Technical Support Notes
| Article ID: | T28 |
| Date: | 5/12/99 |
| Product: | SPEL for Windows 1.x and 2.x (all versions) |
| OS: | Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 |
| Problem: | Communication Time Outs |
Symptoms
When using SPEL for Windows 2.0 or VB Guide 2.0, a
communication time out occurs and a SPEL for Windows message box is
displayed.
|
Causes |
|
|
|
Remedies |
|
| Wrong Operation Mode | |
| The controller must be in
the correct mode for communication. For example, if PC to robot communications
is setup for auto mode and the controller is in teach mode, a communications
timeout will occur. This is correct, because the mode determines which port on
the robot controller is used for communication with the PC. |
|
| Cables | |
| Check communications with
cable shipped with robot controller. If the problem does not occur with the
original cables, check your cable wiring. Starting with v2.2.0, the SPEL for
Windows Help has communications cable diagrams. Type in "wiring diagrams" on
the Help Index tab. Cables should not exceed 50 feet in length (RS232
specification), otherwise an RS232 booster should be used. |
|
| Baud rate too high | |
| For production, 19200 baud
is the maximum recommended baud rate. Try reducing the baud rate to 9600
baud. |
|
| Safe Guard | |
| Some light curtains have
been known to have noisy relay contacts. This causes very fast pulsing of the
safe guard input on the robot controller. It is strongly recommended that the
latch circuit provided with the controller be used to latch the safe guard
input until it is reset. You can reset the latch with a button or an output.
Also, ensure that the safe guard input is not toggled during project build.
This will cause errors, including time outs. |
|
| PC Serial Port | |
| Problems have been seen
with comm ports on older PC motherboards. One work around is to buy an
inexpensive comm board (such as SIIG) and set it up for comm 4, irq 5. Use this
new board to communicate with the controller. |
|
| Wrong Port Configuration | |
| This can occur when using
port #20, #21. SPEL for Windows and the controller must be configured to the
same RS232 parameters. Use the PC to Robot Communications selection from the
Setup menu. When you change a setting, you must first click the Configure
button on the dialog. This will setup the RS232 parameters in the robot
controller. If you change the settings on the PC side without using the
Configure button, you will get time outs. When using multiple robot
controllers, make sure you set the correct robot number using the Robot Number
selection from the project menu. The communications parameters for each robot
number are set from the PC to Robot Communications selection from the Setup
menu. |
|
| Emergency Stop | |
| With some older controllers
using a long communication cable, sometimes when Estop is activated,
communication time outs occur. Communications cannot be restored until the
controller is turned off and back on. In this case, the Remote board in the SRC
3xx controller needs to be upgraded. |
