Hear first hand how smoothly and powerfully a groov EPIC controller lends itself to the commissioning process.

Now and then, I get signed up to do something different. Most of us have that clause in our job descriptions: "or any other duties as directed." 😁

In this case, I assembled a cabinet with a groov EPIC on a chassis four rack. The four I/O modules were a mix with a total of 30 channels.

Of course, after the wiring was done, a sanity check was in order—or, said another way, a point-by-point check that everything was working as it should have been. Sounds tedious, right? Follow along...

A Mix of 30 Channels to Check:

• 4 to 20 mA outputs
• 4 to 20 mA inputs
• +24 VDC digital inputs
• Dry contact normally-open mechanical relays
  

First, I assembled my test gear.

Now, I need to be upfront. I was a bit focused on the job at the time, and I had a pretty tight timeline. Sadly, this meant I could not get our videographer to video the point-check process.

In fact, this photo was taken in the last few minutes before I buttoned the cabinet up and sent it off. I did not get the idea to blog about the process until the very last minute—when I was gushing to Benson Hougland about how smoothly and powerfully the EPIC lends itself to the commissioning process.

Commissioning gear. Left to right:

0 to 20 mA sender/receiver—just a simple current sink and source generator
Variable voltage DC power supply—set to 24 VDC
Multimeter—used to check for continuity of the dry contact relay outputs

The key to smoothly checking this number of I/O points was the EPIC's touch screen. The EPIC itself was not connected to a network—probably a lot like the situation most panel shops find themselves in—for a commissioning process like this. When you are only checking for wiring and signal validation, no network connection is required.

I created a username and password for the EPIC (and reset it back to factory default after the commissioning process) to log into groov Manage and access the I/O modules, I/O point data updates, and configuration screens.

Once logged in, I called up each I/O module, drilled down to each I/O point, and exercised it as required. For the inputs, I supplied either milliamps or DC volts at the terminal strip and read the corresponding value on the EPIC's touch screen.

Moving my test probes down the terminal strip while reading the data on the front display took only a few seconds per point.

The outputs were tested by using the touch screen to set a specific output current. In my case, I chose 10 mA. As soon as I hit ‘save’ on the touch screen, my current loop tester displayed 10, and I could move on to the next point and its terminal strip number.

I hope you can see how it was a smooth process to work my way down the 50 or so terminals and check that the terminal-to-module wiring was working as expected. The whole process took just 8 minutes out of my day.

We have had countless customers compliment Opto on the inclusion of such a large touchscreen on the front of an industrial controller. While I usually interact with it every day, this was the first time I had used it in such a "high-speed rapid fire" manner, and I was impressed with how fluid and intuitive it was to check every point so fast.

One last comment: Opto 22 is often asked if we could consider building an EPIC "extender" without a touch screen. In the words of many YouTube channels, “Like and subscribe” to this OptoBlog, and you will be among the first to hear any news about that option.

Cheers.
-Ben