Driver-specific functions

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This driver supports the following functions:

General interrogation (GI)

The driver sends GI (ASDU <7> in control direction) cyclically, depending on the connection setting GenInt in the Driver configuration.

The driver also accepts received values of variables that are marked as not existent in the GI in the standard, in case the PLC sends such values.

Time synchronization

The driver sends time synchronization command (ASDU <6> in control direction) automatically upon every driver start, i.e. upon starting the zenon Runtime and after stopping/starting the driver (with zenon functions - Driver commands: stop driver and start driver).

General command

To send General command to the PLC (ASDU <20> in control direction), you have to configure a vairable of the driver object type COMMAND with the according Function Type and Information Number. A set value sent to this variable (DCO: 1-off, 2-on) will be sent to the PLC as a General Command. If this is successful, the value of the variable will be set to 1 (i.e. right after sending to the PLC); if the command send fails, the variable will be set to 0 (i.e. after a negative response - COT=21 - or communication timeout).

I-Bit Status

The driver will set the Invalid Bit after the timeout has passed, if there is an error in the communication (TCP/IP) with the driver.

I-Bit will also be set for Measurands values, in whose structure (MEA) the Quality descriptor has the value OV (Overflow) or where ER (MVAL invalid) is activated.

For indicators not contained in GI

Some PLCs not for all indicators (data points) send a reset of the value (from ON to OFF). Even if not all indicators are in GI by default (e.g. status indicator 'LED reset').

For such variables, we recommend the driver object type MONITORING TRANSIENT. The received value is immediately set to 0 by the driver and can be evaluated by creating an alarm or function for limit violation for limit 1 (value OFF counter) and/or for limit 2 (value OFF and ON counter).

Variables timestamp

Monitoring variables:

come from IEC 60870-5-103 PLCs signed with CP32Time2a time stamp. The driver uses this time for the time stamp of the variable and sets the EZ_E Statusbit (Realtime external). All modules now use this time stamp, e.g. archive, alarm list...

The counters RET and FAN from ASDUs <2> u.<4> will not be considered by the driver.

Disturbance Data request

The Disturbance Data files are stored in the specified directory (in the driver configuration) in subfolders according to their Net address (i.e. for Net address 1, there will be a subdirectory '1', in which the files will be stored).

To fetch Disturbance Data files for a Function Type or to view the available data, you have to configure two String variables of the driver object type DISTURBANCE DATA and the according Function Type.
The variable with Information Number 0 is the command and status variable, the one with Information Number 1 is the directory variable. The index of these variables is ignored.

If you set the value of the variable for Information Number 0 to 'DIR', the directory information will be updated and shown in the variable with Information Number 1. After executing the oepration, the variable with Information Number 0 will get the value 'DIR OK' or 'DIR ERROR'.

By sending 'GET [FaultNo] to the variable with Information Number 0, the corresponding Disturbance Data file is retrieved and stored in the configured directory in a text file called '[FctType]-[FaultNo].txt' (e.g. '128-3.txt'). After executing the oepration, the variable with Information Number 0 will get the value 'GET OK' or 'GET ERROR'.

With 'GET' and no further parameters, you can retrieve the first Disturbance Data file that is found.

Specific LOG entries

The driver could not establish a connection with the PLC, the connection was interrupted or the PLC did not response within time.

The timestamp received from the PLC does not match the CP32Time2a format.