Messages

7211

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua success with external buttons to Mach4

« on: January 22, 2017, 05:24:18 PM »

Hi Craig,
0-3.3V is the analogue input voltage range of pin 42. It will be converted to a 12 bit number in the range 0-4096.
You can convert that back into a number representing a voltage and read a table indexed by that number if you wish,
but why?

Just read the 12 bit number. Your OV ratio is simple:

ratio=0.5+(value/4096) where value is the contents of the register ie 0-4096.

Craig

7212

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Machtric 2.2kw VFD Modbus

« on: January 22, 2017, 04:30:08 PM »

Hi Zuxztah,
maybe try 'Read Input Register', looks to me like you have the right address.

Craig

7213

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Machtric 2.2kw VFD Modbus

« on: January 22, 2017, 02:25:32 PM »

Hi Zuxztah,
just re-reading your last post and I think you are correct, ie the Slave address is the VFD device number. I wish I could
experiment but I don't have a 485 link. Further my machine is out in the garage and I've pretty much be told, doctors orders' to
stay the hell out of there!

Craig

7214

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Machtric 2.2kw VFD Modbus

« on: January 22, 2017, 02:14:28 PM »

hi Zuxztah,
8150 was just my guess, read thru your manual to find the actual register number.

For instance my Delta VFD:

210CH Motor speed (rpm)

- would need to convert 210C to decimal...

Craig

7215

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Machtric 2.2kw VFD Modbus

« on: January 22, 2017, 01:29:25 PM »

Hi Zuxztah,
kool!

Code: [Select]

I guess the Reg file thing you told me to do "RegMyTrial" was for explaining purposes? For me to find the registry editor?
Yes.

Couple of things I see that could do with refinement or experimentation:
Both your Modbus functions have slave address 0 and Modbus address 8192 or 8193. Try the other way around.
The VFD is the slave device and the address of the registers internal to the VFD are 8192 and 8193. Try it and tell
me if it works, I can't test it without a 485 link.
Second item: the two registers are continuous so you could have just one function

Modbus function: Multiple write
Slave address: 8192
Modbus address:0
Nmbr reg:2

ie each time the Modbus function runs it sends both the control word AND the frequency word. It means that the CRC check which must
happen within the Modbus plugin only has to run once.

Another idea that you may wish to experiment with is reading the actual spindle speed from the VFD, in this instance you are not
writing data to the VFD but reading from it. Don't have your VFD manual on screen at the moment but there is a register that has
the current speed, I'm going to guess 8150:

Modbus function: Read single holding reg
Slave address: 8150
Modbus address:0

So you would end up with another register in the Regfile called something like ActSpeed which could be read and then displayed on the screen.

The next item on the agenda is being able to manipulate your control words from a button on screen or an M code. I suggest you have
a look thru some of DTGs videos to get some ideas how to use the 'Edit Screen' function.

Craig

7216

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua success with external buttons to Mach4

« on: January 22, 2017, 12:08:07 AM »

Hi Craig,
look in the API.chm ('Help Docs' button File Ops tab with M4 enabled), I have it almost permanently on the taskbar so I can refer to it;

LUA Syntax:
hReg, rc = mc.mcRegGetHandle(
      number mInst,
      string path)
So the correct way to get the register handle is:

inst=mc.mcGetInst()
hreg=mc.mcRegGetHandle(inst, "<your register, whatever you called it>")


Its got nothing to do with the screenset. Go to Diagnostics/Regfile and expand the different entries until you find where the PoKeys plugin
or maybe the Modbus plugin has put the register. For instance I have a macro that uses an instance register called ALcode. Its handle:

hreg=mc.mcRgGetHandle(inst,"iRegs0/ALcode")

ie the path is iRegs0/ALcode.

If you cant find the register then you haven't created it yet. Solve that first.

Craig

7217

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua success with external buttons to Mach4

« on: January 21, 2017, 10:28:46 PM »

Hi Craig,
believe it or not we've had a genuine NE gale and about 3in of rain over the last 24 hours, not complaining about the rain!

“MachDuino”.  I have tried all three options with no success.  My screen set is wx4

The name is the name of the screenset you are using. wx4 is a default screenset that ships with Mach4. It is recommended that
you copy it and rename it to something individual say 'Craigwx4Set' or similar. Any changes to the set say buttons, macros and
so on will be saved to that set. If you update Mach4 with a later build wx4 will be overwritten and any changes you made to it
will be lost whereas your individually named screenset will be retained. The underlying code that selects and loads the screen is LUA
and LUA is case sensitive, your screenset is case matched but otherwise follows the rules for LUA variables, ie doesn't start with a
number or a LUA keyword.

Code: [Select]

You mention 0 to 4096, DTG’s table goes from 0 to 1023, could that have anything to do with it,
This depends on the PoKeys board. If memory serves it uses a 12 bit ADC, ie 0 to 4096. If it uses a 10 bit ADC, like DTGs Arduino,
the range would be 0 to 1024.

Code: [Select]

The other thing is the name of the register, which goes into those lines inserted into the PLC script
Most of the buttons and switches you have used on your control board have two distinct states. Mach4 runs the signal script each and
every time a signal changes state. You don't have to poll them every once and a while. An analogue signal is converted to a digital number
and communicated via Modbus by TCP/IP and the Modbus function runs every 25ms or so. The Modbus plugin creates and defines a register
in the Regfile and the register is updated with the digital representation of your analogue value everytime the Modbus function runs ie every 25ms.
You can read the register any time you like but I imagine you wish to see it live so you would put the code necessary to read and display it in the
PLC script as it runs every 40ms or so.

Craig

7218

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Lua success with external buttons to Mach4

« on: January 21, 2017, 05:42:40 PM »

Hi Craig,
I see DTG has already replied with a solution that uses a lookup table.

I think this might also work: the PoKeys yields an 12 bit number and ranges from 0 to 4096.

ratio=0.5+(pokeyvalue/4096)
percent=ratio*100

Craig.

7219

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Machtric 2.2kw VFD Modbus

« on: January 21, 2017, 05:27:12 PM »

Hi Zuxztah,
have a look at Diagnostics/Regfile. You will see a number of registers. Most of them are defined and/or created by various plugins
but you can define your own as well.

Try this: Configure/Plugins/Regfile- you should see a page with two tabs 'Instance Registers' and 'Global Registers'. Try creating an instance
register (page icon with green cross) and a new register will be formed which you can name, provide a default value and make persistent.
Make one called RegMyTrial with a default of 100 and make it persistent. Click Apply and exit.

Now inspect that new register by Diagnostic/Regfile and expand iRegs0 and you should see the register you created RegMyTrial and its value.
You can edit its value by double clicking. This register could now be accessed or written to by any script in Mach4. For instance you might
store a value of the X co-ordinate when running one of your macros say m100 but later you could recall that number in another macro say m101.
Of course this is just an example, read chapter 4 of the Mach4 Scripting Manual that is in the 'Help Docs' button of the File Ops tab when Mach4
is enabled. It explains the usage of registers. Note also that you could store either a number or a string. I make use of the string store to
record a path and filename in one of my macros which can later be used to open that file in another macro.

For your spindle control problem you are going to allow the MODBUS plugin to define two new registers. They will be seen at Diagnostics/Regfile
and expand modbus0. You could manually edit them there or you could programmatically edit them when you hit a button or execute a script.
You would also be able to see the registers by Diagnostics/Modbus and expanding but note that the only registers displayed there are those which
have been created or owned by the Modbus Plugin, it is not the right place to edit them however.

Once you've got your 485 comm link working and the two new registers defined in the Regfile then you can go on to work out how to manipulate
them.

Craig

7220

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Machtric 2.2kw VFD Modbus

« on: January 21, 2017, 03:46:43 PM »

Hi Zuxztah,
if I understand correctly you only require two registers to control your spindle:

slave reg 8192- contains the bit pattern to turn on or off the spindle and its direction
slave reg 8193- contains a numeric value for the frequency

I believe also that your MODBUS connection window (your first pic) should have 'use zero base addressing' checked.
I propose that the Mach4 registers are modbus0/spinCntrl  and modbus0/freq.
Your frequency setting function (your second pic) should have the slave address 8193 and the Modbus register should be modbus0/freq.

Your spindle control function (your third pic) is inconsistent. The function selected is 'write multiple registers', you only require 1 register word.
The slave address (the VFD is the slave device) should be 8192 and the Modbus register should be modbus0/spinCntrl.

In order to control your spindle you need to load the required bit pattern into modbus0/spinCntrl, ie one word transmitted but different values
for the required spindle function.

Does that make any sense?

Craig