6K Misc - Creating 6K Backup Programs

Owned by Jack Degrano
Last updated: Jun 24, 2024 by Eric Rojas (Unlicensed)
3 min read

VIDEO: express basics training: How to upload & download to 6K controllers

VIDEO: express basics training: GV6K or GT6K drive controllers

 

Related FAQs:

 

 

To upload a 6K program:

  1. Enter the Terminal in Motion Planner.

  2. Type "!K" and hit ENTER to kill any programs running.

  3. Type "STARTP" and hit ENTER.

  4. Record the response (should be in the form of "*STARTP xxxx" where "xxxx" is the name of your power-up program.

  5. Type "SCALE" and hit ENTER.

  6. If your response is returned as *SCALE1, then enter SCLA, SCLV, and SCLD to get their values as well.

  7. Record the responses of each of the Scaling commands for later use.

  8. Go to the "Communications" menu and select "Upload file...".

  9. Select all of the programs in the upload box. Then select a name for the .PRG file.

10. Open the .PRG file you just created in the Editor.

11. If you are using scaling as found in step 5 above:

Enter the scaling parameters:

SCLA xxxx
SCLV xxxx
SCLD xxxx

SCLMAS xxxx

SCALE1

above your program before the first "DEL xxxx" statement.

Multi-axis controllers will have scaling for each axis and scaling parameters are separated by a comma. 

Not every application uses a master encoder but SCLMAS scales the master encoder counts. This is used for following/gearing applications.

 

12. After the last "END" statement, place the statement "STARTP xxxx" that you recorded from Step #4.Note: A list of items stored in the 6K's non-volatile memory is shown on page 33 of the 6K's Programmer's Reference. If any of these were set in the terminal window or outside of a program when downloaded and not in the original programs, when the programs are retrieved these non-volatile items will NOT be retrieved.

As an example, the SCALE and scale parameters (SCLD, SCLV, SCLA, SCLMAS) and STARTP are non-volatile. These settings are set outside of a program so when uploaded, they are not retrieved. Hence, as explained above, the need to query what these are set to, to completely backup the 6K program. Other common examples include the Ethernet IP address NTADDR, encoder polarity ENCPOL and commanded direction polarity CMDDIR. Most of these commands are typically set within the programs and thus would be retrieved on uploading, and only the Scaling and Startp settings need to be queried. However, if the 6K doesn't appear to be running correctly, check these settings in a working 6K on a similar machine.

 

13. If you're needing to upload the variables stored in non-volatile memory of the 6K, in MotionPlanner, in terminal window, you can type TVAR (real), TVARI (int), TVARB (binary) and TVARS (string).  These were added commands in firmware 6.4.2 and will transfer variables to the terminal window.

Users would need to copy and paste into Notepad or Excel to delete the preceding * on the response.

MotionPlanner doesn't have this in the upload window dialog. As an alternate, under Communication settings, change from 6K to GV6K and then in the Program Editor or Terminal Emulator, select the Upload Editor. This gives an upload variable option. This will upload all the VAR, VARI, VARB and VARS (without the *). This can then be downloaded (change the product type back to 6K).