Interact Xpress C3 Error History Display

The following indicates how to display the C3 error history. Both the error number and a readable description of the error are displayed.

How it works:

The basis of this display is the Message tool set in Xpress. Each C3 error is represented by a unique number. For example a following error is represented by number 29472 (Hex 7320). Within Xpress, a message table is created with the description of each error at the line number of the error. For example, at line number 29472 within the message table the text for a following error is entered.

Then tags are created in Xpress which retrieve the list of previous errors from the C3, one tag per entry. These tags contain the specific C3 error number. This error number is then used with a message window inside of Xpress to lookup the error text from the message table. Notice that "Following Error" is at entry 29472 in the Message Table.

Setup Steps:

Configure communications with C3
Create tags for the error history in the C3
Setup/Import a message table
Create Message objects on a panel and link them to the C3 error tags and message table.
Create numeric displays and link them to the C3 error tags

Configure communications with C3

The first step is to setup the communication driver for the C3. In this case the channel is named "C3" and the Device is named "D1". If you already have the communications set up and plan to import the screen with tag names, the tag addresses will need to be adjusted to match your communication naming settings. See additional posts in the knowledge base for setting up Xpress communication to the C3.

Creating tags for the error history in the C3

The C3 uses object numbers to access data inside the drive. As shown below in the C3 help file, the error numbers are stored in objects 550.1 thru 550.32. Object 550.1 represents the most current error object in the history. Note that these are a log of errors and do not necessarily indicate whether an error is active or not. Also, this example covers adding errors 1-10 for display. Errors 11-32 would need to be added if desired.

Using these object numbers tags will be added for errors 1 thru 10. Navigate to the tag editor and create a new tag named "C3_Error_1". Set the address to "C3.d1.550.1" Remember that if your communication settings differ from those shown above the first portion of the tag address "C3.d1" will need to be adapted. The second portion "550.1" represents the object number in the C3 and would remain the same. Note the data type of "UInt".

Repeat this process for tags 2-10.

Setup/Import the message list.

For your convenience, a message list has already been created containing all of the C3 errors. This list is ready for import into your project. If you wish to edit this list to create specific text for errors or add error codes the list can be edited in excel. Download this file to your computer. Navigate to the home screen within Xpress and click on "Import/Export". The Message list is attached at the bottom of this post.

Then click on "Message Table"

Click on "Browse" then navigate to the text file on your local PC. Then click on "Import"

A Message table will be added to the Project screen

Return to the design screen and add a Numeric Display. Change the Value Output to "C3_Error_1". Note, it is possible to import this screen into your project from the sample project attached below.

Next, add a Message to the screen. Set the Type to "Display Only"

Set the Message Output to the tag "C3_Error_1"

Set the Message Source to "C3_Error_Message_Table"

Repeat this process for the remaining 9 error messages. Index each tag to the next tag number: "C3_Error_2", "C3_Error_3"........"C3_Error_10"

You will end up with something as shown below:

Download your project to the screen, connect the screen to the drive and start the runtime. The error history from the C3 will be displayed.

Attached below are the Message Table and complete project file.

C3 Error Display.zip