We have had many request to make the PLC Tools SIM-ALP2 be able to sweep and step through mA and voltage signals and we are happy to announce that we have now added this feature.
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Items used in this video:
PLC Tools SIM-ALP2 Analog Simulator [ Ссылка ]
To access these new features, go into Current 2 Wire, Current Source, or Voltage mode just as you normally would. The up and down arrows let you manually scroll through 4 to 20 mA analog values. Actually the full scale is 0-22mA so that you can simulate broken wires and other fault conditions.
While in this mode, press the OK button. This brings up the Output Cycle menu which includes Sweep Cycle, Step Cycle, and Custom Profile.
Highlight Sweep Cycle and press the OK button. There are three parameters to configure for the sweep cycle. The full sweep time, the start value, and the final value. Highlight Full Sweep Time and press the OK button. Enter the time in seconds that you want the analog simulator to go from the start value to the final value. Then enter the start value... and the final value. Now select run cycle. As you can see it now scrolls smoothly from the start value to the final value over the full sweep time selected then goes from the final value to the start value over the same full sweep time then repeats. If you need to stop the sweep function at any time during the cycle press the OK button and the analog simulator will pause and hold that analog output at the current value. Pressing the OK button again will resume.
Press the cancel button to exit this mode and go back to the Sweep configuration. Press the cancel button one more time to get back to the output cycle menu.
Now let’s go through the step cycle. Highlight Step Cycle and press the OK button. You will need to configure the step time which is the time between the increments of individual steps, the step size which is the amount of the step, the start value, and the end value. I see lots of valuable uses for this feature such as when you need to verify that that certain functions happen at certain analog values. To start the Step Cycle highlight Run Step Cycle and press the OK button. As you can see the milliamp signal increments 2mA every second from 4 to 20 then back to 4 and repeats.
These features work exactly the same in Current 2 Wire Mode and Voltage Source Mode.
I can see lots of good uses for these two new features out in the field. Be sure to share uses you find for these features in the comments and send us footage of yours in use. If we use your footage we may just have a special offer for you.
