MP3300iec

One common cause of the CPU load being higher than expected is caused by using a custom Function Block that uses a large structure connected as a VAR_INPUT instead of a VAR_IN_OUT.

When a variable is declared as a VAR_INPUT, the MPiec Controller copies the entire contents of the structure into the Function Block every scan. Other programming languages refer to this technique as “Passing by Value.”  In this situation, the Function Block does not have the ability to alter the contents of the original data. When declaring a variable as VAR_IN_OUT, the MPiec Controller passes a pointer to the original location of the variable rather than a copy of the data. Other programming languages refer to this technique as “Passing by Reference.” The pointer is an internal 32 bit value, which is significantly more efficient than copying the entire contents every scan. This method also gives the Function Block the ability to alter the contents of the structure variable.

To show this example in practice, the attached document shows two scenarios. The first scenario scans a Function Block with a large structure as a VAR_INPUT and results in a high CPU load. The other scenario shows the same structure as a VAR_IN_OUT and has no impact on the CPU load.

The large structure is an array of an array creating 500,000 LREAL’s. There is nothing else in the program, the custom Function Blocks have no code.

Yaskawa motion systems use lithium batteries for mainly two different functions: maintaining Absolute encoder data and preserving CPU non-volatile memory.

The encoder battery used with the ServoPacks (JZSP-BA01) is required if a multi-turn absolute encoder is needed because it holds the multi-turn encoder data when the drive power is down. Therefore, when setting the drive to use the absolute encoder as an incremental encoder or a single-turn absolute encoder, the encoder battery is not needed.  The encoder battery power can be applied via the battery case on the ABS encoder cable (CN2), or through the I/O connector (CN1, for example Sigma7 ML-III ServoPack, pins 14[+] & 15[-]).

Figure1

When using an absolute encoder without the encoder battery case, the battery can be connected to through CN1 connector on the ServoPack:

Figure2

Figure3

The Absolute Encoder Current Draw specification is:

• 20 μA when ServoPack is powered off
• 3 μA when ServoPack is powered on (w/o diode in place)

To determine the worst case battery life, divide the A-hour rating of the battery by the Sum of the current of all encoders when powered off.

For example, assume 16.5 A-hr battery and 16 Encoders are connected: 16.5 A-hr / (.000020 A * 16) = 51500 hours or 5.8 years

For installing and replacing the battery in the ServoPack, refer to:

• YASKAWA SIGMA-7 AC Servo Drives and Motors Technical Supplement (YAI-KAEPS80000123F)
• YASKAWA AC Servo Drives Sigma-V Series Product Catalog (YEA-KAEPS80000042)

The other type of batteries is used for the MP controllers. These batteries (JZSP-BA01) provide a backup power for the CPU non-volatile memory, preserving the SRAM data when CPU power is down. This data includes the retained variables, the alarm history, the absolute encoder offset and the real-time clock data. The SRAM can last for one hour without the battery connected. This battery must be replaced while power is supplied, within 2 weeks of when the BAT indicator first lights. For the MP2600, the SRAM battery power can be applied through the battery connector (CN14), or through the I/O connector (CN13 pins 7[+] & 32[-]).

Figure4 

For installing and replacing the battery in the CPU, refer to:

• YASKAWA MP3200iec Machine Controller Hardware Manual (YAI-SIA-IEC-5)
• YASKAWA MP2600iec Hardware Manual (YEA-SIA-IEC-6)

More references on the encoder usage in Yaskawa motion systems:

• The absolute encoder battery back-up techniques
• Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for Toshiba ER3V and ER6V batteries
• A.810 Absolute Encoder Battery Life and Replacement
• MP940 Dip switch settings, battery and PC cable

If the Vipa Ethernet coupler was previously configured and then modules are added or changed, you must perform an online save through its web page before they will function correctly.  If the new configuration is not saved, the Vipa Ethernet coupler will flash the SF and MS red LED’s when the controller connects.  The I/O status variable in the MotionWorks IEC project will show a status of 0x1000 (connected) or 0x320 (deleted configuration) but the I/O will not update.

To save the configuration on the Vipa Ethernet coupler:

Open the Vipa web page by typing the IP address into the browser’s address bar.

Note:  Disconnect or stop any MPiec controller Ethernet connection to the Vipa bus coupler.

Navigate to the Configuration tab and press the Save button.

After saving the configuration, the Vipa Ethernet coupler must be powered down for at least 20 seconds, and then powered back up.  If the power is short cycled, the Vipa Ethernet coupler will not power up.

See attached document for a screen shot of the web page’s Configuration tab

The controller counts all configured axes and any axes it discovers when the CNFG switch is on. To avoid adding discovered axes to this count, set the CNFG switch to off before the controller is powered on, or disconnect the additional axes.

There is an error in older firmware versions that cause analog output channels with a negative offset to only output the maximum voltage. Use firmware version 3.1.1.1 for all MP2300 type controllers and firmware version 3.5.0 and higher for all other controllers to correct the issue. The 3.5.0 release will be available in April 2018.  Please contact customer support with help in resolving this issue before then.

See attached document

See attached document.

There are two cases when this may occur. If the library cannot be found on the PC or if the library is marked as open.

See attached document for instructions.

There are two ways to reset the controller to factory defaults, one using the web browser and the other through Hardware Configuration.

See attached document for specific instructions.

The controller was unable to load a configured axes group is indicated by the error 440C 1003 with the description: Unable to add axes group to groupIODriver. Check the validity of the handle. The most likely cause is that the INIT switch of the controller is ON. The INIT switch disallows the loading of any saved configuration.

To fix this alarm, turn the INIT switch off and reboot the controller.

California Proposition 65 is a standalone program that affects commercial goods sold in the state of CA.  This was enacted in 1986 as "The safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986".  Businesses, including manufacturers, producers, packagers, importers, suppliers and distributors, are required to provide warnings required under the California Code of Regulations (the “Code”) if their products or facilities can expose consumers or workers to a listed chemical above identified threshold levels, known to the state of California to cause cancer or reproductive harm.  The chemical list contains more than 900 substances, and this list is updated every year. 

Read Full Policy

This error typically occurs when large User Defined Datatypes are declared. It means that at least one variable declaration exceeded the limit for Global Variables or a POU.  MotionWorks IEC will specify which variable caused it. The limit is 4MB for Global Variables and 4MB each POU Variable Worksheet. This limit does not mean that 4MB is the maximum size for all variable space however. The limit refers to the reference point (head address) where the variable is located. Any variables declared beyond the 4MB limit will cause this error. Placing the largest structure as the last variable declaration in the variable list typically permits the project to be complied without error.

Please see the attached PDF for an example of how the error is created and how to prevent it.

See attached file

See attached document

The INIT switch bypasses the loading of any saved configuration.  Use this switch if there are suspected configuration issues causing alarms on the controller that may prevent you from connecting to the MPiec controller.  If the INIT switch is ON and the CNFG switch is OFF, the controller will show no axes connected.

The CNFG switch automatically configures the MPiec controller with the supported devices attached to the Mechatrolink network and I/O cards.  When this switch is ON the MPiec controller can control any supported devices attached regardless if they are in a saved configuration or not.  Yaskawa recommends leaving this switch on.

The  SUP/MNT switch puts the MPiec controller in supervisor mode for firmware upgrades.  When this switch is ON, the controller will not “control” anything (The PLC will not run.)  Servos cannot be enabled and I/O cannot be read or written.

The only way to know the complete specifications of the MP3300iec CPU card is to know the part/model number of the card. The part/model number can be found on the original packaging that the card came in.

If the original packaging is not available, the part/model number can be found two ways:

     1. Scan the QR code on the MP3300iec CPU card to find the product code.
          a. The product code is used to look up the part/model number.

     2.Connect to the MP3300iec via the web browser to find the part/model number.


See the attached PDF for specifications on the part/model number. The PDF will also provide the part/model number based on the QR product code.

The MP3300iec Hardware Manual (YAI-SIA-IEC-7) can also be used to look up the specifications on the part/model number.

If the controller had any problems discovering the ServoPacks when powering up, the ServoPacks may have to be power cycled.  The first remedy to try is power cycle the entire system.  For the axes to be displayed as online, they must have been powered up before the MWiec controller.  Since the controller takes several seconds to complete its power up phase, powering the entire system at the same time is fine.

If there is no Startup configuration, or if any of the hardware may have been changed, check the switch settings for all ServoPacks.  All Mechatrolink III devices must be configured for 48 byte packets and the assigned node numbers must be unique and in the range of 3 to 64.

Next, confirm that all cables are connected correctly.  The MP3000iec controllers and ServoPacks have LEDs in the Mechatrolink connector that are lit when a cable is plugged into the socket that is connected to an active node. When all devices are powered, check the LED status in all connectors.

Finally, if there is a Startup configuration and all the hardware is configured correctly, check the configured response times.  The configured response times must be very close to the measured response times.  Values that are slightly lower, or much higher than the measured response times may cause the controller not to connect to these nodes.  The measured response times can be viewed by allowing doing the following:

1)      Using the web server, delete the Startup Configuration

2)      Set the MWiec controller to self configure (CNFG DIP switch must be ON)

3)      Using the Hardware Configuration, connect with a new project, or connect with an existing project and use the discovered configuration.

4)      Refer to the Mechatrolink-III node in the Hardware Configuration to view the measured response times.

See the attached document for pictures showing switch settings and status LED’s and view the Mechatrolink III webinar for more information:

Within the Resource Dialog, the option 'Permanent as Bootproject' allows the bootproject to download to the controller along with the project as one process.  

Excluding the bootproject may be useful to avoid long download times.  By default, the bootproject is included.

Please see the attached document for steps on importing POU's within MotionWorks IEC.

Please see attached application note for detailed steps on converting a MotionWorks IEC Version 2 Project into Version 3.

This usually occurs when firmware is downgraded. To view the normal web page the cache needs to be cleared and the page reloaded.

If the browser is not in incognito mode Use the menu (the 3 dots at the upper right) to select More tools and then Clear browsing data, or use  Ctrl+Shift+Del. In the Clear browsing data dialog select Cached images and files and press the Clear data button.
Click on refresh and the normal web page is displayed.

If the browser is in incognito mode Press F12 to open Developer tools, A window will appear at the bottom of the screen.Right click on the Refresh button and select Empty Cache and Hard Reload. The normal web page is displayed.

See attached document for screen shots.

On controller firmware 3.2.0 ~ 3.4.0, go to the “Ethernet Config” page under setup after logging into the controller’s web page. Click on the + sign to the right of the Auxiliary IP label. The + sign becomes an X and a 2 fields are created, one for the auxiliary IP address and one for the subnet mask. Enter the IP address and mask and hit the + button  on the IP address line to finish adding it. The final step is to press save at the top right to save the results.

To configure a MPiec controller to communicate  with a MLX-200 robot controller, a EtherNet/IP device must be added, a MLX group must be created, and a driver function block must be added to the project code and run.

See the attached document for detailed instructions on how to configure the device.

Unfortunately you cannot transfer a MotionWorks IEC  ver 3 license without an Internet connection to the PC containing the licensed software. There are provisions to activate a license by phone, or to activate a license by emailing a file created from the PC that is to be licensed, but there are no provisions to re-host (deactivate/check in) an existing license without access to the Internet. Here is a link describing how to re-host a license via the Internet.

When a project has local retained variables, and only a boot project is downloaded to the controller (by using the More button in the project control dialog), the controller will display this error after it is rebooted. To avoid this, make all retained variables global, or when downloading, download both the project and the boot project by using the Download button in the project control dialog.

This is a known issue that will be fixed in a future release. 

Yes. MotionWorks IEC development software revision 2.5.0 and higher can create Project Archives while offline.

The offline Project Archive feature is very useful when a machine has been put into production and small changes to the IEC application program are required. By sending a Project Archive file to the machine user, maintenance technicians can load the updated program into the controller using the MPiec Controller’s built-in Web Server. No other programming software is required.

Please see the attached PDF for steps to create a Project Archive offline.

Note: There are different steps between the MP2300Siec/MP2310iec and the MP2600iec/ MP3200iec/MP3300iec.

The MP2600iec uses 100Base-T (100Mbit/s) Ethernet speed. The MP2600iec is the only MPiec series controller that cannot inherently operate at both 10Base-T and 100Base-T speeds.  In order to attain 10Base-T functionality with the MP2600iec, an Ethernet dual-speed hub or Network switch must be used. These devices make use of an internal two-port switch, bridging the 10 Mbit/s and 100 Mbit/s segments. These devices are available from third-party vendors such as NETGEAR, Linksys, or WAGO.