Skip to Content

Register Login

Industry Online Support

Technical Forum

Navigation

synchronizing PLC and HMI projects

Created by: rico100 at: 11/21/2012 1:20 PM (5 Replies)

Rating (0)

Thanks 2

6 Entries

11/21/2012 1:20 PM	Rate (0)
rico100 Experienced Member Joined: 10/14/2010 Last visit: 1/3/2025 Posts: 59 Rating: (3)	Hi All, I have a project with 6 S7-1200 PLC's each with there own HMI. 5 of the PLC's and HMIs are exactly the same (bar the IP addreses)and areallnetworked tothe 6th PLC. When I make a change to one of the 5 PLC/HMI that are identical I have to make it on all 5. Does anyone know of any tips and tricks to make this task easier? Thanks in advance Rich
	Last edited by: rico100 at: 11/21/2012 1:24 PM
Suggestion To thank Quote Answer

11/21/2012 1:35 PM	Rate (0)
Ganes10 Platinum Member Joined: 8/31/2010 Last visit: 1/9/2025 Posts: 1523 Rating: (230)	rico100 Hi All, I have a project with 6 S7-1200 PLC's each with there own HMI. 5 of the PLC's and HMIs are exactly the same (bar the IP addreses)and areallnetworked tothe 6th PLC. When I make a change to one of the 5 PLC/HMI that are identical I have to make it on all 5. Does anyone know of any tips and tricks to make this task easier? Thanks in advance Rich Hello rico100, You can use a transfer card to download the same program into multiple CPUs. In your case itmight not be helpful as you have have networked all the CPUs. It may help if you do not have STEP 7 Basic at site. Do you maintain 6 PLCs within a project? or only 2? (in case of 2 CPUs I mean one for all 5 CPUs and anothe 1 for the 6th PLC) Based on that we can look for some optimization. Still it will not be as easy with a single click to download into all CPUs. Maybe this option of choosing multiple CPUs and downloading them in one strech may be available in future. (like how it is available in STEP 7 v5.5 classic)
	Like it? Rate it!
Suggestion To thank Quote Answer
This contribution was helpful to 1 thankful Users rico100

11/21/2012 3:28 PM	Rate (0)
0_Einstein Diamond Expert Joined: 7/7/2010 Last visit: 1/17/2025 Posts: 15541 Rating: (2465)	rico100 Hi All, I have a project with 6 S7-1200 PLC's each with there own HMI. 5 of the PLC's and HMIs are exactly the same (bar the IP addreses)and areallnetworked tothe 6th PLC. When I make a change to one of the 5 PLC/HMI that are identical I have to make it on all 5. Does anyone know of any tips and tricks to make this task easier? Thanks in advance Rich I agree with Ganes10there should be a better way with the NEW software that is at least as good as the OLD software. A couple of approaches, one already mentioned, would be something like this: Have one project with 2 PLCs and 2 HMIs, and just change the IP address to match which device you are loading. Have one project with 6 PLCs and 6 HMIs, and just update the top 2 PLCs/HMIs, then drag / drop any updates to the remaining PLCs/HMIs. This is more work, more error prone, but does allow for future customization to each PLC/HMI should the need arise.
	science guy
Suggestion To thank Quote Answer
This contribution was helpful to 1 thankful Users rico100

11/23/2012 3:47 PM	Rate (0)
rico100 Experienced Member Joined: 10/14/2010 Last visit: 1/3/2025 Posts: 59 Rating: (3)	Thanks for the replies! Sorry for the delay in replying been out on site. A little more info on the application. We have 5 Filter presses that will each have there own PLC and HMI. The filter presses are fed by 3 sludge tanks which is what the final PLC looks after. The filter press will not need to communicate with each other but will all need to communicate with the Sludge Tank PLC. The filter press PLC's are currently Omron CPM2A's and the Sludge tank an Omron CJ1M, The reason we're replacing them is because the machine maker won't give us the passwords to be able to modify / maintain them! I've replaced one of the filter presses and am now ready to do the others so looking at the easiest way to this. I want all the PLC's and HMI's in one project. The way I've tried it so far is: Copy and paste PLC project and rename Copy and paste HMI project and rename. Sort out networking and create new HMI connection betwenn new PLC and HMI then compile. The PLC is fine but the HMI project has issues. All though the connection and PLC name are fine the connection is highlighted red. If i click on the tag it browses to the PLC i copied. To overcome this I exported all the tags and re imported them. I still did get errors with the area pointer tags and tags where I had assigned tags for the min and max values. I reassigned these manually and now everthing compiles.

Suggestion To thank Quote Answer

11/24/2012 9:46 AM	Rate (0)
Ganes10 Platinum Member Joined: 8/31/2010 Last visit: 1/9/2025 Posts: 1523 Rating: (230)	rico100 Thanks for the replies! Sorry for the delay in replying been out on site. A little more info on the application. We have 5 Filter presses that will each have there own PLC and HMI. The filter presses are fed by 3 sludge tanks which is what the final PLC looks after. The filter press will not need to communicate with each other but will all need to communicate with the Sludge Tank PLC. The filter press PLC's are currently Omron CPM2A's and the Sludge tank an Omron CJ1M, The reason we're replacing them is because the machine maker won't give us the passwords to be able to modify / maintain them! I've replaced one of the filter presses and am now ready to do the others so looking at the easiest way to this. I want all the PLC's and HMI's in one project. The way I've tried it so far is: Copy and paste PLC project and rename Copy and paste HMI project and rename. Sort out networking and create new HMI connection betwenn new PLC and HMI then compile. The PLC is fine but the HMI project has issues. All though the connection and PLC name are fine the connection is highlighted red. If i click on the tag it browses to the PLC i copied. To overcome this I exported all the tags and re imported them. I still did get errors with the area pointer tags and tags where I had assigned tags for the min and max values. I reassigned these manually and now everthing compiles. Hello rico100, So are you comfortable with the existing solution?
	Like it? Rate it!
Suggestion To thank Quote Answer

11/26/2012 2:29 PM	Rate (0)
0_Einstein Diamond Expert Joined: 7/7/2010 Last visit: 1/17/2025 Posts: 15541 Rating: (2465)	One thing I ran across was with area pointers where the project would become corrupted to the point I could not compile/download the hmi project. I was doing something very similar. By creating a new HMI, dragging everything over to the new hmi, I was able then to adjust the area pointers. The reason I mention it is that your issue around area pointers may put your project in a similar bad state. Next time you get ready to copy the hmi project to a new one, delete the area pointers right before copying - you have to set them up again anyway. It was very frustrating to be told by Siemens support that this problem will be fixed in V12 of the portal software........
	science guy
Suggestion To thank Quote Answer

|

Share this page:

Share this page on...

Follow us on