In this lesson we’re going to talk about the Diagnostics Buffer that is part of the Online and Diagnostics section in the PLC. These sections are used for determining what events have occurred, any hardware or software error, what error has occurred and stopped the PLC and details for that error,...

In this series of videos, we have been discussing the Online and Diagnostics section of the PLC which contains information about the Diagnostics Buffer, and Cycle Time and Memory. We have previously discussed cycle time and again demonstrate where you can check the amount of time it is taking for...

We continue discussing the Online and Diagnostics topics available in our PLC. In this video, we’ll get into the performance data section. Among the available sections here is the Process Input Image or PII. We have had some detailed discussions regarding the PII in past videos and will discuss i...

In part 1 of this lesson, we talked about the PII section of the performance data window found in the Online & Diagnostics area. We continue discussing the performance data section here briefly touching on the Process Image Output or the PIQ portion which we covered in great detail previously. We...

There may be an occasion that you have been hired by a company to make changes to an existing plant process but they don’t have a copy of the PLC program or you had a computer that the hard drive failed on and you have lost all of your data including past PLC programs, what can you do? Most PLC m...

In the previous lesson, we gave some instruction on how to upload a program from a PLC in the event that you don’t have a copy of the existing program. In this lesson we are going to discuss how to protect your programs from unwanted modification or viewing. The software package allows users to p...

In the past few lessons we have been introducing you to the many tools used within the programming environment. In this lesson, we are going to discuss a tool called Cross Reference. Cross reference is a very useful function that works to find areas within a program that use a certain object or D...

In the previous lesson we discussed the Cross Reference tool. We told you how to initiate the tool and what data would be found within the used by tab of the tool. We guided you through the data and made you aware of what each bit of information means and how you can use it in your programming en...

In several of the the previous lessons we have been discussing the many diagnostic tools available within the software environment. In a continuation of instruction about the Cross Reference tool, we are going to use a practical example to show you how to employ this useful troubleshooting tool. ...

In the last several lessons we have been discussing the many useful tools available in TIA Portal and now continue with the tool called call structure. The call structure diagnostic is another tool that will aid you in getting a high level picture of the PLC program structure as well as assist yo...

In our continuation of the use of the many diagnostic tools available within the software environment we present you with more information on the Call Structure tool. In this lesson, we begin discussing a task that we are going to undertake for upgrading a petrochemical plant. We give you some ba...

In part 2 of the practical example for the Call Structure tool, we continue discussing upgrading the petrochemical plant. We’ll talk a little more about P&ID’s and I/O lists. We then begin the discussion about how the use of the Call Structure tool can assist in saving time and money by utilizing...

As you may recall, amongst the diagnostic utilities available within the software environment are the Cross-Reference and Call Structure tools. Although they are similar in function, they do have some useful distinctions. In this video I am going to show you the differences and where or when you ...

Over the last several lessons we have been discussing the troubleshooting tools that you have at your disposal in TIA portal. In this lesson we are going to introduce you to the diagnostic tool Dependency Structure. First I will show you how to access this tool as it is accessed differently than ...

In this installment of discussions regarding the diagnostic utilities, we are going to talk about how to find programming conflicts or errors using the Call and Dependency Structure tools. We will begin by reminding you how to access the tools followed by a refresher on what the results mean. We ...

As you may recall, we left off in the last lesson refreshing your memory on how to call the tools and selecting the conflicts option. We then ran a conflicts check on our project only to find that we had a few errors that we needed to address. We explained a little about the coloring of the confl...

Another great tool in the diagnostic utilities is the assignment list. In this lesson, we are going to discuss this tool, when and why you would want to use it, and how to deploy the tool. This tool will help you determine exactly what addresses have been used within your program as well as the t...

In this continued discussion of the assignment list, we are going to demonstrate how to find where the addresses are used within the program. We will be utilizing the cross-reference tool that we have previously used in conjunction with the assignment list to locate the different blocks in which ...

This lesson continues our discussion about the assignment list, where we dive deeper into the viewing selection options as well as some more information about what we are seeing in the list itself. We will talk about a viewing option that demonstrates only used addresses while another option show...

As you have learned in the previous 3 lessons, the assignment list is a valuable tool available within the TIA Portal environment. Part 4 of this lesson topic, the assignment list, shows you a different color appearing in the list and exactly what it means. We will change some addressing around a...

The assignment list tool has been discussed in many previous lessons as a valued addition to your troubleshooting repertoire. In this lesson, we will discuss yet another purpose for this tool. Frequently, when you download your program to the PLC for the first time or are using the simulator to t...

When it comes to information about your PLC program, the more you have the better. In this lesson, we are going to demonstrate the resources tab. This tool will provide information about the configured hardware such as inputs and outputs as well as how many of them are used within the project. Yo...

There may be an occasion when you are not sure whether the program you have residing on your computer is the same as the program that resides on the PLC or simulator. You may have come into the project after development and you received a copy of the program from the previous programmer. You need...

Are you all familiar with the modern-day boogieman? The boogieman for computers that is. There are guys out there whose sole purpose is to wreak havoc on the computer of the unsuspecting soul who dares to open that email message or the unknown web page. Well, recently it was discovered that there...

In the first lesson of this series, we discussed what was considered the first of its kind. A cyber weapon that’s purpose was to invade and stealthily command and hopefully destroy machinery that was controlled by a PLC control system. This weapon or virus appeared to have a specific target and a...

In the previous two lessons we discussed the Stuxnet virus and its purpose. As you may recall, this virus was believed to be the very first of its kind that was produced in order to cause physical damage to machinery via an industrial automation system. In this lesson, we are going to continue ou...

In the past few lessons we have been discussing the Stuxnet virus and its purpose. We demonstrated what the Stuxnet virus does and how it was able to create an environment that appeared normal to all observers. In this lesson, we talk about how the virus was able to construct the conditions for t...

In our continuation of the Stuxnet virus discussion, this lesson takes up where the last left off. We made you aware of what the Stuxnet virus does, how it manipulates data, and how that manipulated data gets to the HMI. In this lesson, we’re going to tell you what to look for in your code as wel...

In the previous few lessons, we have been discussing the Stuxnet virus. The first virus of its kind. A virus that was created to target the automation industry and specifically, a Siemens PLC running a nuclear enrichment facility. In this lesson, we continue the discussion on the Stuxnet virus an...

There may come a time in your career that you are looking at your program and see that some transmitter that should be reading a value is currently showing nothing. After troubleshooting you may have determined that the channel that the transmitter is connected to is fried. When that occurs, whet...

In some previous lessons, we have discussed the many tools used within the TIA Portal programming environment. In this lesson, we are going to discuss the Cross Reference tool again but using the previous programming environment of Step 7. Cross-reference is a very useful function that works to f...

In this lesson, we continue discussing the Cross Reference tool in the programming environment of Step 7. We will open up the same project in both Step 7 and TIA Portal and compare the results of the Cross Reference tool search. We find that one environment is not only more advanced, in results, ...

In the continuation of our discussion regarding using some of the tools in the previous programming environment of Step 7, we are going to talk about the Assignment List tool. This lesson discusses some of the differences between the TIA Portal and Step 7 environments when using the Assignment Li...

In this lesson, we are going to continue our discussion on the use of tools in the older versions of software as compared to the newer versions. We are discussing the use of the Call Structure tool. This tool is accessed the same as in the newer version and works in the same way. There is an adde...

In the continuation of exploring the differences while using the tools in a different version, in this lesson we are going to discuss the Dependency Structure. To open the Dependency Structure in the older software version, you simply go to the Call Structure menu and click filter. You will then ...

This lesson continues to explain the use of tools within our programming environment. I will describe how to check for unused tags in both TIA Portal and Step 7. Although the location where you find the tool varies in the two software packages, the search result is the same. That result will show...

In the continuation of our lessons on how to use the tools within our programming environment, this lesson will instruct you on how to find addresses which do not have tags assigned.
This is the opposite of what we found in the previous lessons search for unused tags. This search will show you a...

In this lesson, we continue to instruct on how to use the tools in both Step 7 and TIA Portal.
This discussion is on how resources within the environment. When you load a program to the PLC it requires memory. You need to know both memory in the size of the processor as well as memory where the ...

There may be a time that you have two copies of a program and you’re not sure if they are different. In this lesson, we are going to discuss how you can use the tool within TIA Portal to determine if there is a difference between two offline projects or you may want to determine if a program that...

Throughout many of the previous lessons, we have been discussing the various tools that may be used in your programming environment.
These tools include cross-referencing, assignment list, call and dependency structures, checking for available resources, searching for unused tags, and much more...

We have previously discussed how to use the compare tool in the TIA Portal environment and in this lesson, we will discuss the same tool but in the Step7 version 5.6 environment instead.
As you know, the compare offline and online tool is used to show the difference between a program that you h...

We have been discussing how to compare different programs in different environments.
We talked about the compare tool in TIA Portal, for both online and offline comparisons. We have also discussed the same tool in STEP7 version 5.6 for comparing an offline program, which would exist on your comp...