Button, button, who's got the button?

Do to the short work week, we have a short post. I hope everyone has an enjoyable and laughter filled Thanksgiving holiday.

If you have one of the new MMI8000X Series or are contemplating purchasing one, there is a power button on the front of the unit. The power button also has an LED incorporated into it that lights when the HMI is running.

In order to avoid confusion here is how it is supposed to work:
Once the unit is powered up, the button can be pressed and held for about 5 seconds to make the unit power down. (commonly referred to as a "soft power down")
Once powered down, if power is still connected, the unit can be powered up again by pressing the power button. This allows the unit to be powered down without having to power down the entire panel or mounting a separate power switch just for the HMI.
If the unit is powered down and power to the unit is cycled, the unit does power up. So, if you desire, you can still restart the unit by cycling power to it.

Summary:
Units affected: MMI8150X, MMI8121X, MMI8104XH
Power applied to HMI always starts the HMI.
When power is maintained to the HMI, the power button can be used to power OFF and power ON the HMI. (Just like the power button on your appliances at home.)

How's This for Starters?

I have had requests from some customers regarding the startup screen. Basically, they would like their company logo or some other information to be displayed other than the Weintek logo.
This is entirely possible! So where is the setting? How do I do it?

Please note this only works with three HMI models. For reference...
6050: pixel resolution = 480x272
8070H: pixel resolution = 800x480
8100: pixel resolution = 800x480

The Easy steps to amazing:
Make a bitmap (*.BMP) file with the exact same pixel dimensions as the HMI's display resolution.
Once the bitmap is created. Open EB8000's ProjectManager.exe
Select download...
Check the Startup screen checkbox and browse to the bitmap.
select the HMI IP address
Click Download.
Reboot the HMI to see your beautiful new startup screen.

Easy, yes?

Using a USB stick for project transfers

A situation came up recently where I had to use the USB project loading transfer to get a customer out of trouble. The process worked so smoothly the customer was impressed. I highly recommend using the USB Stick transfer for some very good reasons.

• No fuss or muss with cables and IP addresses. A PC isn't needed except to generate the USB compatible project.
• No special software needed by the person downloading the program into the HMI.
• The USB stick can be saved and used to restore the project if the HMI has to replaced.
• A USB stick is very transportable.
• Multiple USB sticks can be used to program several units at once, thus saving time.

Be sure to use a compatible USB stick. Storage Devices.pdf

Procedure: (Procedure Document)
1. In EB8000 use the Tools|Build Data for USB Disk or CF Card Download command.
2. Select the where you want to save the USB compatible project. The utility creates a folder named "mt8000" then click the "Build" button.
3. Copy the file to a USB memory stick.
4. Stick the USB stick in the HMI while it is powered up. A dialog pops up.
5. Select to download the project.
6. Enter the HMI's password. (The default Password is 111111) Another window pops up to select the USB stick.
7. Expand the USB selection by selecting the "+" sign in front of it. Go to the directory where the mt8000 folder is located (Do not go to the mt8000 folder).
8. Then touch OK to download. The project is downloaded and the HMI automatically reboots.

This is fairly simple. It is especially helpful to know you can email a project to a customer that does not have EB8000 software and have them update the project in their unit in a few minutes. The machine is back up and running and you can get credit for saving the day!

How old is too old? v1.6

Hi, I have received several calls recently about people with older EB500 series units (MMI-720,750, etc.) having problems downloading projects. As it turns out these customers have units with V1.6 BootROM.
You might ask..."How do you tell the BootROM version?" Well, thank-you for asking. The way to tell is to put dip-switch 2 in the back of the unit to the up position and cycle power to the unit. When you do, a screen comes up that shows the BootROM version and some other information about the HMI. This is the same as using EasyManager and "Jumping to RDS mode". But I digress....
The problem is the new EB500 V2.7.4(Build2) software is incompatible with the old 1.6 version BootROM. The results of a download are a black screen and anguish. What to do?
The last compatible version of EB500 that works with 1.6 version BootROM is EB500 V2.3.0. Download the V2.3.0 software and use it to make your project. Yes, I know it can't open the new V2.7.4 project so you will have to start over. This is one of the sad facts of getting old.
And by the way, be sure to put dip-switch 2 back down when you are done.
Here is a link to EB500 V2.30