Lookout 6.5 Modbus Serial Problem

Hi
I have a Lookout 6.5 system that has been running properly for well over a year. Normally we usually experience a computer lockup (Usually Windows is Frozen) and have to reboot the computer 2 or 3 times a year. But recently we are having a problem where all of the modbus secondary units are giving us an error the says cannot communicate with the modbus secondary ETC. We get this error message for all of our RTU's except the local MODBUS controller which is a Zetron 1700. When this happens we get the red X's on all of the I/O points in our process and everything in the field stays at its current state. This has happened at least 6 times in the last month!
To try and narrow down the problem I have had my customer power cycle the MODBUS controller and the radio and that does not fix the problem. When the MODBUS controller is power cycled we can see the controller is getting responses from all of the external RTU's but Lookout still does not see the data. I have also had them shut down Lookout and then restart Lookout and this also does not fix the problem. The only fix seems to be to restart the computer and then everything comes back up running properly. Because we can see what time the problem occurred I can then go into the Windows Event Viewer and look for any problems around the time when the problem started. But there is absolutely no events that would indicate a problem in either the System or Applications Event Logs?
The system is running Lookout 6.5 build 49153 on Windows 7 64 Bit. The serial connection is using a USB to RS-232 converter. Any help you can give me in troubleshooting this issue would be greatly appreciated. I need to get this resolved ASAP because the process is running a city's fresh water system and so far we have overflowed the tank several times and one time we got dangerously low because of this issue.
Thank You
Rob

I can say that your experience is not the normal. Having installed Lookout hundreds (literally) of times on machines from Windows 98 to Windows Server 2008 R2 & 7, I have not experienced this problem.
Best of luck in the future,
Mike
Forshock - Consult.Develop.Solve.

Similar Messages

Lookout 6.0.2 modbus rtu problem?

One of our customers has Lookout 6.0.2 communicating with several CMI Scada Packs over wireless modems using Modbus RTU protocol. Suddenly last Friday night he got comm fail alarm pages on all but one site. The Modbus statistics window revealed that Lookout had stopped polling all sites except the one site that stayed in communications. The only activity was the one site.
He watched it poll this way for 2 hours, never returning to the normal polling cycle.
I had him exit and re-launch Lookout and polling returned to normal and has been that way since late Friday night.
This system has been in service for several years with very near 100% good communications sice we deployed it, up until now.
It was obviously a Lookout failure, since the only action taken was to exit and re-launch Lookout.
Isn't there a watchdog timer for this sort of error?
Is this a failure of the Modbus cbx object? (We are using the plain vanilla Modbus driver)
Roger Foote
Foote Control Systems
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hey Mr Domer
If it's the one I think it is, I designed and built the RTU system and repeater system after the "Packaged" system became obsolete.
That was back when 1200 baud was fast! I guess it was compared to the 300 baud limit on the old stuff. Probably been re-built a couple of times since.
Thanks for the sequencer suggestion. I will have to think on this since we are pushing the limits for polling... Some ScadaPacks in this syatem have to do up to 25 modbus transactions per site... We have serious I/O in this sytem lots of which is in floats. Haven't tried DNP yet but I am getting pressure from some distributors to go Clear SCADA and use DNP to thin out redundant polling. Thing is this system has worked flawlessly for years and now suddenly we have this issue, so I am not ready to throw in the towel yet and I doubt the board would go for the moneys to implement it. We are adding another 8 pump site this October after the canals are off line but before they are drained for winter. This is so we can test the system before the frost protection season for the almond crop.
If NI can't fix this I will probably just insist that my clients reboot every week. I am fortunate that these are not unmanned districts. Only problem is that each of them are at least a 2 hour drive from any one point so I need to keep callbacks to a minimum which would be zero callbacks if it weren't for software screwups.
Best regards
Roger

Dsc modbus - Serial communication input/holding registers

Hello,
I am trying to create a labview application to act as a Modbus master and control multiple stepper motors. I have the DSC module in labview and am using a serial communication with an RS-485 converter. I have followed this guide: http://www.ni.com/white-paper/13911/en/ However, the driver I am using does not support coils, it only uses input and holding registers and I have not found a guide or tutorial that shows me how to create a labview application that can read and write to a specific address. For now all I want to do is turn the motor on and off using labview. I have used a modbus simulator to communicate with the driver and can do everything I want to do through the simulator. I can not get labview to do anything for me. I would be very happy if someone could direct me to a tutorial that can help me understand labview dsc module for reading and writing to addresses using modbus.
Meesh

Ok, so this is really strange. I solved my problem in a round about sort of way. I'm using a modbus simulator (mdbus) to help me communicate with the driver/stepper motor so I know which address to use. But after I use the simulator I get a communication port error when I try to use Labview. It's like the port is locked in with the simulator and I can't end the connection and let Labview use the same communication port. I can't find anyway to fix the problem except going to this NI site: http://www.ni.com/download/labview-run-time-engine-6.1/746/en/ downloading this software and using the "repair" function. Then I can do a system restart and cycle the power on the driver/motor and then Labview with work again through the correct port. But if I need to use the simulator again then I have to go through this whole process again. Does anyone know what the heck is going on? Or if there is a better way to clear the communication port??

Modbus serial or tcp?

Dear all,
I have a job to write a labview program to communicate with a TEC controller..
There is a RS232/RS485 port in the controller.
I just have once controller in the lab and I need to develop this program in a system with XP OS(a fairly new system. just to say that its not that old & has usb support)
Now I have two problems for which I need to find the answer.
1. The controller's manual defines how to communicate with it using RTU.
   Now, I am not sure of this, which should I use for using Modbus protocol to communicate with the device
* TCP
* Serial (I suppose this one coz I need to use a serial port. Please help me decide)
2. How to connect the controller to my system if I need to use Modbus for communication?
   Computer <==========> [???]<===========> controller with RS232/RS485 port
   Will any USB-RS232 cable be sufficient to connect to the computer provided I use Modbus?
Or if I need only RS232 serial cable to connect, where do I connect it to my system. Do I need to buy any PCI card? If yes any specification I have to look for?
As I am not an electronics student and Computer science is my major, I dont have fair enough idea reg this. and am new to labview too..
Appreciate any help. Would appreciate any extra tips if you have experience in this by anychance
Thank you!!

You asked many of the same questions and got answers in this thread.
I don't understand why you are asking them again and I don't know why
you are mentioning TCP now. If your instrument does not have an
ethernet connection, why are you asking about TCP?
If
your laptop/pc has a serial connection, then you do not need anything
more than the correct cable to connect to an RS-232 connection on the
instrument. If the instrument requires RS-485, then you need a
converter. If your laptop/pc does not have a serial port connection,
then you will need to buy either a USB or pci card to communicate to
either RS232 or RS485. Obviously, a USB device can be used with either
and obviously, you would want the correct type (either RS232 or RS485).
You keep talking about RS232/RS485 as if they are the same thing. They
are similar but not identical. You have to know which one the
instrument has.
If you don't have NI-VISA on your laptop, it's because you did not install it.
I also don't understand the previous answer about tulip support. It is not at all relevant and not at all necessary for support of a USB-RS232 converter.

B590 running Win 7 64bit USB to serial problems

Hello All, Hit a bit of a brick wall with a weird problem I have regarding USB to serial converters in Windows 7 64bit Pro.I have a number of USB to serial converters in my office, but in particular I have a HL340 generic cable an easysync cable.A technician recently replaced their work laptop with a Lenovo B590 running Win 7 pro 64 bit. We use these USB to serial converters to communicate with embedded systems and security panels. I have tested both the above cables in a number of OSes, and they work perfectly on my -a) A netbook running Lubuntu 12.04,
b) an older desktop running Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit
c) and my main Win 7 Pro 32bit desktopWhen connecting either cable to the Lenovo, the driver installs, then refuses to work with the following error in device manager-"A service installation section in the INF is invalid"This is with the driver that installs automatically through Windows update, and it also occurs when I manually specify a driver (I hit the update driver button and select the folder for the downloaded driver). I've downloaded drivers for both converters from the manufacturers website and it returns the same error. Strangely enough, when you try and update the driver (either manually or automatically through Windows update) it says the best driver for the hardware is already installed.Uninstalling and reinstalling the driver leads to the same problem.My thoughts are that this is a problem with 64bit Windows, however a couple of our other technicians running Win 7 64 bit are able to use these same Easysync cables with no software problems (albeit often with hardware problems). The cable works fine in Windows XP mode on the Lenovo B590, but will not work natively. Any ideas? Because I am stumped.

hi danplanet,
Welcome to Lenovo Community Forums!
Can you try disabling the Driver enforcement
http://www.fotoclubinc.com/blog/how-to-disable-driver-signature-enforcement-to-allow-installation-of-windows-7-printer-drivers-on-windows-8/
this is to address the "A service installation section in the INF is invalid" issue
After disabling the Driver Enforcement it should now ask your permission if you want to continue with the installation,
Continue with the installation and check,
Hope this helps,
Cheers!

Modbus address problem

Dear All
I have recently bought a compact FieldPoint system that consist of a cFP-1808 and a cFP-AI-118. I'm getting the system to work in Windows by using express Fieldpoint vias, but I have a requirement to have a Linux version (a embedded computer will control the system) so I have started to looking at Modbus. I downloaded the NI library "nimodbus" and read the help file "Using the cFP-180x as a Modbus Device". From the "nimodbus" library I'm using "MB Ethernet master Query.vi". In this vi there is a control that consist of five controls: "Function Code", "Starting address", "Quantity", "Data" and "Discrete".
According the help file "Using the cFP-180x as a Modbus Device" and page "FieldPoint Modbus Addresses", the address should start with '0' for raw I/O data. Since my analog input module is at slot '1'and I want to read channel 1, the address should be '01001'. But when I try to type this address in "Starting address" control it gets 'converted' to '1001' and during the run of the program I obtain the error code "MODBUS Exception code: 2." which means that my address is incorrect. But when I'm reading the attributes (according the help file It stats with '1', therefore my address is '11001'), I have no problems.
So please explain for me what I'm doing wrong with the address for reading the raw I/O data.
Best Regards
Magnus Svensson
Message Edited by Magnus Svensson on 03-30-2006 08:15 AM
Message Edited by Magnus Svensson on 03-30-2006 08:15 AM

Magnus,
No problem... "Coils" is an old terminology; usually implying closing/opening of solenoid coils.
Here's the Modbus standard -- a good overview:
http://modbus.org/docs/Modbus_Application_Protocol_V1_1a.pdf
The website www.modbus.org has other stuff as well.
Regards,
-Khalid

Software to develop a Modbus serial interface on a PC to comm with an HMI

The system consists of a text terminal (HMI) as a master, communicating with a Motion Controller, Modbus RTU (fast peripheral) protocol. I have to have a PC connected sometimes to the second serial port of the HMI, in order to download/upload variables/programs. I need to develop a software interface for the PC, that could be run by the customer, only when needed. Can I use Labview (which version?) or is there some other software for this purpose?
Regards,
Alex S.

After leaving my initial message last night I did a bit of poking around and found on the NI website a set of drivers for a Eurotherm temperature controller that has inside it a set of generic Modbus drivers. This is available in versions for LV6 and LV7.
http://sine.ni.com/apps/we/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=E3B19B3E971F659CE034080020E74861
Mike...
Certified Professional Instructor
Certified LabVIEW Architect
LabVIEW Champion
"... after all, He's not a tame lion..."
Be thinking ahead and mark your dance card for NI Week 2015 now: TS 6139 - Object Oriented First Steps

Lookout 4.5 / Windows XP problems

Hi my name is Roger and I am new to this forum, but have been using Lookout for SCADA since it came on floppy.
I was asked to replace an aging Win 98 era PC with a faster machine and ran into numerous glitches.
I am finding Lookout 4.5 unstable with Windows XP... Before starting this project, I asked around and everyone thought it would be ok, but no.
I loaded my Lookout Integrator V5.1 onto the new machine and all the problems seem to dissapear. Unless I am missing something, it looks like upgrade time for my client.
Anyone else?

Hi Allan
We are running 18 processes in a U.S. Buraeu of Reclamation supplied canal system...
First issue:
Process files load ok manually, but when auto loading them via the startup option, it chokes and crashes.
Second issue:
Lookout V4.5 crashes just sitting there running no processes, and has to be terminated with task mgr.
I tried re-installing, but the order of failures just changes with each new install.
There are no other apps running on this pc, just lookout.
Pretty much gave up on 4.5, and am looking into upgrading them to 6.0 and using that license to activate 5.1, which I have the install disk for. I am alittle nervous about 6.0 right now and will use 5.1 (hopefully) until 6.whatever addresses the issues I have read about here.
I don't have 4.5 on this machine now, so if I get an upgrade I guess it will be a moot point.
Thanks
Roger

Modbus Serial Simulator

Hi All,
Am new to labview, I want to create modbus slave simulator. I have connected through serial port to the master and treid to read the holding registers, the VI is executed succesfully but it doesnot show the expected register values read. Can you guide me with any of the examples to create Modbus Slave simulator.
Thanks in advance.
SS

Hi All,
Thanks for your response, Yes I did use some of the VI's from Modbus Library : MB Serial Example Slave VI and MB Serial Example Master VI, but upon modifying registers in slave its not updating on Master. PFA VI's am using. I have cross connected the two ports but still its not updating. Please advice
Thanks,
Savi
Attachments:
Slave.png ‏65 KB
MasterVI.png ‏64 KB

How to split one modbus serial output port into two?

Hi all,
Current Situation
My company has a instrument measuring emission in flue gas. The instrument has only one serial port for "modbus" output. The serial port is being used to sending the data collected by the instrument to our DCS.
My Question
I have a separate data acquisition computer which is also able to collect data over serial modbus. Is it possible to split the existing serial modbus output port into two so that both the DCS and my data acqusition computer can collect data from the instrument at the same time? If yes, what software and hardware do I need? One more point, high reliability is required for both data collection processes - to the DCS and to the data acquisition computer.
Thanks and regards,
Roger

What serial protocol are you using? RS-232 or RS-485?
If it is 485, then it is a multidrop bus, so you can just hook up both receivers to the transmitter via a RS-485 hub. If it uses the 232 protocol, then this would not work as only one device can receive data at any given time, so you could set one node up to repeat the signal to the second hub or use LabVIEW Shared Variables.
A Quick Comparison of RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485 Serial Communication Interfaces
Regards,
Peter Flores
Applications Engineer

Wrong Volume Serial # Problem

How can I extract the vol serial number for a photo from the catalog.pse7db database? My problem arose from copying the contents of an earlier external hard drive to a newer larger one and then disposing of the first one. Later, when I used Photoshop Elements 7, I found all my photos to be offline. Since the drive letter is the same as it was when the photos were originally cataloged, I presume the problem originates because the new external drive has a different volume serial number. Since the old drive is gone and I can't get the serial number from it, I thought I would change the volume serial number on the new drive to match what is in the database.

I've made some changes to the catalog database but not this specific type of change. It should work. I would recommend making a backup of the catalog directories before you attempt to do this... Also, be aware I don't have PsE7, just PsE8 and 9. I there might be some slight differences in the instructions below.
Make backup!
Download sqlite3 and install it.
Add a photo to your new drive.
Open PsE and add the photo to your catalog. This creates a new entry in the catalog for the new volume.
Close PsE.
Open a command prompt
Change the directory to where your catalog resides (i.e. cd \<directory>)
Rename the catalog
rename catalog.pse7db catalog.pse7db.old
Dump the catalog to a text file by typing the following
<path to sqlite3>\sqlite3 catalog.pse7db.old .dump > catalog.pse7db.txt
Open the catalog with a good text editor (WordPad may be sufficent but Notepad will not work as it does not handle linefeeds correctly)
Search for the line INSERT INTO "volume_table"
You will see something like this...
INSERT INTO "volume_table" VALUES(2,'database relative','amoc:database_relative_volume','','database_relative_drive');
INSERT INTO "volume_table" VALUES(1514,'MyVolume','1234567890','G:','builtin_drive');
INSERT INTO "volume_table" VALUES(1515,'MyNewVolume','2222222222','G:','builtin_drive');
INSERT INTO "volume_table" ...
The "builtin_drive" entries are the interesting ones. One entry will be your old drive and one will be your new drive. The volume name is the second parameter. The serial number is the third parameter. You may have additional entries for your local drives as well but these should be indicated by the fourth parameter.
Switch the volume name and serial numbers ('MyVolume' <-> 'MyNewVolume' and '1234567890' <-> '222222222') in the two lines which you have identified to be the external drives.
Save the file and exit the editor.
Create a new catalog
<path to sqlite3>\sqlite3 catalog.pse7db < catalog.pse7db.txt
Open PsE and see what you get.
Remember to remove the photo you added earlier to create the volume as this should photo should show offline.

A serial problem

I upgraded my fc6 to fcstudio (3) one year ago.
Everyting worked just fine.
Suddenly one week ago,the fc7 programm asked for the serial.
I entered the nbr; but i had the message wrong serial.
So i folowed the steps from apples troubleshooting basics and fc7, soundtrack and color worked again but not motion and compressor.
How can i solve this problem.
I have a legitime "studio3box" and the program is registered.

I'd try going to /Library/Application Support/ProApps/ and move the Final Cut Studio System ID to your desktop, then go into Motion or FCP. Re-enter your serial and see if it takes it properly.
If it does not, contact Apple for help.
Patrick

Serial Problem

I am very new to Labview, and am trying to make a VI to control a
laser for a physics experiment via a serial port, and I want to use
Labview to control it. Because I am new I have started by looking at
the basic serial read/write VI that comes with Labview 8.5 in order to
get a grasp on some of the fundamentals. I have used this basic VI to
send commands to the laser, but it only works some of the time. When
it doesn't work I receive an error message consisting of some portion
of the command that I sent, but no the whole command. For example: If
I want to change the current to the laser to 30% of maximum I would
write "current=0.30" to the serial port. When I do this the response
I get back is something like "Error:CURRENT0.30- 67" or
"Error:CURENT=0.3- 67" note that I am inputing "current=0.30" and that
I am not misspelling anything in the input. The laser is sending back
an error that consists of my input minus a few of the characters in
the middle. I am also in contact with the hardware manufacturer, but
I don't know if this is a hardware or software problem. Assuming this
is a Labview problem, I would be forever grateful if someone could
point me in the right direction.

On Jul 28, 11:10 am, Pnt <[email protected]> wrote:
> Can you post a simplified sample of your code?
> If it works ok with hyper terinal, then it is not a hardware problem. Can you try this?
The VI I am using can be found here:
ftp://ftp.ni.com/pub/devzone/epd/basic_serial_write_and_read.vi
and in the write section I input (for example) "current=0.30\r".
If I have Hyperterminal, I doubt I have access to it (school computer,
and I don't have administrative access), so I can't try it that way
until I can get an admin in here, which I will try to do soon.

Modbus library problem

Hi,
I have installed modbus library in my labview 2011. I followed exactly all the steps required to install it and now I found some problem, please refer to the attached file.
I can see the modbus library but all the modbus VIs under this library are in "?????" which I can't use it. Please help up if anyone knows how to solve this.
Thanks,
Adam
Attachments:
MODBUS library.xlsx ‏174 KB

Do you have multiple version of labview on your machine? Make sure that you install modbus on the version of labview that you have opened. It does seem like you do not have all the files in place.
Kudos and Accepted as Solution are welcome!

Serial problem after upgrade to 2010

Hi all,
I've upgraded my LabVIEW base package (including application builder) from 7.1 to 2010 (SP1). I've recompiled my programs and installed them together with a runtime engine (serial support included) on an other computer (Win XP prof. SP3). Now my problem:
If I log on as administrator, everything runs ok, the "old" 7.1 programs as well as the "new" 2010 ones.
If I log on as normal user, the programs run, but the serial communication does not work. Neither the new 2010 ones, nor the old 7.1 ones, which used to work without any problems on this computer before the installation of the new runtime engine.
Loggin on as admin is a short-time fix in order to continue working, but this is not a permanent option.
Any hints?
Thanks,
Toni
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Photometer wrote:
josborne02 wrote:
Yes, that could be it.
No offense, but if your program had error checking, it would allow you to more closely isolate the cause of the error. Right now, we can only guess ... e.g. " I have no clue where/what to check".
Just change the code to route the error cluster through all your functions and then output the cluster to an indicator or the "simple error handler.vi".
It seems to work now. Thanks for giving me a nudge into the right direction. Here the short version of what I did:
The error cluster gave the error BFFF009E (a code libray required by VISA could not be located). A search in the discussion forum did not help very much as most links led to pages like "You are not authorized to view this document". I was sure, I had the VISA runtime installed, so I did a "repair" of the runtime within MAX. This did the trick.
Thanks again
Toni
I just wanted to give an update on this issue, as we think that we have found the underlying cause of this behavior.
Repairing the runtime with MAX did indeed fix the problem, but only for a few hours or a day. Then it popped up again and the non-admin user got the BFFF009E VISA error.
We finally found out, that out IT department had a group policy on the directory "C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\All Users\Anwendungsdaten" (this is a German installation, in English it would probably be something like "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data") which allowed the user "Jeder" ("Everyone") only reading rights. A new installation or a repair gives full rights. After removing the subdirectory "National Instruments" from the group policy, the problems disappeared.
Toni

Lookout 6.5 Modbus Serial Problem

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for