, the program didnot function properly, all DM[] data was gone, and the date was 1/1/1996 0:0:0.

I reloaded the program, set the date, powered off, and measured the voltage on pin 28. In all three cases it was about 3.25Vdc and holding. The measuremets were made with a Wavetek 4.5 digit multimeter, with extra fine tips, and measuring on the SDRAM pins. The measurenments were made several times

Did I put enough pressure on the SDRAM pins to re establish contact with the MX-RTC socket? Without question there was no voltage there until after poweing up and powering down.

Is there an unpublished quirk to the DS1216C that it re-establishes the "Freshness Seal" if the unit is not powered up for a period of time? No literature at Maxim/Dallas indicates anything like this.


18
Technical support / Re:Life Expectancy of MX-RTC Real time clock on T100MD888+
« on: February 23, 2007, 08:19:14 AM »
I powered up the dead MX-RTC and it returned to 0.20 volts after power was removed.

My local rep, has offered already offered a replacement

The MX-RTC has a DS-1216C marked on it. Dallas semiconductor has a product that marry's SDRAM, timekeeping, and battery backup in one package, a DS1244Y-70. Would this work in the T100MD-888+ PLC? This would eliminate one socket junction.

19
Technical support / Re:Life Expectancy of MX-RTC Real time clock on T100MD888+
« on: February 22, 2007, 10:40:55 AM »
The SDRAM part number on all units  is UT62256CPC-70LL, as originally supplied by Tri-plc, no substitutions have been made.

How do we explain the loss of battery voltage on an MX-RTC stack, that has not been powered up? Bad SDRAM? Bad MX-RTC?Should I be elegible for a replacement? It has not been 5 years, it's less than 2 ...

As mentioned, the units in the field have a duty cylce of about 25 %, on during the day, off at night.

You haven't mentioned the data retention cut off voltage. Is 2.905 Vdc acceptabe? Or might it be that this unit is in a portable case, and when handled, the pin #28, loses contact momentarily, then the variables are lost.

If I write these variables to the EEPROM, does the life of the EEPROM get consumed just by reading it? Or it the life of the EEprom regulated by writes only.

20
Technical support / Re:Life Expectancy of MX-RTC Real time clock on T100MD888+
« on: February 22, 2007, 09:30:42 AM »
Just another little tidbit, it turns out that if the tye wrap that hold the MX-RTC sandwich onto the PLC is cinched tightly, the voltage on Pin 28 goes to 0.0 volts. Pulling down too hard on this sandwich seems to disconnect pin 28.

I have two PLC's complete with MX-RTC sitting on the shelf as spares. One had SW1-1 on and one had SW1-1 off, the one with SW1-1 on has a dead battery, Pin 28 reads 0.20 Vdc, and the other with SW1-1 off, pin 28 reads 2.905 Vdc.

So a lesson learned, DO NOT leave a MX-RTC plugged in to the PLC, with the SDRAM in place and SW1-1 ON.


I have been disappointed with these sockets from the beginning.

The PLC's work well, but the MX-RTC design could have been more robust. We currently have 27 units, that are approaching 2 years old .

Any comments are appreciated

21
Technical support / Life Expectancy of MX-RTC Real time clock on T100MD888+
« on: February 22, 2007, 08:14:02 AM »
Have been running for almost 2 years, but now experiencing data retention problems of the SDRAM. Is 2 years an acceptable life expectancy?

Voltage on pin 28 of the MX-RTC when powered off is 2.927 Vdc.

Curiouesly when observing the voltage on Pin 28, it suddenly dropped to 0.0v, and then reapplying the power to the PLC, the program variables were gine. ( as expected).

Powering down again, the voltage at pin 28, returned to 2.927 V.

Is this maybe a socket problem? I have used your suggestion of using WD40 on the pis of the SDRAM as well as the pins of the MX-RTC.

Your input is appreciated

22
Technical support / Trilogi 5.32 operating on a Pocket PC
« on: June 16, 2006, 11:44:23 AM »
Has anyone attemted to use/run Trilogi3.52 under Microsoft Pocket PC v2003, or Windows CE operating system Pocket PC edition, Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0?

23
Technical support / Re:PLC's Program Failed Checksum Test
« on: May 25, 2006, 10:48:24 AM »
Thanks again for your help.

24
Technical support / Re:Multiable RS-232 Devices
« on: May 25, 2006, 07:20:20 AM »
Why not convert all the RS-232 Laser interfaces to RS-485, and put them all on one multi-drop network?

25
Technical support / Re:PLC's Program Failed Checksum Test
« on: May 25, 2006, 07:08:51 AM »
Last night befor I went home, I rocked the MX-RTC / SDRAM combo back and forth in their sockets, instead of changing any parts. I did the same with the EEPROM. Turned it on, and left it run over night connected to our simulator. This morning it's still running correctly.

The PLC is housed in a gasketted, water proof housing that contains a VCI-101 Electronic Corrosion protective device that is a dual action: desiccant and multimetal protection, the interior of this instrument is prestine.

My conclusion at this time is is that the seating of the MX-RTC / SDRAM assembly has to be addressed periodically, shades of the ISA cards in the early PC's. If I see the "Failed Checksum" error again, the first thing I will do is re-seat the MX-RTC/SDRAM assembly.

Higher quality sockets for both the PLC and the MX-RTC would improve the reliability with portable /mobile applications.

Thankyou for your assistance

26
Technical support / Re:PLC's Program Failed Checksum Test
« on: May 24, 2006, 12:37:21 PM »
Thanks for the speedy reply.

The voltage on the RTC when powered ON is 4.966 Vdc, and OFF 3.151 Vdc.( Pins 14 and 28 )

Input power to the PLC ( on PLC terminals ) is 11.89VDC

When the unit comes in for repair, I run it from a 1.7 amp regulated bench supply

The installation on the vehicle includes a 3 amp 3EQ1 EMI Filter in series of the power leads.

Today, I let the current unit run for about 2 hours ( bench supply ), and went to lunch. when I returned, the LCD was blanc, and attempting to do online monitoring, gave me the same error message as before. That the Checksum Test failed,

In trying to Reset the PLC through the Online monitoring screen, I received a series of Runtime Errors in all the custom functions with a System Variable Index out of range.

i.e Runtime Error in Fn#1, System Variable Index out of range
then pushing the Reset again, I would get Runtime Error in Fn#2, System Variable Index out of range. The rror was the same, cycling through several Custom Functions.

This unit is reporting r49 as its firmware version.

On these units its Dip switch #1 ( SW1-1 ) that is turned ON ( for data retention when the unit is disconnected from power) , not #4. Have the DIP Switch functions changed?

Remember we have been operating without a problem for a year with the two that have failed, and there are units out there that have been operating longer without a problem, and with the same input power design. ( 3eq1 Filter ). I am fully aware of the electrical noise on vehicular systems, but if this was a consistant problem, I would have had more failures, and sooner.

My understanding would be when the unit is powered up, the program in the EEPROM is loaded into the RTC SDRAM. Do I assume the Checksum test is performed after this, and compared to one stored in the EEPROM? Is this value then stored in SDRAM? because my second failure today occured while the unit was running.

I added the SETSYSTEM 5, 3999 statement, and reprogrammed the system again. I'll leave it run this afternoon.

Typically when I set these systems up, I will let them run for 48 Hr, with a simulator, to check the calander clock, and DM
  • memory retention, powering on/off at least 4 times during that 48 Hr. period.


I have a complete spare T100MD here and would like to replace the MX-RTC and or the EEprom. Which should I replace first?

Thank you for your assistance


27
Technical support / PLC's Program Failed Checksum Test
« on: May 24, 2006, 10:01:51 AM »
I have 25 T100MD-888+ plc's with MX-RTC and R48 Low Temperature Chipset  options in operation some approaching 2 years old. Recently I have had two units returned for repair, ( May 9th and May 24th), both units in the field for about a year. When connecting Trilogi to the units I got a " PLC's program failed Checksum Test ( corrupted). With online monitoring, I could see all the inputs were functioning ( I have an Encoder input, and input states were changing on the view display )and outputs could be controlled, 16x2 LCD display had cursor blinking in upper left corner. Re programming restored operation, but the data in the DM
  • battery backed memory was lost, whether I reset the PLC at programming, or not. ( I thought I could possibly re-program, but not reset, and still retrieve data from the DM
  • memeory. I use a portion of the DM
  • memeory as s data logger, logging dates of use.


The program does not use the EEPROM as any memory storage other than the program, so the read operation is the only function used when starting up.

The system R48 operates in a mobile environment on 12 vdc. The input is configured as indicated in the installation manual, with a series diode, and a 10,000 uf cap across the input power lines. The inputs are one incremental encoder, a 4 key keypad, reading Four 0-20 ma currrent loops. Outputs to a 16x2 LCD, and two alarms, one LED bank, and one audible Piezio horn.

Any assistance to identify the problem would be appreciated.

28
Technical support / Re:MX-RTC
« on: November 14, 2005, 02:29:07 PM »
If I write 7700 words to the unit does this mean 7700 write cylcles have been used? so that I have only 13 occasions to do this, or is this one write cylce with 7700 elements written?

29
Technical support / Re:MX-RTC
« on: November 14, 2005, 01:42:49 PM »
What is the expected number of Write Cycles ( Lifetime)  of the the M2018P module?

30
Technical support / Re:Adding CompactFlash to increase memory
« on: November 14, 2005, 01:31:47 PM »
I for one, have 25 M series units that could use the capability to interface to a Palm or a Pocket PC for data files. How much "interest" is required to get the project started?

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