"In Touch" Twin Screens

  • Thread starter Colin Carpenter
  • Start date
C

Thread Starter

Colin Carpenter

Hi,

I wonder if some one can help me with a few queries.

I am "loosely" involved with an industrial process plant being controlled by
an Allen Bradley PLC5 PLC, which is monitored and controlled by an "In
Touch" scada system running under Windows NT and communicating with the
Allen Bradley by an ethernet network.

On the whole, the system works fine, but there are a couple of queries I
have which the company that installed the system seem pretty negative
about.

The first concerns the "dual monitor" screens that are used with the In
Touch software. Whenever a "user box" appears on the screens, the box will
always "straddle" the 2 monitors, causing a difficulty in clearly seeing
the information. Is it not possible to configure the software so that the
user box can be moved to one monitor or the other for easier viewing?

Also, the installation company concerned are based in a different country
to the installation. It has been suggested that fitting a modem would
enable them to view the operation of the plant in real time and make on
line changes as necessary. They insist that this is not possible, but I
would imagine that it probably is. Can any one shed any light on this
please?

I have extensive experience with Mitsubishi PLCs, but limited experience
with Allen Bradleys and "In Touch" software.

Thanks in advance,

Colin Carpenter, UK
 
P
I have never run dual screens in the manner you describe; we did do three
InTouch nodes on one machine, but each PC was independent. On the modem issue,
tho, PC Anywhere is working well with InTouch and NT these days. Talk to
somebody else at your vendor's... remote access is standard with most OEMs and
SIs today.
 
D

Daniel Boudreault

Hello Colin,

I believe that PC Anywhere can provide you with remote
control (on-line changes) through a modem link.
This is assuming that the system changes can be made
on-line using that particular workstation.
I have used PC Anywhere to make system (PLC) diagnostics
and online program changes in some of my remote projects
which require 24hour response times...

Dan B.
 
D

Daniel C. Rozok

Yes, on both accounts!

WonderWare InTouch windows are by "default" positioned in the center of the
screen, this would account for the "split" appearance of the user window,
it's being position in the center of the two screens! By adjusting the user
window location properties (i.e. x and y coordinates) within WonderWare for
the user window, the user window, for that matter all windows, can be
located in a position chosen by the user.

The modem question is twofold. First, there is the issue of the controller
(i.e. PLC). This device can be connected to remotely through a modem. All of
the enhanced PLC-5 controllers by AB have a communication port 0, which can
be configured to communicate to a modem. These modems can be either a PC
external modem, such as a Hayes, or can be chassis mounted, i.e.
MilleAppliedResearch. This takes care of the PLC.

Second, WonderWare can also be modified remotely several ways. One of the
most typical ways is to purchase a application that runs on the host and
remote computers and duplicates the host screen, keyboard, and mouse
functions at the remote computer. Packages that come to mind are CarbonCopy
and PCAnywhere.

Keep in mind that adjusting any processor or HMI while operational can be
hazardous, regardless if local or remotely changed.

Daniel Rozok
 
M
I believe that Intouch has remote support capability, version 5.x certainly
did, though I can't remember to what extent (I remember it from the course
but have never used it).

The other problem sounds like poor design/testing though without knowing
more about the system I shouldn't really comment.

If you want to discuss it further drop me a line.

Regards
Mark Hutton
Software Engineer
Vogal Software Services
Regent House, Welbeck Way, Peterborough. UK PE2 7WH
 
M
I believe that Intouch has remote support capability, version 5.x certainly
did, though I can't remember to what extent (I remember it from the course
but have never used it).

The other problem sounds like poor design/testing though without knowing
more about the system I shouldn't really comment.

If you want to discuss it further drop me a line.

Regards
Mark Hutton
Software Engineer
Vogal Software Services
Regent House, Welbeck Way, Peterborough. UK PE2 7WH
Tel: +44 (0)1733 370789 Fax: +44 (0)733 370701
[email protected]
 
J
I use PCAnywhere at 24000 with RSLogix and RSView32 and the time delay is
not too bad. There are several settings which optimize the screen update
based on different factors and make a big difference in screen update time.
Darin Jett
 
P
I thought he meant the dialog boxes popped up by InTouch... not screens created
by the user?
 
B
The user box that shows up in the middle is just another window in InTouch
environment. It should be possible to define different coordinates for that
window and move the box to another location.

PCanywhere works just fine for remote control and operation. I have used it
for several years with InTouch.
 
P
For ladder logic to date (DOS packages) remote on-line changes via a package like PC-Anywhere and a modem are no problem. Granted, this may not be true for very much longer as more complex Windows-based packages come to dominate the market. For HMI changes, we typically observed the system on-line, then made changes to our control copy and sent all changes at once over the modem to the
customer. This approach also takes 5-15 minutes for the file transfer, but it gave the customer a known downtime for the change to be implemented and it let us schedule our end as well.
 
J

J. Hendrickson

I've done twin monitor applications, using the Colorgraphics card. After consulting with WW, I was told the dialog boxes always come up in the center of the selected screen resolution. (i.e. single screen resolution is 800x600 so for dual the resolution is 1600 x 600). One of my customers made a faceplate that allowed the monitors to be placed as close together as possible. The gap between the two was about 3/8 of an inch. A little annoying but much better than before.
 
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