Each technical device has some final performance. The original "soft" limitation - rather a recommendation - for the MiniPLC was therefore a maximum of 120 hardware data points, ie three compact MCIO modules supplemented by several digital input modules for the required I/O mix. With this installation and the usual software for HVAC (air conditioning, boiler room, etc.) there is absolutely no problem with memory capacity, I/O bus response, web interface response, computational cycle length and other parameters.
Customers soon discovered that we have hidden unused power in the MiniPLC, and began to challenge the limits. When increasing the number of inputs and outputs (and the function blocks that serve them), it is necessary to take into account the slower response of the web server and refreshments in clients (IDE, OPC server, visualization), however, everything is still running. However, one of the insurmountable limits is the number of communication channels: these can be at most 3 of the same type and their total number must not exceed 5. So if we have a COM port with I / O modules, SMS modem and three channels for reading data from other controllers, that's exactly the limit state. In addition, the MiniPLC can hold a maximum of 10 total connections. This number includes the maximum of 5 channels plus incoming connections, ie from RcWare Vision, IDE, touchscreen, external WebPanel, other controllers using the Native SoftPLC Link (!) Protocol, etc.
If you encounter a situation where the MiniPLC does not communicate on any of the channels, although everything is fine during the tests directly in the IDE, check the number and types of communication channels (but the problem can also be elsewhere - see MiniPLC does not communicate on COM2?). This restriction does not apply to the Windows ("Full") platform.
Furthermore, in the miniPLC, one branch of the LCD menu can contain a maximum of 100 items.
There are also among us those for whom tens of thousands of variables that IPLC201/301 is able to process are not enough, and they are heading higher. Then it may happen that IPLC is not able to run the program. In this case, try selecting the Generate only used variables option in Platform Config before compiling:
Unused internal block variables do not appear in the compiled program. Some variables may not be updated during Remote connection from the IDE, but the size of the program will be reduced - by experience by several tens of percent.
