The C-More HMI Panel programming software has a simulation mode. This simulator will allow you to test your project before transferring it to a panel. Testing your application is a vital step in HMI program development. This feature of the software will save you time and money especially if your hardware is not available.
The simulator will display two windows. There is a graphical display of your HMI panel and a simulation control window. The control window will allow you to control variables in the project similar to a PLC.
We will be looking at our program developed last time (Common Screen Menu) and use the simulator to mimic how the PLC and HMI Panel will communicate in the field. This will help to detect any problems before we transfer to our panel. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
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C-More EA9 HMI Series Panel Common Screen Menu
Allowing operators of your HMI (Human Machine Interface) panel to easily navigate all of the information available is a vital part of programming. We want to present the information to the operator so they will clearly understand the programmed operation of the unit. Common menus on the HMI panel pages will allow the quick navigation, understanding, and control that your operators want. When programming operator interfaces I have always heard to use the KISS method. (Keep It Stupidly Simple.) Your HMI program interface could contain hundreds of pages containing vital information for operator understanding and control, but you must make it easily accessible and intuitive. This is how you design and program a good HMI panel display.
We will be creating a common screen menu for our C-More EA9 HMI Panel using the C-More programming software. Using our previous program created we will be making a background screen to act as our menu system. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
C-More EA9 HMI Series Panel to PLC and PLC to Panel Settings
The C-More EA9 HMI (Human Machine Interface) Series Panel will communicate to the PLC directly through the tag database that we discovered in our first program. We were able to read and write individual bits in the PLC.
Panel to PLC communications is used to write information into the PLC; like current screen number displayed, good communications, pop-up keyboard, and current language number used in the HMI.
PLC to Panel communications is used by the PLC to control the HMI. Switch to screen number, beep, increment and decrement the Clock by one hour, clear alarm history, clear alarm count, start screen saver and select language are the items you can control in the HMI.
PLC Error is used to communicate internally in the HMI the PLC error state and PLC error code value.
We will be setting up and testing our PLC to Panel and Panel to PLC communications on our EA9 C-More. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
C-More EA9 HMI Series Panel First Program
We will now put our first program into the C-More EA9 HMI Panel using the C-More programming software. The Do-More Designer Simulator will be used with a modified Start Stop Jog Circuit so we can use our HMI screen to monitor the output as well as control the inputs on the PLC.
Communications will be established to our C-More EA9-T10CL unit and the firmware will be updated. We will then develop our control for our PLC ladder logic circuit.
The PLC logic for our circuit can be found on our post: How to Make a Start / Stop / Jog Circuit in a PLC. The YouTube video can be seen here.
Our C-More EA9 HMI Panel will be communicating to the PLC simulator via Ethernet with the Modbus TCP protocol. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
C-More EA9 HMI Series Panel System Setup Screens
The C-more touch panels include a series of built-in System Setup Screens that allow you to view detailed information about the panel; adjust certain features; configure communications; test various functions of the touch panel; backup & restore firmware, a recipe, log, and project memory; clear memory and reset all values and conditions back to the original factory defaults.
Information, Setting, Test Menu and Memory make up the four Main Menu setup screens.
Information – The information tabs display details about the touch panel model; the panel’s name; version information for the hardware, boot loader, and firmware; clock source, and beeper status. Other tabs display details on the panel’s internal memory and the status of any external memory devices. Communication port details are available in this area, as well as an error log to help in troubleshooting the system.
Setting – This is the area for making adjustments to the internal clock, adjusting the brightness of the display, setting the IP address adjusting (calibrating) the touch panel, enabling or disabling the internal beep, and enabling or disabling a mouse pointer.
Test Menu – This menu will allow you to test the touch panel, test the display, test the user LED, test the communication ports, and test both the internal beeper or the audio line output. If a speaker with an amplifier is connected, a WAV sound file is a system provided for the audio line output test.
Memory – The Memory menu allows you to either backup or restores your project, log data, recipe data and/or system memory. Selections can be made to backup to optional SD card memory or USB pen drive memory. The menu selections also give you the ability to clear the memory, and there is also a selection to reset all of the touch panel settings back to the original factory defaults.
We will be reviewing these system screens of the C-More HMI Panel. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
C-More EA9 HMI Series Panel Installing the Software
The C-more Programming Software is a free download from Automation Direct. The software can run in DEMO (demonstration) mode or a key can be purchased to unlock this software. This powerful C-more Touch Panel programming software makes HMI touch screen panel setup and programming quick and simple. Simply drag and drop the objects from the object bar onto the screen construction area. A complete set of control panel objects include pushbuttons, selector switches, pilot lights, text and numeric data displays, bar graph displays, static and dynamic bitmapped images and more. Configure your PLC tags and click on the objects you want to use. A built-in simulator will allow you to review your work on the computer before downloading the project.
We will be installing the C-more Programming Software onto our PC (computer). This will be the DEMO mode of the program. The DEMO mode will do the following:
– You CAN download our sample projects and explore the capabilities of C-more.
– You CAN use the Simulator to test your project on the PC and see how the Simulator can save you hours of programming time.
– You CAN create your own objects, and save them in your object library.
– You CAN explore the online help, and find answers to many questions that might not be covered here on the website.
The full package will allow you to save your projects, download them to a panel and includes the full symbol factory library with over 4000 symbols.
Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
C-More EA9 HMI Series Panel System Hardware
Human-machine interfaces (HMI) are made to display and control operations for our automation solution. Information is displayed in a graphics format. (Graphical User Interface – GUI) The HMI is usually part of the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system.
Communication from the HMI to the control is usually done through a serial (RS232 / RS485 / RS422) or Ethernet (RJ45) method with different protocols depending on the manufacturer of the control. The automation control device is not limited to a PLC. (Programmable Logic Controller) You can communicate also to drives, temperature process controllers, etc. The HMI usually will include several different protocols and port configurations to maximize the amount of control product that it will be able to communicate.
C-More Operator Panels come in 6”, 7” wide, 10”, 10” wide, 12” or 15” models. They are programmed using the EA9-PGMSW programming software through either the USB or Ethernet cable. A voltage supply of 12-24 VDC is required for the panel. The optional C-More AC Power Adapter EA-AC can also be used to supply this voltage.
We will be looking at one of the newest members of the C-More Panel HMI devices from Automation Direct. This is the EA9-T10CL. This ten-inch colour TFT LCD screen offers great features that we will be exploring as we review this product. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
C-More Micro HMI Object Text
The C-More Micro HMI Panel software uses virtual components called Objects. Five different text objects are available for your industrial human machine interface. (HMI) Static text will place words on your HMI page. Lookup text will display a message corresponding to a value in a tag register. Dynamic text will display the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) equivalent of the information in the tag register specified. Scroll text will display information too large to display in the area assigned. This will move the information in the display area so the entire message can be seen. Text entry will allow the user through a pop up key pad to enter ASCII characters into a tag register.
We will now look at all five of these text objects our HMI micro panel. A new page will be made to show all of the text object functions and operations. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
C-More Micro HMI Object Recipe
The C-More Micro HMI Panel software uses virtual components called Objects. Recipe buttons are part of these objects. The Recipe Button Object changes the value of a tag or multiple tags. The Recipe Button Object looks and acts like a Pushbutton Object on the screen. When the Recipe Button Object is pressed, the values in the Source Data Tags are written to Destination Data Tags.
We will now look at recipes that we can use with our HMI micro panel. They include the recipe button. We will program 3 recipes into the unit that will control 4 different timers. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
C-More Micro HMI Object Bitmap
The C-More Micro HMI Panel software uses virtual components called Objects. Bitmaps are part of these objects. These bitmaps are images that are made up of tiny dots called pixels. Each of these dots are actually a small square that contains one colour. Bitmaps will help you produce simple, intuitive looking human machine interfaces.
We will now look at bitmaps that we can use with our HMI micro panel. They include bitmap buttons, static bitmap, dynamic bitmaps and multi-state bitmaps. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!