Monitoring a Watlow F4 Controller

[labviewleroy]

someones late to the party. Go back to 4chan. Also, read the actual post. I didnt even post a question here you tard basket 

[dewilso4]

And I rest my case.

[labviewleroy]

edit - removed vulgarity

also if anyone has any problems with the topic of this thread (interacing of the watlow controler)  feel free to PM me. I will be happy to provide all of the code i wrote (myself) because i'm not a greedy *******er . The protocol chemist is refering to is modbus. It is very simple and the timeout issue is very simple to resolve as well. 

[Sr Test Engineer]

Hi

I was checking for solutions to control the watlow controller

Do you have code that works  as this may be the solution I am looking for

Many thanks

[dewilso4]

How are you connecting to the controller?  Is it via the 3-pin RS-232 connection?  Or do you have an interface converter.  For example, I use the ICS Electronics 8099 Modbus <->Ethernet interface.  This allows me to connect to the device over our local network.  I can program the controller using VISA commands, which are incredibly simple to deal with.  

[Sr Test Engineer]

Hi

Thanks for the reply

I am using RS232 connection for now

Maybe later I will update to a LAN connection however, I just would like to see if I can control the chamber at the moment

Thanks

[dewilso4]

I am not entirely familiar with the modbus protocol, but I found the Wikipedia entry fairly complete and useful.  A cursory google search provided me with this company's website: http://www.simplymodbus.ca/download.htm , and they have a demo version of their software that seems to do what you want (though not programmatically).  From what I understand, the modbus protocol is implemented by writing/reading registers within the modbus slave (your watlow controller).  The controller's datasheet/manual should indicate the addresses of the various registers which need to be written in order to, for example, set the Set Point temperature, or read from in order to read the chamber's current temperature.  From the register addresses, you should be able to either use hyperterminal to write/read for simple control, or use the simplymodbus application.

[CStaller]

You can download the RS-232 drivers from NI's driver network at (http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/niid_web_display.download_page?p_id_guid=0150785855373A2DE0440003BA7CCD...).  It has limited capabilities but with the list of registers in the unit's manual you can get other functions.  You will need to edit the library so that you have permission to access the private components if you need functions that are not already in the project.  As an example, my project required reading the set point and there isn't a function in the public folder.  After allowing access to the private folder I was able to use the read/write from/to register functions to create a VI to read the set points we needed.

[Sr Test Engineer]

I think that I already downloaded this driver. There was a sample program in this package which I could run however, it runs only for a short while then stops. I am not sure why at this point.

I am not familiar with allowing private folders yet. Perhaps that will take me some time to figure out however, I will try.

All I really want is to control the chamber set points, then I can place it in a loop to reach a temperature

Ideally if I could get this software to work by setting a "ramp rate" and a "target set point" then that would be great.

But I want to start with a code that works and then build from there.

Thanks everyone for all your advice

[labviewleroy]

Hey. When I get into work Monday I will send you the code that I have. Can you describe your chamber? Does your controller have digital outs for compressor control, humidity, etc ?