Brooks SmartDDE communication problem
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From: fabius on 26 Jan 2006 09:12 I'm using SmartDDE software to control 8 digital MFC (Brooks 5850s) by using two 0154 Brooks control unit through RS232. I'm able to open both Com Port and all eight channels with following Tag name: CHANNEL1...CHANNEL8. The first four channels function properly while the last four channels doesn't function properly. If I try to do a read from DMFCs by using Excel I can open the conversation number and the item advise loop for all channels but I can read only from the first four channels; the requests on the last four channel generate a timeout. Can you help me to know how I can communicate within 8 DMFC by using two 0154 control unit and SmartDDE software? I think it could be a Topic name configuration problem but I didn't find anymore on related operation manual. Thank you in advance. Best regards.
From: Nick_ on 27 Jan 2006 10:43 Hi, I found a couple of forum talking about the same meters you are dealing with, maybe these information could be useful for you. <a href="http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=76346&requireLogin=False" target="_blank">http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=76346&requireLogin=False</a> <a href="http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=140&message.id=12735" target="_blank">http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=140&message.id=12735</a> If you need something else I believe you'd beter ask Brooks. <a style="border-bottom-style: groove;" href="http://www.emersonprocess.com/brooks/sp210/sp210-digital_thermal.html" target="_blank">http://www.emersonprocess.com/brooks/sp210/sp210-digital_thermal.html</a> Regards. NicolaC.
From: Ben on 28 Jan 2006 11:43 I have developed a couple of aplications that used Brooks MFC's both dumb and smart using the 154 and not. If I remember correctly you need to use the 154E with the emphesis on the the "E". The other 154's will not talk to SmartDDE. You should really start by talking to Brooks about getting the the MFC's to work using their software. The app's I have devloped used the SamrtDDE services or were controlled using FieldPoint AO and AI. The FP version was much easier to devlop and deploy. The SamrtDDE versions were more powerful and let you query the MFC's gas types etc. Ben Message Edited by Ben on 01-28-2006 10:32 AM
From: fabius on 30 Jan 2006 04:40 Control units 0154 I'm using to talk with DMFC are able to communicate with SmartDDE separately; the problem is the tag name of four channels on each unit. The default setting names each channel as Channel1, Channel2 .. Channel4; but if I use two unit 154, SmartDDE can't communicate with channels 5 to 8, it reads only the first four channels.
From: Michael Munroe on 30 Jan 2006 17:41
I ran into this same problem several years ago. Brooks technical support was no help. Later at Semicon, I complained to the regional sales manager that this was an unsolved problem that must plague many users. He promised to look into it. A few days later I received an email from from a Brooks engineer with a special utility application. It seems that you need this utility to reconfigure the second unit to respond to channels 5 to 8. Contact Brooks engineering to get the code. BTW, since the SmartDDE program was unreliable for frequent, long-term process control, we replaced it with hard-wired analog I/O. |