Monitoring a Watlow F4 Controller

[Ott]

Hi,

I ran into the same issue - with labview 2010, USB to serial port. Not working with the downloaded driver. The baudrate is set right by check the device driver from the window and F4 setup. Need your help on how to make it work.

Thanks,

Ott

[Greg-H]

Hi Ott,

Can you tell me what protocol you are using to communicate with the device.  Also what are the properites of the serial communication (baud rate, flow control, stop bits, etc.)  When you say you are running into the same issue with LabVIEW 2010, what particular issue are you refering to?

Regards,

Greg H.

[CStaller]

Ott,

I was able to communicate to an RS-232 configuration of the F4 using a USB to RS-232 converter.  Is your settings for the communications port the same on the computer and controller?

[Jeff_K]

I am a graduate student researching thermal properties of construction materials using a Tenney Benchtop Environmental Chamber with a Watlow F4 controller.  I am trying to set up communications between LABView 2011 and the controller.  I am connecting with the chambers RS-232 serial port via a "straight thru" serial cable to the serial port on the computer.  I have checked the cable with a multimeter to confirm that it is "straight thru".  I have downloaded the drivers for the Watlow F4.  I am able to perform some basis functions such as change the date, read the temperature in some of the example VIs and other basic operations.  I have tried the "run profile" example and sometimes get an error code "BFFF0015".  I also sometimes get the error code "-1074001419".  The best I can get is a "profile1" created with the only step being "end".  This part works sometimes and other times I get the error code.  I am completely new to environmental chambers and to the LABView software.  Also believe we've correctly set up the port with the software and the software and the controller at 9600 baud and a setting of 8, n, 1.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

On a different note we have VIs set up in LABView 8.5.  We recently upgraded to 2011.  Upon loading and old profle the software begins searching for VIs in the 2011 library.  Seems like it should check the 8.5 library for these.  I'm not sure how to change this and make our old profiles work in 2011.

I've attached some of the errors.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[labviewleroy]

first one is caused by lack of response from the controller. This could be because you are trying to program a profile with a profile already running. You need to terminate the profile before you can upload a new one.

The second one, we cant see the whole error. You need to expand those windows and print the entire error but it appears to be an issue of com ports. Make sure you've selected the right com port. 

[Daniel@EMS]

Hi

I remember seeing this same error

Somehow the labview program does not terminate the profile once it is ran

How can the labview program be fixed so it closes the loop once the profile load is complete?

[labviewleroy]

That's not entirely correct. Labview programs do nothign but progarm the controller; they do not control the profile. Once the profile is programmed it will self-terminate when it reaches the end. It is not up to labview to terminate a profile.

However, if you wish to terminate a profile while it is running you need to write modbus register 1217 . Please reference the Modbus registers for the F4. Find the PDF. 

[Ott]

Hi,

The rate is 19200. I could make it working now but always see the first error.

My program was based on Tenney ES2.llb. Since a lot of steps need to deal with Modbus, I found it's hard to understand. But I found that one is very helpful.

Thanks,

Ott

[Ott]

Hi,

I had a strange issue after I ran the program I mentioned. I try to use manual to setup the SP value and could not set temperature lower than 0 degreeC. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Ott

[Ott]

Hi,

I used your codes as reference. It is due to the setup caused the temperature setup could not below 0.

By the way, I found the flow chart in the manual is not that clear. For setup the ramp rate, how could you do it?it is suggested to write into 4043.

Thanks,

Ott