Have a question? Join our community of pros to take part in the discussion! You'll also find all of our automation courses at .Įditor's note: If you work in the industrial automation field and would like to share your experiences with our audience, please contact us using this form: Contact Us.Today I would like to share to everyone the GX-Works2 V1.560J software which is the latest versionĪlthough Mitsubishi has now released GX-Works3 software, but if you do not need to use FX5U PLC programming, this GX-Works2 software is sufficient and its advantage is that the configuration requirement is much lower than that of GX -Works3 Senior Automation Engineer and Freelance Writer
You may be surprised to see how beneficial being familiar is when it comes to creating, copying, or modifying a project in a pinch. Take a few minutes during projects or set aside some time if you aren’t lucky enough to get some formal training and follow some examples or possibly create some simple projects to learn what you can. Mismatch Program, Image by Paul HuntĪs with any software, it is best to take your familiarity with other programs and windows applications to “look around”. Similar to what is shown in the compare function from Rockwell software for those that are familiar with that. If one of the “Program Blocks” is highlighted, you can double click that in the list shown and it will bring up a window with the visible logic compared side by side. Step 9) Once completed, you will see any differences highlighted in Pink.
Step 8) While verifying, it will read what was uploaded from the connected controller and then display the Verification Progress dialog window as it proceeds. Step 7) If there are differences detected during the reading and compare, you will see a dialog box pop up asking if you wish to continue. As shown here, when you select Verify, you can select any part from the program as well as parameters and device memory.
Step 6) When you need to verify the offline program with the online version, things get a little different. You will be able to select the items you want to download in case you only want to download the program logic or maybe just Data Memory or Parameters. Step 5) A similar view to the Reading function is created when Writing.
Similar to other windows dialog boxes, you can choose to allow it to automatically close if you check the box at the bottom of the window. Step 4) If you select Read and press Execute, you will see the Read from PLC dialog appear. This is where you can select, for instance, Device Memory or Parameters for a Read action so you can make changes, save, and then download without changing registers used for things like recipes or important parameters. Before pressing “Execute”, you will check (or uncheck) the needed checkboxes that correspond to what you would like to do. Step 3) Some instances might require that you select options that are not the default. Once you have the action selected and everything looks right (usual defaults are typically ok), press Execute. You can select Write, Read, Verify, or Delete. Here you can change your choice if you have selected the wrong operation initially. You will then see the Online Data Operation Window. Online Write and Read Option, Image by Paul Hunt Step 1) Once connected to the PLC, you will use the Online pulldown menu or the associated quick keys to select what you would initially like to do. Note: Setting up the connection from GX Works 3 to Mitsubishi PLCs was covered in my previous write-ups here and here.
The focus of this submission will be downloading, uploading, and some associated steps and tools. If you know where to look, GX Works3 will also show you ladder differences graphically as well. Like any other popular PLC programming software, you can upload and download to the processor as well as other typical tools like compare or verify.
The same setup was used in the previous Mitsubishi PLC series which includes the preceding (pre-requisite) document with step-by-step on how to connect. In this walk-thru we'll look at downloading and uploading to Mitsubishi FX5 and iQ-R controllers.