Table of Contents
MP STUDIO 2 User Manual
MP STUDIO 2 is a Windows application for writing ladder logic programs for ILOGICS MPS and MPA series PLCs, checking them, downloading them to the PLC and monitoring them. It also provides simulation for running the ladder without a PLC, the Data Table and Value trend graph, forced I/O, the symbol table and program tabs.
Supported Products
You can select the following models in MP STUDIO 2. For the I/O point names, download cable and driver of each product, see the MPS Series and MPA Series pages.
| Series | Models |
|---|---|
| MPS | MPS-8A4R(T)-S · MPS-8A8R(T)-S · MPS-8A8R · MPS-16A8R(T) · MPS-16A8R(T)-R2 · MPS-16A16R(T) · MPS-16A8R8T |
| MPA | MPA-8A8R(T) · MPA-16A16R(T) · MPA-24A24R(T) · MPA-32A16R(T) · MPA-16A32R(T) · MPA-32A32R(T) · MPA-48A48R(T) · MPA-64A64R(T) |
For MPA models you can also select the expansion modules: analog input (X), analog output (Y), PT100Ω input (F) and pulse output (K).
Main Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Ladder editing | Place contacts, coils and wires with the function keys (F2 to F12), and copy, move or insert whole rungs. |
| Functions | Search for and insert function blocks from 17 categories, including comparison, math, timers, counters, analog, communication and CLCD. |
| Program check | The program is checked for addresses, model and memory ranges as you edit. Error cells turn red and warnings are shown with orange address text. |
| Program tabs | Split one project into several tabs. |
| Download | Download the program to the PLC over a serial (COM) port or Ethernet. |
| Monitoring | Watch power flow and current values on the ladder, and in the Data Table, Watch card and Value trend graph, in real time. |
| Simulation | Run the ladder on a virtual PLC on your PC, without real hardware, and change inputs as it runs. |
| Symbols and comments | Give addresses names and descriptions, and import or export them as CSV. |
| Modbus device table | Organize, per device, the values the PLC reads from and writes to other devices as a Modbus RTU master. |
| User protocol | Define, in a window, communication that exchanges data in a fixed byte layout with devices that do not use Modbus, and run it at a set interval or with the UPTRIG function (V1.3.0 and later). |
| CLCD screens | Design screens for a character LCD (CLCD) in an editor and show them with a single CSCR function. |
| 7-segment display | Show values on a TM1637 7-segment display with FINI, FINT and FDATA, or design screens in an editor and show them with the FSCR function. |
| PLC clock | Put the date and time of an external DS3231 clock module into the D area, and set it to the PC time. |
| Indexed addresses | Change the cell an instruction uses with an index value, as in D100[D0], to read and write table-like data in order (V1.3.0 and later). |
| Timer base | Set the time unit of timers and clocks to 10 ms or 1 ms for each project (V1.3.0 and later). |
| Bit control functions | Toggle a bit each time the condition turns ON with FF, shift bits one place at a time with BSFT, turn a range of bits off or on at once with BRST and BSETN, and blink an output with TFLK, using separately set ON and OFF times (V1.4.0 and later). |
| Input filter | Filter out switch chatter and short noise by accepting a change on a digital input only after it holds for a set time. Set a default and per-input values from 1 to 255 ms (V1.4.0 and later). |
Installation
- Open the Software Downloads list and download the MP STUDIO 2 installer.
- Run the installer you downloaded.
- Choose the install scope (just for you or for all users of this PC), then follow the on-screen instructions to finish the installation. The English installer is shown in English, and MP STUDIO 2 starts with the English screen.
- Start MP STUDIO 2 from the Start menu.
If the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime that MP STUDIO 2 needs for its display is not on your PC, it is installed during setup.
Automatic Updates
From V1.1.0, MP STUDIO 2 checks for a new version when it starts. If one is available, it asks, for example, “A new version is available — V1.2.0 (you have V1.1.0). Update now?”; click Yes to download and install it, and the program reopens. Because the program closes without asking to save when the installer starts, it does not offer the update while you have unsaved changes or while monitoring, simulating or connected over Ethernet. If you click No, it asks again the next time you start the program.
Updates come in the language edition you installed (한국어, English or 日本語). V1.0.0 has no automatic update, so install V1.1.0 or later by hand once.
Projects from the Previous MP STUDIO
MP STUDIO 2 can open .mpl project files saved by the previous MP STUDIO. MP STUDIO 2 saves projects in the .mpx format. When you open an .mpl file and save it, it is saved as an .mpx file with the same name, and the original .mpl file is left as it is. .mpx files cannot be opened in the previous MP STUDIO.
Getting Started
Phase 1 · Create Your First Project →
Select a model, create a rung in which input P0 turns on output P32, and then save it, set up communication, download it and monitor it.
The roles of the top band tools and the PLC status indicator, the menus and program tabs, the symbol rail and Functions panel, the ladder canvas, and the Inspector, Watch card and status indicators, and how to show and hide them.
Placing contacts, coils and wires, entering addresses, series, parallel and self-holding circuits, inserting and deleting lines and cells, selecting and copying, moving rungs, find and replace, and navigation.
The categories and search in the Functions panel, the Insert Function window, entering and editing arguments, and the basics of timer, counter, comparison and move functions.
Phase 5 · Memory and Symbols →
P, M, D, T, C and R memory, byte, word and double word notation, data memory sizes and retentive ranges, the symbol table, and checking which data is used.
Phase 6 · Check, Communication and Download →
Reading the program check results, setting the communication port (COM or ETHERNET), downloading, checking the firmware version, mnemonic conversion and program memory.
Phase 7 · Monitoring and the Data Table →
Ladder monitoring, writing values to memory, the Data Table, Watch card and Value trend graph, and forced I/O.
Running the ladder without a PLC, changing inputs, and stepping through one scan at a time.
Phase 9 · Menus and Settings →
All menus, options (grid, fonts, colors and themes), language, printing, the Modbus RTU master, autosave, problem reports and help.
What to check when downloading, monitoring or the program check runs into problems, listed by the message shown on the screen.
More Features
How to organize, per device, the values the PLC reads from and writes to other devices as a Modbus RTU master, and how to send them only when you want with MBTRIG.
How to define, in a window, the frames and transactions to exchange with devices that do not use Modbus, such as barcode readers, CO2 sensors and devices that take ASCII commands, and send them at the moment you choose with UPTRIG (V1.3.0 and later), and how to check the communication in simulation, with the comm log during monitoring and with the PC test.
How to design CLCD screens in the editor and show them with the CSCR function, and how to check the CLCD display in simulation and monitoring.
How to show values on a TM1637 7-segment display with FINI, FINT and FDATA, how to design screens in the 7-segment screen editor and show them with the FSCR function (V1.3.0 and later), and how to check the display in simulation and monitoring.
How to put the date and time of an external DS3231 clock module into the D area and set it to the PC time, and how the internal clock works when there is no module.
Indexed Addresses (Pointers) →
How to write indexed addresses such as D100[D0], which change the cell an instruction uses with an index value, and which cells accept them (V1.3.0 and later), what @IXERR does when an index goes out of range, and how to check the cell pointed to in monitoring and simulation.
The cells and behavior of FF, BSFT, BRST, BSETN and TFLK (V1.4.0 and later), the inputs that do not compile, what @IXERR does when a range is exceeded, and how to check them in monitoring and simulation.
How to set the default and per-input values of the input filter, which filters out chatter and short noise on digital inputs (V1.4.0 and later), how to clean up after changing the model, how the filter looks in simulation and monitoring, and how it works with forced inputs.