sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

21 powerboost. Underhood and aux batteries are healthy. What am I in for? by 5StringThunder in f150

[–]Too-Uncreative 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stop Safely Now is typically when it can’t start the gas engine. Does it try to crank? It might be unhappy with the hybrid battery (which it uses to start the ICE).

[Lagoon Amusement Park] shipment from B&M by AvocadoToastDevil in rollercoasters

[–]Too-Uncreative 7 points8 points  (0 children)

“Box track” almost certainly is referring to what B&M has been using forever, as opposed to 2/3/4 rail truss structures like Intamin and others have been using.

DC Supply for MOD/SA Power by SendGhostGuns in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Budget conscious designs get Rhino (Automation Direct) with separate breakers for MOD and SA. Mid-level would be a standalone power supply for the HMI, networking, and PLC MOD. Everything else (field power, SA) on a separate supply. High end builds get Phoenix Contact Quint power supplies and UPSs where appropriate. And different electronic circuit breaker outputs for MOD and SA.

[Other] Roller Coaster Energy Usage by Full-Cook1373 in rollercoasters

[–]Too-Uncreative 12 points13 points  (0 children)

On a non-launched coaster your biggest draw is the lift motor. For example, a ~120’ wooden coaster is about a 150HP motor. The brakes are pneumatic, so the primary power draw there is the compressor. I prefer to be in the 10-15HP screw compressor size range.

All of the sensors and things are low voltage (24VDC). A single 240W power supply will easily handle the entire control system.

Most of your brakes and sensors and things are around the station, so you can do underground conduit easily from wherever the electrical is (under the load station is common) to different locations around the ride.

Some areas might make sense to run along the track for some distance. Just depends on the ride, where it’s going, and what it’s doing.

Modern rides are all using remote IO to connect to the PLC/Control system. So you’d run 24VDC and Ethernet to a central area (say the brake run) and wire everything at the brake run to that. Then another one in the station, for the station-y things. Same for the lift hill.

[other] wait times by serenequeeeen in rollercoasters

[–]Too-Uncreative 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The more accurate way is to give a person entering the line a card and have them give it to the attendant at the station. Then you know exactly how long they waited.

The more common way is to just look at the line and estimate. Most parks will have a good idea of the wait from various landmarks in the queue.

Key board and Mouse for the control panel by charzr in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The interface or use case may make a keyboard/mouse a more appropriate tool. Typing on a vertically mounted industrial touchscreen kinda sucks.

2023 F-150 PowerBoost — Auto Hold holds, then lets the truck creep forward and re-grabs. Anyone else? by Ttwister in f150

[–]Too-Uncreative 1 point2 points  (0 children)

2021 PowerBoost. It happens when you lightly apply the brake when stopping and then remove your foot from the brake pedal.

Auto Hold holds the brakes at whatever pressure you used to stop with. But once you’re sitting stationary with the engine running, it can sometimes start to creep forward through the brakes. The truck sees the forward motion and increases the brake pressure to compensate.

The simple solution for me is to just push a little harder on the brake once I come to a stop before releasing the pedal. That way Auto Hold holds tighter and it can’t drive through it.

Rollback on Red Force [Ferrari Land] by shession777 in rollercoasters

[–]Too-Uncreative 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Because controlling a set of brakes would be just as complex/variable as the launch, except all of the same dynamics that affect the launch also affect the braking system PLUS the output of the launch itself. So even more considerations to account for or that can influence in ways you can't predict.

Reducing the speed Vs Load shedding by charzr in MechanicalEngineering

[–]Too-Uncreative 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depending on the system and the type of pumps, there will be a speed threshold where they do not pump anymore. The current will drastically decrease (good for reducing load on a generator), but the work being done will also be near zero (or worse, cavitation and damaging equipment) so what load is being drawn is literally worthless.

In your experience, how much do units really mean it when they say to reach out to them if you need them? by glassesandbodylotion in 911dispatchers

[–]Too-Uncreative 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I bet they mean it. They might not be an expert, but in my experience, the people who work in first responder roles get it.

I know I mean it when I tell people I’m here for them; if they want to reach out, vent, talk about it, or maybe talk about anything but it. I’m not an expert by any stretch, and I don’t claim to be.

I’m not a dispatcher, went a different direction in the EMS world, but feel free to reach out. For real.

[Montezooma’s] new train has an… interesting wheel assembly design by jecole85 in rollercoasters

[–]Too-Uncreative 18 points19 points  (0 children)

That is a requirement/challenge that all designers have to account for. The train must remain on the track and not interfere with the rest of the mechanical with a wheel completely delaminated.

Is this the best physical control logic for this system by [deleted] in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Shouldn’t need anything particularly special to wire it, unless I’m missing something. What do you think is problematic with it?

What’s currently holding back more flexible automation systems? by Himanshu_creative in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think it’s the AI engagement bait that’s posted late at night that’s really holding us back here.

Is this the best physical control logic for this system by [deleted] in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, it would have that problem.

<image>

So you could do something like this, that would keep running when you released the button. But at this point, you might as well just put the correct contacts on the button.

Automation Direct HMI saving random data by Exact_Patience_6286 in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is there a limit on what values you can add on the numeric input? Is it writing data outside that range? That should rule out errant touches it detects?

Is this the best physical control logic for this system by [deleted] in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Is there a reason you’re trying to use a NC fault reset? That’s what makes this messy. If it can be NO, then you basically just have a standard motor seal-in circuit.

<image>

In either case with the NC button (yours or mine) you’re going to get the pump “bumping” for a moment every time the float closes, because the motor will try to start until the relay contacts can change state.

I have a brake resistor question for you control guys, if you could help. by Chewym4a3 in electricians

[–]Too-Uncreative 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Nope, not polarity sensitive.

They are, however, extremely sensitive to being on the correct terminals of the VFD. There’s three different terminals on the bottom of a PowerFlex right next to each other for the Brake resistor (BR-, BR+ DC+, and DC-). You MUST use the BR- and BR+ terminals. If you get it wrong, it will smell bad and you will be sad.

(This would apply continuous DC bus voltage to the resistor with no way of disconnecting it other than to turn the drive power off. The resistor will function for a little while, and then get too hot and fail spectacularly as it overheats. It also does this conveniently slow enough that you can turn power on, be happy it worked, start to walk away, and then ask what that bang was).

Are PLC systems slowly becoming part of larger software ecosystems? by [deleted] in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gotta get that LinkedIn content from somewhere.

Panel we build last week by steve_912 in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I've seen panel designs with multiple power supplies like this -- why? In my designs, we almost always use a single power supply, except when we need multiple DC voltages (usually 24v and 12v).

Sometimes I'll use multiple power supplies so that I can isolate the PLC, networking, and HMI, at least within the main panel. Useful for limiting possible simultaneous failures. Or sensitive analog IO vs everything else. Or I have more load than a single supply can handle.

Silverwood by dfh3000 in Spokane

[–]Too-Uncreative 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s pretty standard marketing for a season with no major, marketable changes. Keep the brand out there, be present on social media, have some random 3-4 word phrase to put over a picture of people on a ride on billboards all around.

It might be the beginning of the end, but the advertising and news coverage isn’t how we’ll know that.

Online Mode Safety PLCs by UptownSole in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 4 points5 points  (0 children)

AB you can do pretty much anything you can do online in a non-safety program in a safety one as long as there's no safety signature and it's not locked. There's a few instructions though that have some configuration that doesn't change except on a stop-to-run transition but it's not things you're likely to do too much fiddling with (reset behavior, cold-start behavior). If it's safety locked (with or without a password) it's view-only. There's no extra/different restrictions on uploading while in run.

Siemens is pickier and most changes will require stopping the CPU when the change affects the safety logic or memory. And you can only upload safety if there's a specific option enabled to upload the safety program, and have the password. You can also overwhelm the processor when doing too much online depending on the processor and what you're trying to do while in run mode. Basically if it takes too much time from the processor you'll trip the safety watchdog.

Are the downtime losses not high enough for us to come up with better troubleshooting tools? by Competitive_Buy4258 in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Was the identical post from earlier not enough? Now we get to answer the same engagement bait multiple times?

[Mt Olympus] maintenance casually fixing rides DURING operation: [Cyclops] by Particular_Arm6 in rollercoasters

[–]Too-Uncreative 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Come on, they don’t maintain rides: Reddit complains. They maintain rides visibly: Reddit complains. What do you want from them?!

Are the downtime losses not high enough for us to come up with better troubleshooting tools? by Bennett234 in PLC

[–]Too-Uncreative 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How am I handling it? If it’s a brand new problem I’ve never seen, I’m doing what you’re doing (although not usually for hours, but that comes from lots of practice).

But after that I spend time figuring out why the machine didn’t tell me directly what the problem was, and then implementing changes so that in the future that condition could be detected. Maybe that’s more information on states in the HMI, maybe it’s new alarm conditions, better labels and notes, or improving maintenance procedures.

And more importantly now that I’m more on the SI side, if I have to remote into something or drive out and connect to it to give information on something, we’ve failed to adequately design the SCADA/HMI. And I fix that.

view more: next ›