OptoScreencasts

In this screencast, we'll show you some of the features of Opto 22's programming environment for PAC Control Basic. You'll learn the basic building blocks of a PAC Control program and see how easy it is to build a tagname database and a control strategy using simple dialog boxes and plain English commands. You'll also see:

• The Strategy Tree: all the elements of your control program in one place
• Charts: these logical subsections of your program can run simultaneously or separately
• Action, Decision, and Continue Blocks: building blocks for flowchart logic
• OptoScript: an optional programming tool, great for complex loops, math, and string handling
• Subroutines: one secret to faster development time
• Variables & I/O: when you've named these, you've already created a database for PAC Display (HMI) and OPC clients

In this screencast, we'll demonstrate many of the features of Opto 22's HMI software, PAC Display Basic, including trending, alarming, and animation. You'll see PAC Display's graphical capabilities and learn how to create a touch button in just a few seconds. Plus:

• Graphics: use ours, import yours, or draw your own
• Runtime: see how the HMI will look and act
• Trending: interact with real-time and historical data to see trends
• Data input: find out the big advantage of a single tagname database
• Alarming: learn eight alarming features
• Animation: update the display based on controller data and operator actions

In this screencast, we'll show you a demonstration of Opto 22 automation software called the PAC Project Demo. The demo requires no hardware and is completely free. In this screencast you will see how to:

• Set up the demo on your PC
• Run SNAP PAC Sim, a PC-based program that simulates a SNAP PAC controller
• Explore a PAC Control strategy and graphical PAC Display HMIs
• Sink the catamaran yacht!

In this screencast, we'll show you the multiple uses of PAC Manager, the configuration and troubleshooting tool for the SNAP PAC System. You'll learn:

• When to use PAC Manager instead of PAC Control for configuration
• A quick way to get the latest firmware file from Opto 22's website
• How to easily identify all the Opto 22 Ethernet devices on your network (If you've ever lost an IP address, this one's for you.)
• All the ways you can send an event message, and what a plugin is
• How to test an analog or digital point by writing directly to it
• How to assign a secondary IP address to a SNAP PAC controller
• And more

In this screencast, we'll introduce OptoDataLink, the easy-to-use database communication application that lets you share data between your company database and the SNAP PAC System. You'll learn how to configure a data link and log data to an ASCII file, and find out answers to questions like these:

• What kinds of Opto 22 devices can exchange data with a database?
• What are the four simple questions you answer to configure a data link?
• How many data links can a configuration file contain?
• If you log out of OptoDataLink, will it stop logging data?

In this screencast, we'll show you many of the powerful debugging tools available in PAC Control Basic.

You'll learn about:

• Auto-stepping through a control program (or "strategy"), so you can watch your strategy as it executes, step by step
• Breakpoints for pausing program execution
• Watch windows for monitoring variables in real time

In this screencast, we'll show you how to quickly configure PID loops in PAC Control Basic by filling in the blanks. You'll also see how to tune your PID loop using the graphical debugging window.

The screencast demonstrates:

• Selecting PID inputs from different I/O points
• Tuning a PID loop using the graphical debugging window

In this screencast, we'll demonstrate how easy it is to create and use realtime and historical trends in PAC Display Basic. You'll see how to draw, configure, and run a trend. And you'll find out:

• How much PAC Display Basic costs (hint: it's free)
• The three kinds of charts you can build in PAC Display
• What makes a SuperTrend super
• How many trend pens you can plot simultaneously
• Kelly's preference for label colors
• How to find out how much memory your historical trend files will use
• How operators switch from real-time to historical data
• The options available to operators for viewing historical data
• And more...