Monitoring a Watlow F4 Controller

[Greg-H]

Hi Ott,

Could you provide a link to the manual you are talking about.  I was unable to find it.  Also, are you aware that we have drivers to support this device on the NI website?

Regards,

Greg H.

[safrit]

Warning: For the Watlow F4 Controller Driver on NI's Website, DO NOT USE the reset the device option when opening a handle to the port.  For most of the Watlow F4 controllers, this will reset the Watlow's operating parameters to factory default which could potentially damage the equipment it is connected too!  For instance if a Temperature chamber with a Watlow F4 is setup with an RTD and cooling capabilities programmed by the chamber manufacturer is operated via the serial modbus driver on NI's Website, the "Reset" option clears out the RTD setting for a Thermocouple, disables the cooling capabilities and erases the PID parameters.  

Another issue with the Watlow implementation of the Modbus protocol, is that yes you can perform user access to the Profile control to Terminate the Profile, however, the Modbus status will still report that the unit is still in Profile for as long as the profile was originally programmed for.   

A third problem with the Watlow Modbus driver is that it does not take into account the fact that the Watlow F4 from time to time goes out to lunch, not responding to commands!  

A fourth problem with the Watlow Modbus driver is that there are inconsistencies with data type within the drivers.  There are several instances of auto typecasting which is rather unsettling with a driver.

Good Luck!

[labviewleroy]

also, dont name your profile with anything besides letters and/or numbers. this means no spaces, no underscores etc. 

[Sr Test Engineer]

Yes Safrit, I agree with you.

I learned this the hard way. Thankfully I was using a spare chamber however, the technician brought it back to service and at least I have the settings now if something goes wrong.

I think for this controller the best way is to start from scratch

DJR

[Skydyvr]

I'm trying to control a TestEquity half-cube temperature chamber which has the Watflow F4 controller. However I'm having problems doing what I want with the Watflow F4.vilib that Eric L. posted.

The first problem is that when I tried to install it in the instrument library it didn't take. Not sure why as I think all I need to do in put it in the correct directory. But no icons pop up on my selection pallet. No real big deal as I can get to them individually.

The main problem is that I'm trying to write to register 300. I don't see a vi that will allow me to do this. And no, I don't want to create a profile. I just want to change the temperature one time. And to do that you just need to write to register 300.

The biggest problem I see is that whoever created the files in the zip file attached did actually make a sub-vi to talk directly to a register. But in their infinite wisdom they don't allow us to access that vi directly. It is actually called "Utility Write To Register.vi" But the only vi I've seen that access this one, just allows you to select registers from an array. And 300 isn't in that array list. WTF? I can't even do a save-as to break it free from the library link. It wants to be part of the library setup.

Does anyone know how to set the temperature one time without creating a profile? Or how do you crate a profile with just one step temp change?

Thanks

Jim

[CStaller]

Jim,

I ran into the same problem of needing to write to a register that the library doesn't call out.  To get around it I opened a new vi, and opened the private vi that writes to the register. I then copied the register write vi into the new vi, fixed my copied vi to be more flexible and then saved the new vi outside of the library. Not the necessarily the best fixed but when you got to get the job done in a hurry, you do what is quick.  Good luck.

[Skydyvr]

I was hoping someone already did this. But I did what you suggested. So to help those in the future, here is my additions to the files to "Watflow Write to Register". Hope it helps someone. Files are in Labview 2011 format.

[uri78mx]

Hello buddy,

I did the driver for Tenney T2C which is using the Watlow F4 controller.

If you want it, let me know.

Uriel

[MikeBowen]

I am running into the same issue.  We are using Labview 2010 and I have watview drivers Watlow F4.  Eventually we are looking to get this working through IVVIVI.  We are interfacing to a Thermotron chamber.  What is happening is that when running the examples an error occurs on the Read from Register vi.  I think it is a time out.  We also have the Watview program and is currently being used.  We will be transitioning off of this and migrating to the IVVIVI environment.  Is this a problem with the Modbus architecture, and the drivers not reflecting that?

Thanks,

Mike Bowen

[MikeBowen]

I am running into a similar problem.  I have a Thermotron chamber that is being controlled with a Watlow F4.  I downloaded the drivers and am making some initial progress.  The drivers provided allow pretty thorough control.  I can turn the chamber on and off, and read the temperature.  What I can't find is the VI to set the set point for the temperature.  Once I get that working then I will move on to configuring profiles, but we want to start simple.  Any suggestions?

Mike