Concept for Modicon Gotcha's

M

Thread Starter

Mark Blunier

I'm considering using Concept for a new project, but a while back someone mentioned that they had problems running Concept under one OS, but not
another. I know NT was mentioned, but I can't remember it was the one that worked, or that had problems. I'd appreciate any comment on what I should look out for with this project.

Thanks
Mark Blunier
[email protected]
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the
company.
 
G
Mark-

I use Concept 2.1 to program Momentum and Quantum PLC's from both Win9x and WinNT. I just received the Concept 2.2 CD's but have not yet upgraded as it will require a PLC kernel upgrade as well (we have 220+ PLC's). I don't have any particular problem with Concept on either platform although some have stated gruesome problems, that is not the case for me.

Garth Gaddy
Sr. Control Specialist
City of Fresno, Water Division
[email protected]


>>> [email protected] 02/23/00 03:17PM >>>
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: "Blunier, Mark" <[email protected]>
To: "'The Automation mailing list, managed by Control Technology Corporation'"
<[email protected]>
Subject: SOFT: Concept for Modicon Gotcha's

I'm considering using Concept for a new project, but a while back someone
mentioned that they had problems running Concept under one OS, but not
another. I know NT was mentioned, but I can't remember it was the one that
worked, or that had problems. I'd appreciate any comment on what I should
look out for with this project.

Thanks
Mark Blunier
[email protected]
Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the
company.


------- End of forwarded message -------

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Hello,

I have 1, really big issue with Concept. The issue has to do with uploading IEC sections out of a controller. If you do not have an exact, equal copy of the program stored on your programming PC you cannot access the IEC programs
stored in the PLC.

In short form this means if you loose or corrupt your offline database you cannot get the program back out of the PLC.

There are a lot of things to like about Concept. However, until I can upload IEC sections out of the controller without a matching offline copy I am hesitant to use it.

My $.02 worth

Bradley G. Hite
Vice-President
Intertech Inc.
mailto:[email protected]
ICQ# is 38746036
http://www.myplc.com
Teaching Practical Skills For a Technological World
 
R

R A Peterson

I don't know about concept but I have tried for several days to get V. 2.31 of modsoft to work with Quantum CPUs w/o sucess. I can create and edit files offline, and then save them, but when i try to edit the saved file I get a stack dump every time.

Very strange. modicon tech support's answer was that modsoft is not reccomended. i'd second that.
 
R

Rob Entzinger Schneider Automation

Modsoft was written for the 16 bit DOS, it can run in any WIN95/98 or WINNT but fisrtly the RS232 modbus RTU will not talk, secondly one requires a 4meg RAM window when installing - the WINNT default is 1meg. If you create a new icon for command and give this icon 4meg RAM it will
work. It will do MODBUS PLUS. You need a minimum version of 2.50 to use MODTCP (ethernet).

Concept on the other hand is windows base and has NO problems like modsoft. For MODTCP it uses the inherent winsock of windows


Regards

Rob Entzinger
 
D
This is really a working mindset. If you've ever programmed contols in say C or C++ you have the same issues. I started in this business with a company that wrote in C and C++ exclusively and we learned to live with the "No Upload" issue.

I work with Concept. My workaround is to do an export under the Concept Converter (.asc file) and archive it. I have no problems with this. Maybe a "Software" and a "Software Installed" directory structure is what you need.

Sounds like AB has created this situation in Control Logix. Let's see how long that platform lasts. I hear they can't even upload the configuration, and it will not upload ladder programs. One step forward, and two back. Typical AB.





> Hello,

>

> I have 1, really big issue with Concept. The issue has to do with uploading IEC sections out of a controller. If you do not have an exact, equal copy of the program stored on your programming PC you cannot access the IEC programs

> stored in the PLC.

>

> In short form this means if you loose or corrupt your offline database you cannot get the program back out of the PLC.

>

> There are a lot of things to like about Concept. However, until I can upload IEC sections out of the controller without a matching offline copy I am hesitant to use it.

>

> My $.02 worth

>

> Bradley G. Hite

> Vice-President

> Intertech Inc.

> mailto:[email protected]

> ICQ# is 38746036

> http://www.myplc.com

> Teaching Practical Skills For a Technological World

>
 
T

Todd Kirchner

I work with concept everyday. Unfortunately, when using the concept converter to change your file to .asc, your file will no longer be "EQUAL" with the controllers when you convert it back, therefore you MUST send the software back to the controller to be "EQUAL". You must be "EQUAL" to animate your program. The solution I have come up with is to store the program files in .ZIP format. This way, you don't change the internal checksum that concept uses to see if it's the same file in the controller. I also have a program written in VB that does a date stamp compare with the file I have and the file that is archived to determine which is more current. The most current then becomes the archive or mine is restored from the archive. This allows multiple programmers to work on the file and maintain current changes. This solution had worked very well for me.
 
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