How to Configure Analog Output for PLC-ES Analog Expansion Modules

1.

Open existing MapleLogic project or create new project. Make sure PLC type is set to PLC-ES model series.

2.

Once within the project in MapleLogic, double-click on the Reserved IO section on the left-hand menu in the software to open up the PLC Module Settings.

3.

Add the expansion module, in this example it will be an IO-SA0004C. Once added, double click on the picture of the expansion module to configure the unit to the desired output configuration, click ok, then click save. Now the D/A configuration will show Enable.

4.

After the module is configured, click the save button in the upper left corner of the module settings menu. Note that the IO-SA0004C is allocated to slot 1 (the CPU will always be slot 0). Once saved, close the module settings menu.

5.

Next, there will be some logic required to access the analog output in the module and manipulate it within the program. First, create a new program. Right-click on the program folder in the left-hand menu and select new program, then scan.

6.

Create a new rung by highlighting the first rung and clicking Ctrl-L on the keyboard. Next add a normally open contact and address it to F10, this is the system bit “Always On”. Then select the application instruction option. This will open the input instruction popup which is where all functions and statements can be created.

7.

To create the TO statement, type in the letters TO into the application instruction. The software will recognize the statement immediately. Please see below for the structure of the TO statement as well. ^{1 2}

¹NOTE: Configurations such as analog inputs and outputs are stored in what is called the “Buffer Memory” of the expansion module. All analog expansions have a pre-set buffer memory that can be found with the built-in help guide found within MapleLogic. Those buffer memories correspond to several configurations of the expansion, including analog output. To access the buffer memory of an analog output to be able to store that into a PLC address, a “TO” statement is required. This is opposite from the analog input configuration which requires a “FROM” statement. The TO is used for analog outputs since the data is being sent to the output, instead of pulled from the input.

²NOTE: The first portion of the TO statement will be the slot number of the expansion module whose buffer memory is being accessed, in this example that will be slot 1, which would be written as H0001. If the module were in a different slot the only change to be made would be the last digit. Next is the buffer memory that will be accessed. This can be found in the help guide by clicking the help tab in MapleLogic, then help, then under the contents menu on the right, select PLC-ES/PLC-FB and locate the expansion module being used, in this example PLC-ES DA Module. Then select shared or buffer memory. The buffer memory for the IO-SA0004C can be seen below. For this example, only analog output channel 1 will be used which corresponds to buffer memory 1. Next step of the TO statement is the PLC address that the buffer memory will be stored into. In this example, it will be D0. The last variable in the TO statement is the number of words being stored into the PLC address from the buffer memory. By default, all the buffer memory addresses for the analog expansion modules are 16-bit (1 word), so the value would be 1.

8.

Type in each of these variables on the line with a space in between each variable so that it looks like the example below, then click OK. It will now also appear on your rung after the Always On system bit.

9.

Once the TO statement is complete, there is one extra piece of logic that will need to be added. This is the enable bit for the specific analog output channel so that it will always be enabled upon download and power cycle. In this example, the analog output module is in slot 1, which means that the start Y address range starts at Y20, so the internal address listed in the table below would match that for the address needed. ³

³NOTE: Similar to the buffer memory, each expansion module has its own set of internal bits that are automatically mapped to specific PLC addresses based on the slot that the expansion is located in. The information for these built in internal bits for the analog modules can be found in the same help section as previously mentioned, only it will be listed as internal IO Table. By default, there will be an address listed next to each IO command, however this will change depending on the slot the module is in. Always be sure to reference the starting IO address range for the module, depending on slot location, in the reserved IO section of the project.

10.

This bit will be added to the same Always On input bit so that it remains always on with the TO statement. Click below the main rung and hit Ctrl-L to add another blank rung ahead.

11.

Next, add a vertical line to the right of the F10 normally open contact. Then click to the right of the open vertical line and select the coil option from the toolbar and enter the corresponding output channel enable bit, Y23 in this example.

12.

Now that the logic is complete, download the project to the PLC. To do this, click the online tab, then Link+Download+Monitor.

13.

Once online, confirm that the configurations downloaded properly, and that analog output is enabled. To do this, double-click the expansion module underneath the card properties.