FP-1001 Watchdog on Power-up ?

[RCutright]

I am using a FP-1001 module and watch to use the watchdog feature to write the outputs of a RLY-420 module to 0. Configure it all in FP 4.0 within max and it works fine.

power down the modules and the watchdog is gone, When I run max again the configurations don't match between device and file, and furthermore max doesn't seem to change the modules with repeated efforts. NI support told me the problem was with watchdog timer value which doesn't get "renewed" on power-up even with snapshot ? I think it may have something to do with "enable on use" which is no longer an option with FP 4.0 as I can attempt the same ordeal on a different machine running FP 3.0 and the watchdog values stick, and fp explorer doesn't get "confused".

Does an
yone have similar expereince and hopefully solution for watchdog ? Is there a drag-n-drop way to use labview to ensure the watchdog is enabled. I don't believe that I should have to open max everyday and verify my watchdog, and dread the day the place burns down because nobody "refreshed" the watchdog.

[Aaron_G]

The configuration mismatch between NI-MAX and the FieldPoint modules is the primary clue as to what is occuring. All FieldPoint modules have the ability to power-up in two modes; Factory Default or User Defined Configuration. It seems like your FP-1001 is powering up in the Factory Default configuration each time. To correct this, browse to the FP-1001 module and uncheck the box labeled Factory Configuration. The FP-1001 will now use the settings that have previously been stored on it. To get it to immediately use the settings you can either re-boot the FP-1001 or reconfigure the attached modules. Once you have done this, the settings mismatch problem will go away. Additionally, the watchdog reset problem should also no longer occur.

However, I do have to no
te that the watchdog is designed so that the watchdog does not enable until the first valid communication with the FP-100X module. Thus, if you power up a FP-100X bank, all output channels will assume the configured power-up settings and stay in the power-up settings indefinately until communication starts. Once a valid command has been received by the FP-1001 or it's attached modules, the watchdog will be enabled and a subsequent loss of communication will cause the outputs to be switched to the watchdog state.

Regards,
Aaron

[RCutright]

Thanks for your response.

I have already unchecked the "factory configuration" box, and have configured the power up settings so that the modules should power up with no outputs(which is the factory default anyway I believe". I start communication with the modules using labview then stop the running VI - and wait for the watchdog to timeout - 5 seconds. If I do this after configuring in MAX everything is fine, but when I power down the watchdog doesn't function until reconfigured in max. Same scenario with earlier versions of FP explorer (prior to integration with MAX) it works just fine ?

It seems like "Enable" and "Enable on use" from the earlier fieldpoint days were different in that "enable on use" would restart the watchdog upon estalishing com
munications, and enable served to enable the watchdog for 1 time use - The new MAX based FP explorer doesn't seem to have an "enable on use" option. I have heard that you can configure the watch from within labview but don't have experience in this area ?

[Aaron_G]

When configuring the network module in MAX, in the FP-100X configuration window, there are two watchdog settings, current and power-up. Which one are you using? Ideally you should set both to the same value. If you are setting the current and not the power-up watchdog settings, this would explain the problem.

The FieldPoint serial modules are somewhat different than the ethernet modules in that they can have two watchdog settings, a power-up watchdog setting and current watchdog setting. If one were to configure the current watchdog setting only, the watchdog would be enabled for as long as the bank has power, but it is not saved into the configuration memory. If one configures the power-up watchdog setting, then the watchdog takes effect the
next time the FP-100X is rebooted. In this regards, if you configure a FP-100X to have a power up watchdog, destroy and re-create the Comm Resource (using Find Devices), you will notice that the FP-100X has a current watchdog setting of Disabled, but if you were to have power-cycled the FP-100X module between the resource creation times, you will notice that the current watchdog and power-up watchdog settings are identical.

The Enable and Enable on Use options from earlier versions of FieldPoint Explorer, behave somewhat as you described but not entirely. The Enable on Use option was only valid for serial modules while Enable and Disable worked with all modules. Like you suppose, Enable on use would configure the watchdog when communications were first established. But it was most useful to avoid having the watchdog trigger in the time it took you to finish configuring a module and starting to launch LabVIEW and running your program from LabVIEW.

Regards,
Aaron