Hello. I am new to OPTO22 and need any last minute advice before I start a project. We had an IBM PS2 computer fail (40 years old?) last week and is not repairable for several reasons. I have been asked to get the manufacturing process going again so I bought a PCIe-451 card to interface with our B4 brain boards.
I have the SDK that is downloadable from this website and will install it tomorrow on the new computer. But, if anyone has any LabVIEW example code that can help launch my efforts, that would be great. I see the SDK comes with some *.dll’s so if there isn’t anything I can possibly start with that. The system, it seems, is only controlling an interlock it appears. So, I am thinking the programming will be fairly straight forward. But, example code will help with the addressing, initialization, sample commands, and shutdown routines.
FYI, I have read the other posts in regards to LabVIEW. The reason for the new post is because those posts are using different protocols (ethernet, RS485, etc.). This system is using PAMUX. I have also searched the NI Forums and haven’t found anything related to PAMUX or PCIe-451.
Thanks in advance.
David
You probably did not get any responses because most at Opto do not get much exposure to the B4 Pamux stuff.
The first time I saw this stuff was in 1994 when MEMC in O’Fallon Missouri still had it running their 30 original 6" crystal growing machines from the late 70’s. It was connected to a VME backplane that had a 64k Motorola MC6800 cpu written in assembly. It ran bath speed rotation PID, bath raise speed PID, seed crystal drop speed PID, seed crystal rotation PID, 400 amp SCR power supply power PID, Zero D cable alignment PID, remote IR sensed temperature PID that held +/- 0.5 degC at 2100 degC bath surface temperature.
Did you get it working?
This is the highest speed stuff Opto has ever built, it is lighting fast.
You’ll need to brush up on your C code to make this happen or find someone that is a decent C programmer, I know someone if you need the help.
Barrett,
I did actually get the system up and running again. I switched the brains to a modbus variety and got away from the PAMUX. Once I made the switch to the B4EB2, the LabVIEW programming happened fast and I just daisy chained all the boards together and called them by address. But, one of the boards has a nasty habit of losing its IP address which is rather annoying. I had to train the techs on how to reload the address, which is also not straight forward when you are behind a firewall.
I did learn to really like OPTO22 equipment through the whole thing. By the way, this system was controlled with a computer that might have been purchased before I was born… and I am over 40. 
So they got new brains and a new computer out of that disaster.
Sincerely,
David Fox
Yes, I forgot to mention the G4EB2, I used a set of them on a Pamux system that sheared transformer laminations up to 14" x 40" at 3 per second. The G4EB2’s were not as fast, and would have been fast enough if the system had been re-engineered in terms of module use and placement.
You probably did not need the speed, there are few operations that need that kind of speed. I still think that the Pamux using fiber would be an awesome system for doing large super speed intensive systems. I think the data sheet mentions something like 1500 IO in 500 microsecond update speed.
I would send that board back in to Opto. The other possibility is that there is a power spike hitting that board, that is the only reason those boards will lose their IP unless they are defective.
My bet is the former.
