Lookout 4.0

Using Alternator object to control
3 pumps Have setup 3ea Nuteralzones
for lead,lag,lag lag, operation. How does this connect to 3 position pot,
to
control alternator object.
Thanks AL

There are examples for using the Alternator called "Using Alternator Object."
Go to DEVELOPER ZONE > RESOURCE LIBRARY > MEASUREMENT AND AUTOMATION SOFTWARE > LOOKOUT > GENERAL.

Similar Messages

Lookout modbus plus performance

I'm running 9 Schneider Electric PLCs Compact 265 connected to Lookout v5 PC via modbus plus. I have cyclic stalls of transport, each 50 secs or so, which last for 3 or even more seconds. I've tried all the settings there are on modbus object in Lookout, but with no success, only different graph shapes in performance monitor (you can have a look at graphs at the end of mail). Even single PLC on network (with others shut down) freezes the communication for more then second, which is unacceptable since I need to refresh my data at least each 350ms.
I've considered 3 things:
1. PLC underperforms
I've checked scan time in PLCs, they're all running smooth with scan time under 90ms. This time doesn't increase even during modbus peaks, I've reduced watchdog to 100ms and it never triggered. Looks to me like plc has more than enough time for modbus, so plc should not be the problem.
2. PC underperforms
Hardly a problem, PC running under 5% most of the time, never goes over 50% no matter what I do.
3. modbus underperforms
Statistics show no garbled or timed out frames on any plc, so wiring should be fine.
PLC uses 130 registers of memory (type 4 – holding register). With all registers back to back (no slack between registers), this should mean that all the memory can be transferred in 2 frames. This also means total data load per sec should be
9 plcs * 3 refreshes * 130 reg * 2 bytes = 7030 bytes.
Even with overhead included, this is so little compared to theoretical 120 kbytes modbus plus should be able to perform, so nothing else for me to do but scratch my head.
I've checked Lookout source for any loops which could initiate some read or write at 50sec cycle, but there's nothing even close anywhere in program.
Am I missing something? Can anyone tell me why modbus freezes my system?
Bye everyone,
Darko
SVETLOST TEATAR

Hello,
It’s been a while since I last checked the forum, but in the meanwhile I’ve resolve the problem.
The solution lies in modbus.ini and the way modbus object communicates with modbus secondary, an issue not properly covered by help and ni.com. Unless defined otherwise in modbus.ini, modbus object will refresh all of the configured memory points in your plc each 50 or so polls (I can’t remember which is the default value). This can be a problem if the number of memory points is large, because it congests modbus and creates performance stalls.
You can read more about this here: Lookout Driver Objects - Custom INI File Settings (http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/E54F75254BBE772786256CFC00700B5F).
Thanks everybody for joining in.
Bye,
Darko

How difficult would it be to upgrade from Lookout 5.1 to 6.5?

Hello, I was told that Lookout 6.5 works with Windows 7. Before I purchase 6.5 I need to know how difficult it will be to move from 5.1 to 6.5. Has anyone done this move? If I am going to have to redraw, or do numerous changes to the Database then I won't do it and I'll start from scratch with Cimplicity or ClearSCADA.
Thanks.
SCADA Programmer at the Coachella Valley Water District.

We use a custom SCADA designed by SCIPAR out of Buffalo New York. We've had a SCADA System here for about 28 Years. I have small standalone SCADA Systems running Lookout.
Another Question, because I can't get the Database Converted for one of my systems, I'm wondering if it is ever needed. This is a small system and the operator's use Trending and Alarm Functions but they never look at historical archives. I do have the Object Members set up to Log, is that needed for Trending to function? I wonder if I can get by without the conversion since it doesn't look like I'm ever going to get it to work.
SCADA Programmer at the Coachella Valley Water District.

Communication problem with Modbus object in Lookout 3.8

What means the error code 06 besides the following alarm message NO COMMUNICATION RESPONSE FROM MODBUS SECONDARY ? Lookout runtime-express version 3.8 build 7

Greetings,
The alarm message "No Communication response from modbus secondary" means that communication cannot be established between the modbus object and your external device. Verify that you have set up the serial port settings properly and that you have configured the modbus object. Verify that your external device is functioning properly and connected to the PC. If all of these things are ok, you may need to increase the receive gap of the serial port settings and the receive timeout of the modbus object. There is a tutorial on the web which outlines the troubleshooting steps for communication in Lookout.
http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/033CD84BAC7E1E7586256A3300756284?opendocument
I hope this information is helpful. Have a good day!
Patrick R.

Two processes running at the same time in Lookout

I have installed Lookout 5.0 with 200 I/O Points onto our server computer. The application of motion control is next to the 200 I/O points through OPC PMAC server/client. Now I would like to have a second process in the same server for trouble shooting and testing without stopping the motion control process. However, this second testing process could have also many I/O points through Serial and USB ports. I assume that the total amount of I/O points of both processes will be greater than 200.I prefer to have independent processes for control and testing because access levels. Can I have these two processes running at the same time when needed?

Hi,
From your description you are using a third party OPC server for the motion application. You could have a second Lookout process communicating with the same OPC server with no problems, as long as you do not exceed the number of I/O points your license supports.
Also, the process you are using for testing obviously could not overwrite datamembers (or registers if you will) that would interfere in the overall application, in other words you can test your application as long as you keep the coherency of the test.
So the answer would be, yes it is possible, however you are still limited to the number of I/O's your license supports... You may even consider upgrade the number of I/O's you have in your license.
Best Regards
Andre Oliveira

Lookout 6.0.1.: Class Not Found when trying to open project on another PC

I am using the same version on both PC's, but when I move the file over and run it, I get "Class not found!". Then "Error running process file".When running the lookout source file I get the following:
Lookout Process File Compiler Version 6.0.1 (build 1)
Copyright National Instruments 1992-2004 All rights reserved.
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(324): error: Class not found: DirectLogic
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(667): error: Class not found: Meter
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(670): error: Class not found: Meter
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(673): error: Class not found: Meter
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(676): error: Class not found: Meter
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(1977): error: Class not found: Meter
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(57): error: Object is not defined: DL1
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(667): error: Object is not defined: Meter1
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(670): error: Object is not defined: Meter2
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(673): error: Object is not defined: Meter3
C:\Documents and Settings\testing\Desktop\Latest Lookout\lprocess2.lks(676): error: Object is not defined: Meter4
I have also tried to open on 6.1 with similar results.
I am familiar with lookout, however I have taken this project over so I am not sure what I need to do from here.

There are two object (DirectLogic and Meter) that are not present on the amchine you are moving the process to. If the same version of Lookout, you might be able to just copy the cbx files.
Mike
Mike Crabtree - Lead Developer
Destek of Nevada, Inc. / Digital Telemetry Systems, Inc.
(866) 964-6948 / (760) 247-9512

Lookout Client V6.0.2 keeps crashing - lkwrks.dll problem

On several of my machines running the Lookout client version (6.0.2 with updates), Lookout consistently crashes. Below is the information from Event Viewer:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Application Error
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1000
Date:  4/3/2007
Time:  12:40:46 PM
User:  N/A
Computer: SCADA-SD
Description:
Faulting application lookout.exe, version 6.0.2.1, faulting module lkworks.dll, version 6.0.2.1, fault address 0x00021c5b.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74   Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 46 61 69 6c   ion Fail
0010: 75 72 65 20 20 6c 6f 6f   ure loo
0018: 6b 6f 75 74 2e 65 78 65   kout.exe
0020: 20 36 2e 30 2e 32 2e 31    6.0.2.1
0028: 20 69 6e 20 6c 6b 77 6f    in lkwo
0030: 72 6b 73 2e 64 6c 6c 20   rks.dll
0038: 36 2e 30 2e 32 2e 31 20   6.0.2.1
0040: 61 74 20 6f 66 66 73 65   at offse
0048: 74 20 30 30 30 32 31 63   t 00021c
0050: 35 62 0d 0a                       5b..
Again, this is only happening on machines running the Client version.
All machines are Dells running Windows XP SP2 and have at least 1 GB of RAM.
Please respond A.S.A.P.
Thanks!
Jason Phillips

I am aware of the fact that you cannot copy the updated lkworks.dll file to the client version - if you do you will get an "evalutaion version" dialogue box everytime you open the client.
This problem is occuring with all of the updated files, except "lkworks.dll", copied to the Lookout 6.0 folder.
I found out late yesterday afternoon that this crash is occuring on machines running the client version and running my client process file. On machines running the client version but not running the client process file, the crash does not occur. For example, I have one machine running the client version and a logging process file which does not crash. Also, on machines running the server version and the client process file, the crash does not occur. So, it appears that the problem has to do with machines running the client version and the client process file. This process file is much bigger than the logging file I had previously mentioned, about 11Mb. Attached are my client and server files to assist you in diagnosing and correcting this problem.
Please respond A.S.A.P.
Thanks!
Jason Phillips

Lookout

We are running Lookout 6.1. After starting the program we get a message "Lookout Executable has encountered a problem and needs to close". It then asks to send an error report to Microsoft. When I hit "Don't send" the program closes. It has been doing this intermittently. We will start the program 2, 3, or 4 times and eventually it will continue to run. If it gets past 10 minutes or so, it will stay running. This morning we also had a couple of graphics disappear, a message came up saying the file was not there. I rebooted the computer, when lookout started up, (eventually), we were missing the data on the hypertrends, that has not happened before. Has anyone ever run across a similar problem(s). Can I reload the program without losing the processes we have built and data. Thanks for you help.

When you click more details on the error report, it will say the module that crashed.
What module?
We have experienced this with older CBX drivers that were made for Lookout 4.5/5.x on 6.0 and higher.
Forshock - Consult.Develop.Solve.

Exporting and Importing a table in Lookout 6.0.2 using Office 2007

I am exporting a table to Excel 2007 from Lookout 6.0.2 so I can make changes and then import the table with changes back into Lookout. I have done this in the past with Excel 2003 and have had no problems. When I export the table the file that is created is an Excel 97-2003 workbook file, so after I make changes to the file in Excel 2007, I save the file as an Excel 97-2003 workbook because that is what is was initially and that is the only type of file Lookout sees when trying to do an import. Problem is when go to import this file I get an error saying 'cannot read file format'.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Jason
Jason Phillips

Lookout Datatable object can only read worksheet file, but unfortunately Excel 2007 can not save as worksheet any more.
I have not found a way to use datatable with excel 2007 yet.
One workaround is to use ODBC. Refer to this article.
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/C8137C6BDA276982862566BA005C5D1F?OpenDocument
Ryan Shi
National Instruments

How do I move Lookout 5 w/ Fieldpoint 3 to a new PC

I want to move my install of Lookout 5 from an old, slow computer to a newer, faster one. Both machines run Windows 2000 SP4. I have a clean install of Lookout 5 and Fieldpoint 3 on the new machine, and the old machine still works and is running on the same network subnet. In addition to lookout.sec (in the Windows system folder), what else do I need to move to bring up my system on the new machine? Are there registry keys that need export/import? Which folders (by default, at least) need to be copied?
Thanks!!

Besides .l4p .l4t .lks .lka files, you need to copy the database folder to the new machine. And then create a new database on the new machine with the data.
Ryan Shi
National Instruments

How do i display my labview front panel on a web-page and update it say eyery 5 seconds, I think i need Lookout?

My front panel display updates every 20secs. I want to be able to view the Labview front panel on a web-page which updates itself continuously. Will Lookout do this?

LabVIEW will do this with it's built in web server. Full control of a LabVIEW front panel is possilbe with version 6.1. Older versions have the ability to publish a panel with no control. What version do you have? Lookout is a completely different software package for HMI/SCADA applications and has no relationship to LabVIEW except that they're sold by the same company.

How can I set up two control panels in two seperate monitors using Lookout version 4?

I have Lookout version 4, and dual monitors and i am trying to make it so two seperate control displays come up at the same time upon opening in the different monitors. The guy at tech support said it is not possible, so Iwas wondering if anybody has a possible creative solution to this problem?

Run two instances of Lookout (not possible in LO6+)
You would need to manual put each process on each display
Mike
Mike Crabtree - Lead Developer
Destek of Nevada, Inc. / Digital Telemetry Systems, Inc.
(866) 964-6948 / (760) 247-9512

In Lookout, how can I make the equivalent of a "4 changes per day" set-back thermostat?

Ok... I need some help here....
I have a Pot_TSP (Temperature setpoint) that uses a PLC register as its remote source. I added a night-time temperature setback feature by adding a "DAYTIME" expression as a permissive, and tying two new Pots (Pot_SP1 and Pot_SP2) to Pot_TSP's "reset value" : NIF(Expression_Daytime, Pot_SP1, Pot_SP2).
Client now wants this increased to 4 optional temp changes per day, just like a household 7-day programmable T-stat. Adding the additional conditions to the "reset" parameter was easy; one extra TimeOfDay timer for each temperature Setpoint change, arranged as "OR" functions. Each time the clock hits one of these TOD targets, Pot_TSP gets "reset" and the "reset value" gets written to it. Here's where I start to bog down... How do you arrange this so that when one of the 4 TOD targets goes "true", its corresponding SP value gets written to Pot_TSP? The closest I've been able to get is this: make a new Pot (Pot_X) with a min of 1 and a max of 4 and use a NCHOOSE to select which of the 4 Temp setpoint Pots Pot_X will use as the (next) SP. If I rotate Pot_X and the clock hits a TOD target, a value corresponding to the selected Pot gets written to Pot_TSP.
So can someone please tell me how to get Pot_X to align itself with the TOD events? I can get a limping model if I slave the NCHOOSE function to a Counter object, but if the customer has Lookout turned off or disconnected long enough to miss one of the events, Pot_X will go out of sync. Same goes for incrementing the Pot object. Can't allow that...
Since the clock never stops and only hits each TOD once every 24 hours, there would never be more than one of the 4 TOD conditions true at one time... is there a way to build an expression object (or the like) to ultimately produce a numeric (the Pot_TSP value) using the following logic: If TOD1 is true, return Pot_SP_1; If TOD2 is true, return Pot_SP_2, If TOD3 is true, return Pot_SP_3; If TOD4 is true, return Pot_SP_4 ????
Thanks guys.
G

Hi Ryan
Thanks again for your input! I'm more comfortable with the DataTable object (now that it's become more familiar), and thanks to you I now have a DataTable constructed for one zone (7 rows for the days-of-the-week, and 16 columns for the variables). Displaying of the cell data, cursor navigation, and reading/writing to the Pots' remote position source (in other words the actual GUI) work just fine. In order to expedite completion of the project for which this DataTable is intended, I am at a point where I am prepared to clone the DataTable 3 times to get 4 zones (that's one panel), then clone that result times the number of panels the site has....but I'd like to run this by you first:
Unless it's contrary to "best practices", should I do as above, or try to further multiplex the DataTable I already have by adding to it the other three zones? The Table I have now serves one zone; can it be expanded to serve (dare I suggest it) one panel (4 zones)? If you recall, I started out thinking I'd need one dedicated Pot for each variable in each zone (16) times 7 days = 96; using the DataTable, the cursor replaced the d-o-t-w so the number of Pots needed dropped to 16. My point: if I have to make separate DataTable objects for each zone, I also need to make 48 more Pots to serve them (which I'm obviously trying to avoid). Then I have to repeat this times the number of panels on site. I'm guessing that adding 3 more zones to the existing (one zone) DataTable is no problem since there's plenty of room left...
But would you add them as columns (to keep the cursor consistent across the zones) or add them as rows (to keep the columns consistent across the zones)?
If added as columns, can I avoid making those extra 48 Pots? Can I make my existing 16 Pots read/write to multiple columns, like change the Remote Source for Pot_Temp_SP_1 from "..\DataTable.B" to something like "nchoose(Pot_Zone_Selector,..\DataTable.B,..\DataTable.R)" where columns B and R contain Temperature setpoint values for Zones 1 and 2 respectively?
If added as rows, I'm guessing I don't have to make those extra 48 Pots. But what's the best way to deal with the cursor? Should I be looking at multiple cursors (one for each zone)?
I should also point out I've been using only L3 Pots since "normal" Pots won't accept an expression as a remote position source; if I change this to regular Pots coupled with SymbolicLinks, does it change the picture at all?
...and I'm using Ver 6.0.2
Thanks,
George

What is new in Lookout 6.2?

I would like to know what has been improved/changed for the releasing of Lookout 6.2. How to find that?

Rudy,
I have attached the release notes for Lookout 6.2 which detail what is new. Thanks!
Andy F.
National Instruments
Attachments:
relnotes.pdf ‏99 KB

Is there a free upgrade from Lookout 5.0 to 5.1?

Folks:
I just got handed a project that uses Lookout. My customer currently has 5.0 and I was wondering if I should upgrade to 5.1 and how. Is there a free upgrade patch or something to do this?
Also, I am running on Win XP Pro (SP2); are there any major issues with 5.x on XP Pro?
thanks in advance,
Kevin C. Rea
http://kevincrea.com/

hello sirs
i want to implement modbus ethernet. what are the steps required for doing settings in LPD file of industrial automation
vijeta

Is it possible to save / extract data from a MS SQL database 2008 using lookout 6.2?

Is it possible to save / extract data from a MS SQL database 2008 using lookout 6.2?
Now a days we are saving / extracting data in a excel spreadsheet, but we would like to do that using a database because it is better.

You can use ODBC connection to work with SQL Server database.
Use SQLExec object to execute the SQL statement. Here is a KB about the SQL statement.
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/4ADEEA04CD24AE0B862565E20002A16F?OpenDocument
To write data to spreadsheet is more straightforward because Lookout has built-in spreadsheet object. But you need to write SQL statement by yourself to interact with other database.
To read the data back is the same way. Just use "select" SQL statement to query. You can use Datatable object to query.
The "Data Source" can be "DSN = data source name;". The data source name is configured in Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Data Sources(ODBC).
Ryan Shi
National Instruments

Lookout 4.0

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for