tomalbright dot com

Nov

Holidays, holidays!

By Tom 0 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized

I am working on the holidays! This year (and the next 5 if I stay on the same schedule) I will work both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well, Christmas anyway. So, it is looking like I will have to do all my shopping in the next few weeks to make sure I get it done. How fun! First holidays I have missed in the 25 years we have been married.

PLC stuff - I spent most of the last few weeks in the middle of changing out some float cells at two platforms to some good old reliable WEMCO units. Not a lot involved there, motor starts, level switches. The screens took awhile, but no biggie. The actual job of changing parts on a platform required a lift boat, stair cutting, and a lot of people on safety lines. I’m glad I didn’t have to do any of that part!

Another job got postponed, and there’s a new subsea project coming in that is, again, kind of a do-it-yourself job. Somebody needs to spec all the parts and instruments for these jobs other than delivering with a note to “please get this working today.” Oh well. With a few days notice you can get nearly anything delivered.

Oil was up, oil is down, election has happened, life goes on. I doubt the presidential change will affect me at all. I am not in an unmanagable mortgage, have no stocks, and a steady paycheck keeps coming in. Now, if I could settle some of the insurance costs and medical bills, that would help a lot. Would you believe I am paying about $1500 a month for insurance? No kidding. That’s all of it, health, car, and house. Thievery!

I’m hoping to get some stuff done around the house, need to finish the floors, re-wall the living room, clear the fence out, little stuff like that. At least the weather is nice!

Anyhoo, if anybody has some PLC or HMI work they gotta get done, I have some time left over in my “off” time where I could handle a light project or two. Let me know.

Oct

What I have, what they lost - my non-degreed state

By Tom 1 Comment

Categories: Uncategorized

I had a very good interview last week. When I say “very good”, I expected to be hired. Quickly. I had the qualifications, the time, the experience, you name it. After about a week, I have heard… nothing. So, I send a little note to the recruiter asking for status. I got back:

“…they have decided that they do not want to bring you on. It is a titles issue. They work predominantly with the ***** and since you do not have an engineering degree, they think that might be a problem for the *****.”

Well shucks. I actually got turned down for a title… or lack of one. At least, I’ll go by that. It is very disappointing. I hope that the client here may realize that they do need me. I can provide what they need, I am sure. However, it looks like I will be remaining offshore for the near future.

At least I only work half the year. Right? Yeah, I am trying to convince my self that is a good thing. This week, I made a major change to how our heater treaters work, and wow are they happy with that. The new PCs and batteries are in, so that should give me a few days of work setting all that up. There is always something going on.

It’s just so… offshore. If you know what I mean.

Sep

By Tom 0 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized

Well, well. Here I sit updatng the blog from my Blackberry. Yesterday we had Gustav. Today there are no lights. My daughter called, and was surprised they weren’t on yet. It looks like all of Louisiana is in the dark - a few locations have generators but most don’t. It’s bad.

We tried to go find a generator, but everyplace that’s open (3 stores) are out. Maybe tomorrow. There is talk of a week or more with no power. Gas stations are getting generators to help out.

All this on a bad month. Daughters little (1 lb!) baby didn’t make it, blew our travel money. Missed work and a paycheck, used a god-sent bonus to make it. Now, looks like 2 more storms coming this way. Might be an interesting few weeks. I spent 3 days at work, not sure when they are staffing up again.

I need ice…

Jun

Goodbye, Microsoft

By Tom 0 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized

Well, not exactly. Some of you “older” folks might remember back in the ’80s, when every manufacturer was making their own versions of PCs? And some like Kaypro even had their own OS’s? I can remember quite a few alternate OS’s that were in existence competing with DOS. After Microsoft got Windows 3.11 launched, a lot of the PC alternate industry simply died. The end. Or… was it?

Recently, Asus came out with a small PC, the “Eee”, which was… cute. It has a 7 inch screen, runs Linux, and has NO MOVING PARTS. Oh, you say, like a PDA, or a smartphone… well yes, and no. While the Eee does have Linux, it bypasses the user installation, and simply turns on, ready to run. This is a big draw to internet surfers. And, while it isn’t a game machine, it seems to have gone over pretty well for a gadget. Did I say “gadget”? Go look at the reviews of the Eee on any of the distributor web sites, such as Amazon, Tigerdirect, or Newegg, to name a few. Other than a very, very small amount of “cons” and low ratings, this PC concept is getting rave reviews for what it is doing. Ah well, it will pass, you say…

Not so! Just a quick browse shows that the Eee line is expanding, and has already introduced a 10″ screen model. Still, not exactly on a par with notebooks, though. Also, several other manufacturers are taking note of this, and are also producing, or about to produce, their own compact PCs. (Can you say “Dell E”? Dell!) I won’t say this is the end of Microsoft, but sure, this is a viable alternative to people who want to surf the net and use their PCs for communication. Within the next year, I think we will see some type of this product available in a more “user friendly” size for regular computing.

Let’s take a look - Microsoft has pretty much failed with Vista. By “failed” I mean, it isn’t taking off like XP did. A lot of people who buy computers buy them “just because”, and have no experience with alternate OS’s. This is what is fueling Vista right now. Corporations are hesitant to use it. My own software refuses to run on it, even though some have managed to “work around” Vista’s limits, and make some of the automation software work. So what then? Wait for the new version of Windows, in what, 3 years or so? How many Windows users will be left? Haw many will have jumped on the Linux bandwagon, or simply gone to a small PC?

I foresee a real dip in Windows sales, and eventually, within 10 years or so, see them going to supplying businesses and users with top-end servers, and workstations. The usual run-of-the mill PC will be gone, replaced by Linux, or its successor. The free software has taken root. Open source efforts are producing the best software. I’m expecting some of the automation guys to start an open source effort, even though it will take much time and effort - Linux is no longer a playtoy.

The alternate PCs are back with a competing OS, and low price. This time, they’re not going away.

Microsoft may have missed it this time.

Jun

There IS older stuff out there!

By Tom 0 Comments

Categories: PLC stuff

Last week I made a one-day trip to another customer’s site to correct a problem with their pumps. Also, to try to correct a problem seen by my boss and another employee. There is an EPROM (flash type) in an SLC5/03 that no one can write to, it returns an error. So, on site, there is the PLC (had to buy a $300 PIC!), and a Panelview 1000. That’s the entirety of the electronic control! The SLC has less than 1000 words used in it; it’s a LACT metering skid control panel. After I got the write error with the EPROM, which was an M12, I used a replacement, an M13. Well! The PLC didn’t like that one either. We suspect a lightning strike has caused this, but everything else is working properly. I removed the EPROM, set the PLC to ignore it completely, and left it running.

Apparently there are a LOT of these SLC projects “out there”. Most of the time, they are in a location where there is never a need to do anything with them, such as this one. Here, the screen was also well-kept, clean, and very usable. I doubt if they will have any issues with this one, unless it gets hit by lightning again. I had read on the PLCS.NET forum about people having issues with these, needing a PIC, and so forth. I never thought I would work on one, since they were so old. I was wrong.

Oh, and in the “approved” category, the 1747-UIC, the USB PIC, worked exactly as described! There’s a minor installation issue in the instructions, but it’s easy to work around that. Newer hardware for older products. Hey, it works!

Oh, and the problem with the original pump issue? Somebody selected the wrong button.

May

Current Project

By Tom 0 Comments

Categories: PLC stuff

I am in the middle of adding new GE touchscreens to an AB PLC5 processor. The old screens are AB 6181, which, when new, were excellent! Now, after 5 years offshore, they are sick and dying. The reason for the GE screens rather than more AB is the attempt to find something a little more reliable. We had “gone to the source” to find replacement touch panel glass for the AB models. However, that supply was very limited. With the change to the GE products, I now have GE Proficy. This helps, it updates all our GE PLC installs, and is really a great product to work with.

The change from AB to GE is interesting. You can’t convert one to the other, so everything is being drawn by hand. I’m working on the last of the installs, and it’s a bear. There’s a lot of automatic controls, and whoever programmed the RSView32 really jammed a lot of “stuff” in there, invisible thingies on top of each other, and stuff like that. The GE software really lets you get away with keeping things straight, but I am really getting tired of drawing! At least I can copy and change what I’ve done when making new screens. Here’s an example of the new ones: