C-more Micro HMI -- Quick Start for Touch Screen Display for PLC at AutomationDirect

In this video we are going to walk very quickly through the creation, simulation and deployment of a simple project so you can get a feel for the whole project flow from beginning to end. Here is the end result – a three screen project with a title screen, a utility control screen, and an Oven Temperature monitoring screen with alarms. Nothing fancy, just the basics … let’s see how we got there … Step 1: Create a new project Click on File >> Start Project. Select folder for the project. Name the project: “Quick Start.” Select a Panel type – we’ll use the 3” Touch Screen. Select a protocol – we’ll be talking to the Automation Direct Click PLC. Hit OK. Step 2: Create the screens Hit the new screen button 3 times. Name and color each one: 1 Home - Green 2 Utility - Yellow 3 Oven Temp - Red Step 3: Fill in the screens Our Title Screen is easy – we just add static text by dragging the text object over to the screen and changing the text. Note that you can change the size of the text easily on the tool bar Screen 2 is our Utility Control Screen – we’ll add a bar switch to control a “FAN” TAG. Click here to create the TAG, call it FAN and make it a discrete located at address DS100 on the Click PLC. Now we just copy and paste that using control-C and control-V – double click, create a new TAG called LIGHTS at address DS101 on the Click PLC. Change the graphic to a sideways rocker. Add a static text for FANS. Copy, paste, edit for LIGHTS. Screen 3 is our Oven Temperature monitoring screen. We just drop an analog meter on the screen, have it monitor an unsigned integer TAG called OVEN TEMP located at address DS200 on the Click PLC. Let’s add a text label – we’re using the static text object instead of the built in label here because we can put it where we want it. Step 4: Create an alarm – we want an alarm if the oven temperature goes over 75 degrees. SETUP >> Alarm Control – Select the “OVEN TEMP” TAG and say it is in alarm when it is greater than 75. Enable Beeps, and Blink the Backlight between yellow and amber. Step 5: Create a background Menu Screen Create a new screen – let’s give it screen number 100, just to be different. Add a function object and set each button to do a screen change to the correct screen The temptation is to copy this to every screen in the project – but that is cumbersome and hard to maintain and manage. It is MUCH easier to just tell each screen to use this one screen as a background screen – that way we only have to update one set of menu keys each time things change. Step 6: Simulate it – Verify TAGs are being modified and monitored, and that alarms work. Step 7: Send to PLC – hit SEND – make sure C-More Micro is in the setup screen mode (press F1 & F5 at the same time for a few seconds) and that the cable is plugged in. Hit transfer! Step 8: Use it! Here is the actual C-More Micro running our new project. Screen 1, Screen 2, Screen3 That’s all there is to creating a C-more Micro Project. For more detailed ideas and examples, check out the other videos in this series – especially the ones with the word DEMO or DEBUG in them - they have lots of great ideas, tips and tricks you can use in your own projects! There are some tutorial projects included with the software in the “projects” folder in the c-more micro install folder. For information on a specific topic like alarms, passwords, etc be sure to check out the other videos in this series. And as always, please send us any topics you would like to see covered – or - any other comments for that matter – we appreciate the feedback.