Recent Posts

1

Do-more CPUs and Do-more Designer Software / Re: Writing to PLC concerns/complaints

« Last post by Bolt on September 08, 2025, 02:05:27 PM »

Okay, full scope of setup.

PC to USB/Ethernet adapter
Ethernet to VPN router, LAN port 1
VPN router LAN port 2 to BRX

Nothing unplugged/plugged, powered back on, etc. Continuous steady state before launching DmD.

2

Do-more CPUs and Do-more Designer Software / Re: BRX Processor exception @009359F4(6)

« Last post by BobO on September 08, 2025, 01:40:57 PM »

Got a little more info today. The lights on the CPU were doing their scrolling flashing deal like it was updating firmware and then would go back to just the solid error light for a while before going back to the scrolling deal in an endless cycle. Replaced the CPU and customer is back up again, but curious what happened to this CPU.

Sounds like something was corrupted, resulting in a crash immediately after returning to RUN mode. If it hasn't been cleared and still does it, you can send it to us and we can try to figure out what went wrong. If it's a hardware issue, we'll fix at the same time.

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Do-more CPUs and Do-more Designer Software / Re: Writing to PLC concerns/complaints

« Last post by franji1 on September 08, 2025, 01:40:31 PM »

Make sure you plug your USB to Ethernet Adapter's Ethernet cable into your PLC BEFORE launching Designer.

Let Windows do the double-ding.

Launch Designer

See if that works.

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General Discussion / Re: Mapping an analog output to a vitual axis?

« Last post by BobO on September 08, 2025, 01:09:05 PM »

Motion has been the number one Do-More feature used in my applications for years. I came from the stepper motor world controlling high volume photo processing equipment so when I made the jump to servo/industrial grade machines the Step/Direction format just worked for me. I do a lot of Yaskawa servo projects and my servo rep says that I am the only one using this method to control his servos.

SS

And that may well be at the heart of it. Pulse motor control is pretty narrow these days. My guess is that most of the Yaskawa users are using EtherCAT.

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Do-more CPUs and Do-more Designer Software / Re: Writing to PLC concerns/complaints

« Last post by Bolt on September 08, 2025, 12:25:28 PM »

No .dmp files in the Bin folder.  I'm not surprised, as I usually see a popup when those are created. In this instance, DmD didn't "crash", it just "froze".

1. Now that you mention it, this PC does not have dual NIC's like my old one, and I'm just using a USB to Ethernet dongle. I kinda forgot all about that once it worked and never ordered a new NIC. But, regardless, it's connected straight to the PC, no hub. And my test bench is always powered up, so now power up delay on the PLC there.

2. Not seeing the similarities, as in it's not going via USB, but rather through the PC's routing tables?

Next time, I will try to kill PLC communications server. I didn't think to add Publisher column to Task Manager and sort for Host Engineering earlier.

6

Do-more CPUs and Do-more Designer Software / Re: Writing to PLC concerns/complaints

« Last post by franji1 on September 08, 2025, 12:01:47 PM »

The latest version of DmD has been giving me a few issues.

See if you have any .dmp files.  Email them to use if you do (support at hosteng.com)

1. We had a similar issue dealing with powering up bench PLCs, some with USB connections, some with Ethernet USB ports.  Make sure Designer is closed.  Power up your bench PLC - let everything (USB switches whatever hardware in your office) start up.  Then start up Designer.  Make sure you do NOT see a "Retry" dialog when trying to connect to your bench PLC.

2. Possibly similar to #1?

"Quick fix" - Run Task Manager and kill every instance of DmDesigner.exe and CSMainDm.exe.  CSMainDm.exe is the Comm Server that is "hung" and must be killed.

7

Do-more CPUs and Do-more Designer Software / Re: BRX Processor exception @009359F4(6)

« Last post by MarkTTU on September 08, 2025, 11:25:55 AM »

Got a little more info today. The lights on the CPU were doing their scrolling flashing deal like it was updating firmware and then would go back to just the solid error light for a while before going back to the scrolling deal in an endless cycle. Replaced the CPU and customer is back up again, but curious what happened to this CPU.

8

Do-more CPUs and Do-more Designer Software / Re: Writing to PLC concerns/complaints

« Last post by Bolt on September 08, 2025, 11:15:23 AM »

The latest version of DmD has been giving me a few issues.

1. I could connect to (OS 2.10.3) PLC and write program fine several times, but when I tried to update my test bench PLC to OS 2.11 over LAN, and it kept freezing up DmD on the update screen. As soon as I would press "Update PLC Operating System", it wouldn't continue, had to kill the program via Task Manager, couldn't reconnect upon re-opening as "Comm Link already in use in another programming session". Restart PC (install Windows updates...), try again, same problem. Restart PC again, try again, same problem. Restart PC, uninstall 2.11 (and 2.10 for good measure). Re-install 2.11, and I could connect and update no problems.

2. Now today, I'm trying to connect to a customer's site via VPN connection, and it prompts for the PLC's password, frozen. It's like it doesn't accept focus on the password entry field. Force close in Task Manager, but the password box never goes away. Try again in DmD, comms link in use. Restart PC, try again, same results. Restart PC again, re-install 2.10, connect, password prompt, enter password, and I'm in.

Quick "fix" question, is there a way to force all comm links to break to avoid the drawn out process or restarting PC?

9

General Discussion / Re: Mapping an analog output to a vitual axis?

« Last post by scottsutton on September 08, 2025, 10:24:25 AM »

We feel like we created a very capable product and yet motion is really underused compared to other features

Motion has been the number one Do-More feature used in my applications for years. I came from the stepper motor world controlling high volume photo processing equipment so when I made the jump to servo/industrial grade machines the Step/Direction format just worked for me. I do a lot of Yaskawa servo projects and my servo rep says that I am the only one using this method to control his servos.

SS

10

General Discussion / Re: Mapping an analog output to a vitual axis?

« Last post by BobO on September 08, 2025, 10:12:18 AM »

The project is complete and I can say that I had the same result as Jason, that control scenario worked out perfectly. The system is stable with smooth motion control and the cuts are accurate. Best of all, the customer is happy. They report that it operates better with the new controls than it ever ran on the old obsolete control system.

Question for the Do-More development team? Can this "Hack" be incorporated into a baked in instruction? If so, would it offer even better performance potential that would not be bound to the scan time?

Thanks for the great engineering behind the Do-More PLC.

SS

My only concern would be setting expectations that cannot be supported with the current hardware. It works great as long as the speed requirements aren't very high, but for something canned we'd prefer tighter control and high speed outputs.

To that point, we have long talked about a variant of the HSIO with analog outputs that would do all of this onboard at very high speed. From ADC's product management perspective, BRX is going to be changing focus a bit, placing a bit more emphasis on motion than previously. While we don't know the full extent of that, we do expect to review our motion with the new product manager and look for things we can do that will enhance our offering.

Motion on BRX has been a bit perplexing. We feel like we created a very capable product and yet motion is really underused compared to other features. That will be a major topic of discussion. Certainly any feedback our users can provide would be a welcome addition to that discussion.