Machine builder sent us an updated MER for the labeller, one screen change and two new alarms. PanelView Plus 6 1000 on the front of it, CompactLogix behind, nothing else touched on our side.
I tried loading it through the Transfer Utility on the laptop over USB and it comes back saying the runtime file isn't compatible with the terminal, incompatible runtime version, then stops there. Copied it onto a stick and picked it from Load Application on the terminal instead, no luck, same message word for word.
Then I had the builder send the file again in case the mail server had chewed it, and the second copy is byte for byte the same size. The old MER still loads fine, we're running on it now.
Any pointers before I go back and tell the builder his file is bad?
Could be a version thing rather than a bad file. Two questions. What firmware is the terminal on, Terminal Settings, System Information? And what version of View Studio did the builder build the MER in? The Transfer Utility shows you the file's runtime version if you browse to it.
terminal's on 8.10. Transfer Utility shows the file as runtime version 12.00. The old MER we're running is 8.10.
Builder says they upgraded their View Studio over the summer.
There's your answer, and I've done this to customers myself. A v12 MER will not run on v8 firmware. Runtime files load on equal or newer firmware, never older. The builder saved at whatever their Studio is on now and never checked your floor.
Two ways out. Ask them to go to Application, Create Runtime Application, and pick your terminal's version in the Runtime version dropdown before saving, assuming their Studio still goes back that far. Or upgrade the terminal firmware, except a Plus 6 has a ceiling and I don't trust my memory of where it sits, so check against your catalog number first.
I'd ask for the matching MER. Less to go wrong on your side.
There's a writeup on runtimes and terminals here: https://plctr.com/introduction-to-hmi-human-machine-interface-in-plc-systems/
Asked them for an 8.10 build and they sent one back an hour later. Loaded first try over USB.
Nothing wrong with the file then, it was just built for a newer runtime than the terminal's got. The builder picked our version in Create Runtime Application and that was the end of it.
One thing, the new file's bigger than the old one by about a third, for one screen and two alarms. Builder says that's normal. Not sure. Thanks hannah and ollyb.
Bigger is normal if they included the font files. Good result.