Concept--support of online changes

R

Thread Starter

Rob Faragher

To the list

Would someone knowledgeable in Concept please reply direct to me in answer to my questions:

Does Concept support online program changes?

If so, are there any qualifications or limitations?

Thanks

Rob


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Pierre Desrochers

Concept does support online changes. The only thing you have to be very carefull about is the fact that you must first be "online-running-equal", meanning that your source code is exactly the same as in the PLC. Then you make the changes (becoming "online-running-not equal") AND you proceed to "download changes" becoming equal again. Any changes to the source code when not online will time tag the file hence preventing you from doing anything to the program again until you stop the cpu and do a full download
again.
 
Rob,

Yes, but be careful.
Concept allows small changes in code. New tagnames, memory allocations etc. are not allowed. Changes in SFC not possible. Concept creates a small patch which becomes active after download. Those patches cause gaps in program data memory. Thes gaps will occupy more memory than needed. THis will result in an inability to load any further changes. So small changes online.
An upload is not possible (PLC to PC). So be careful with the scource code on the PC. Only with the correct scource code on your PC you can enter the next time in the PLC.

After this you can "Optimize project" instead of dowloading changes. The gaps will be optimized. BUT THE CONTROLLER MUST BE STOPPED,AND THE PROGRAM
MUST BE DOWNLOADED AGAIN.
Met vriendelijke groeten,

Onno Moret

Imtech Projects West
Mescon
Control Systems

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P

Pierre Hinse

Hi List,
I was involved on a project last winter using Concept V2, and did all my changes online!

As far as I know the Quantum, A120, 984 plcs support online changes, but not some of the others.

Pierre Hinse CET


Anthony Kerstens wrote:

> Sorry. It does not.
 
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Kenneth Schunk

Now I know that this is a REALLY OLD thread, but there are some wrong answers here. Here are the facts (as of today):

Concept V2.X does support on-line changes to the PROGRAM. You can connect to the PLC and change logic, add variables, add program sections, etc. If you modify an SFC section it will reset to the start of the SFC, so you need to watch that.

With version 2.2, you can also do the changes offline - as long as you START with an equal program. When you connect you will be connected in a MODIFIED state. At that point you can download the changed logic sections without stopping the processor.

Concept 2.2 also allows you to move LOCATED variables while online (V2.1 and before couldn't do this). It will then download the sections that need to be modified (again without stopping).

You CANNOT change any configuration items while the processor is running, and if you change any offline you will connect NOT EQUAL. Your only option then is to stop the CPU and download. Configuration items include Traffic Cop, memory sizes, segment scheduler, Peer Cop and the like.

I haven't run into any problems with fragmented memory, and I did a system where the startup tooks weeks with changes all the time. It is not like the Siemens S5 system - the underlying operating system appears to manage the memory very well.

Hope that helps.
 
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