Setup guide

Chapter 2 System Objects
Object Reference Manual 3-84 www.Automationdirect.com
Receive timeout is the time delay Lookout uses in waiting for a response
from a device before retrying the request.
Retry attempts specifies the consecutive number of times Lookout
attempts to establish communications with a device it does not get a
valid response from. After Retry attempts times, Tiway generates a
communication alarm and Lookout moves on to the next device in the
polling queue (if any).
Alarm priority determines the priority level of Tiway generated alarms.
Phone number specifies the number to be dialed if the serial port setting
is configured for dial-up. This number only applies to the individual
protocol object.
The Skip every ___ polls setting instructs Lookout not to poll a device it
has lost communication with on every scheduled poll. Instead, Lookout
skips the device in the polling cycle accordingly. Once communications
have been reestablished, the device is polled on its regular cycle.
Update Write Settings
The Lookout default for the Tiway driver object is for the object to perform
an update write to the PLC registers every 100 polls. Notice that this can
be problematic if the PLC has been changing its own register values. To
change this default operation, you must create an entry in the
Lookout.INI
file. Create a Tiway group with the key UpdateOutputs.
Setting the UpdateOutputs key equal to 0 means the Tiway object will not
perform update writes. Setting the key equal to some positive integer N will
set the Tiway object to perform update writes once every N polls.
See Appendix C,
The Lookout .INI File, in the Lookout Developer's
Manual
for more information on using the
Lookout.INI
file. You can also
refer to the
Lookout.INI
file topic in Lookout Help for additional
information.
Communication Techniques
Lookout communicates with Siemens PLCs in several ways: direct serial
connection to the Local port, serial connection to an external Unilink
Host Adapter, through an internal Unilink PC Adapter card, or through
an internal CTI TCP/IP card.