Ignition 7.9.7 Project: Some Alarms Simply Don't Work

I have been having a lot of fun getting stuff to work using Ignition 7.9.7 on a Windows 7 machine. I am replacing an RSView 32 HMI system (6 separate apps) with Ignition. I have a SLC 5/05 in my shop which I am monitoring using Logix500 on a second PC. I have had lots of experience with RSView, Wonderware and Unitronics.

I am creating alarms on tags in the Tag Browser per the Ignition documentation. I am about half way through one RSView project, and am adding tags which are all bits in my PLC N10: directory. My tags are all in ascending Tag address order. i’ve added about fifty alarms, and all have tested OK.

I have now created two tags in a row in N10:74, namely N10:74_10 and N10_74_14, which simply don’t work. Alarms at N10:74_0 work, and so does one at N10:74_8. Alarms at N10:75_0 and higher work. All the alarms are set with Ack mode = Auto, Setpoint = 1 and Mode = “Equal”.

I test the alarm by setting the PLC bit to 1 and then 0. The alarms appear and disappear appropriately, except for N10:74_10 and N10:74_14. Those two don’t display an alarm in the Alarm panel on my screen.

Another oddity: I set the test alarm at N10:74_8 and it AND the alarm at N10:74_14 appear. I read through the documentation and saw the Mode = Bit State, but I’m not using it. I’ve deleted and re-created the ‘broken’ alarms, and saved, quit and re-booted everything. The comms to the PLC have been flawless so far; I’m very impressed with the development environment and the OPC functionality.

I know that I can modify the PLC code and map the offending alarms to another address, but I would really like to know what would cause these two alarms to not work. Is there a Log Viewer somewhere like Wonderware where warnings and problems get recorded that might at least record that a problem occurred?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Fred Mason
Roberts Creek, BC

Sounds like a bug. Consider upgrading to 7.9.9, and if it persists, contact support. Unless @Kevin.Herron pops in with some advice.