UTICOR ToughSmartMarquee User manual

April 2010
MANUFACTURED and MARKETED by UTICOR TECHNOLOGY, L. P.
4140 Utica Ridge Rd. • Bettendorf, IA 52722-1327
Phone: [phone] • Fax: [phone] • www.UTICOR.net
Getting Started

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WARNING!
Programmable visualization products such as the ToughSmartMarquee are not fail-safe devices and as
such must not be used for stand-alone protection in any application. Any reliance on these devices for
equipment or personnel safety is unwarranted.
The diagrams and examples in this user manual are included for illustrative purposes only. The
manufacturer cannot assume responsibility or liability for actual use based on the diagrams and
examples.
WARNING: If the Marquee is used in a CLASS I, DIV. 2 environment, the following conditions must be
met: Class I,Div. 2 methods; AND —must conform to all rules and requirements of applicable
jurisdictions regarding Class I, Div. 2 installations; ALSO —peripheral equipment controlling this device
or being controlled by it shall be suitable for service in the location in which they are used. Failure to
comply with any of the above installation requirements will invalidate the device’s qualifications for
service in CLASS I, DIV. 2 hazardous locations.
WARNING: EXPLOSION HAZARD —substitution of components may impair suitability for CLASS I,
DIVISION 2.
WARNING: EXPLOSION HAZARD —do not disconnect equipment unless power has been
switched off or the area is known to be non-hazardous.
Trademarks
This publication may contain references to products produced and/or offered by other companies. The
product and company names may be trademarked and are the sole property of their respective owners.
UTICOR Technology, L. P. disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.
ToughSmartMarquee Getting Started Guide
© Copyright 2010, UTICOR Technology, L.P.
All Rights Reserved
No part of this manual shall be copied, reproduced, or transmitted in any way without the prior written
consent of UTICOR Technology, L.P. UTICOR Technology, L.P. retains the exclusive rights to all
information included in this document.

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MANUAL ORGANIZATION
The information below provides an overall description of the topics covered within
this guide.
Chapter 1: Getting Started
Defines ToughSmartMarquee and provides information on what you need to get started and
display messages. Gives you a quick reference to get familiar with your ToughSmartMarquee.
Discusses how to get help with questions you might encounter and how to contact Technical
Support.
Chapter 2: Wiring and Connection Information
Provides information about preparing the marquee for operations such as connecting
Power and how to interface Marquee for Serial and Ethernet communication.
Chapter 3: Programming the Marquee
Describes how to configure various PLC tag-dependent Messages (in the Programming
software) to be sent to the ToughSmartMarquee. These messages are stored in the Marquee
itself.
Document Version History
Date
Notes
April , 2010
ToughSmartMarquee Getting Started –First Released Version
February, 2010
ToughSmartMarquee Getting Started –Draft version

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Table of Contents
1. GETTING STARTED.......................................................................................................................4
1.1 INTRODUCTION-TOUGH SMART MARQUEE............................................................................................. 4
1.2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND RESOURCES................................................................................................ 4
2. TOUGHSMART MARQUEE –INSTALLATION AND WIRING .............................................................5
2.1 A TYPICAL MARQUEE SYSTEM OVERVIEW .................................................................................................5
2.2 MOUNTING THE TPRLS: ...................................................................................................................... 5
2.3 ACCESING CONNECTORS AND SWITCHES..................................................................................................6
2.4 CONNECTING POWER .......................................................................................................................... 7
2.5 MARQUEE COMMUNICATION................................................................................................................7
2.5.1 Serial Port1 (SP1) Wiring ......................................................................................................... 7
2.5.2 Serial Port 2 (SP2) Wiring ........................................................................................................8
2.5.3 Ethernet Port ........................................................................................................................... 9
2.6 MARQUEE MESSAGES SEEN ON POWER-UP..........................................................................................10
3. PROGRAMMING THE MARQUEE ................................................................................................11
3.1 ENTER PROJECT INFORMATION ............................................................................................................11
3.2 ADDING PLC MESSAGES TO THE MARQUEE........................................................................................... 12
3.3 SETTING THE MARQUEE ETHERNET PARAMETERS AND UNIT NUMBER .......................................................12
3.4 TRANSFERRING PROJECT TO MARQUEE.................................................................................................14
4. TECHNICAL SUPPORT.................................................................................................................14

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1. GETTING STARTED
1.1 INTRODUCTION- TOUGH SMART MARQUEE
The ToughSmartMarquee is a unique intelligent LED display product used with industrial control
systems. The ToughSmartMarquee stores user programmed messages along with the conditions
under which each message would be displayed. The marquee would then continuously poll control
system’s controller, such as PLC, evaluate programmed conditions and display corresponding messages
on one or more connected slave marquees.
This Getting Started guide will take you through the steps necessary to get your Tough Smart
Marquee up and running in the shortest possible time.
1.2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND RESOURCES
Hardware
ToughSmartMarquee display
110/220 VAC input power cord with stripped wires on one end
RS-232C Programming Cable with standard 9-pin connector on one (PC) end and the other
end un-terminated (3 stripped wires to connect to the ToughSmartMarquee terminal strip)
Ethernet cables as required
PC requirements:
a. IBM or compatible PC (Pentium or better) with a mouse and separate serial port (USB
port may be used with a Serial to USB converter)
b. Display with at least 800 x 600 resolution (1024 x 768 recommended)
c. Standard Windows XP/Vista® operating system
Software:
ToughSmartMarquee Software (version 0.99.14 and higher)
The software also contains an extensive Help section, which provides detailed information on
ToughSmartMarquee programming.
Please refer to the following resources; to answer your hardware and software related
questions:
Queries
Information Resources
Marquee Mounting and
Installation
ToughSmartMarquee Hardware User manual
Marquee wiring and connections
ToughSmartMarquee Getting Started guide
(this manual)
Marquee Programming
ToughSmartMarquee Programming software-
Help Section
Please Note: ToughSmartMarquee software does not support any Windows OS
earlier than Windows XP, i.e. the editor will not work on Windows 95, 98 or 2000.

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2. TOUGHSMART MARQUEE –INSTALLATION AND WIRING
This chapter provides information and procedures on connecting power and preparing the Marquee for
serial or Ethernet communication.
2.1 A TYPICAL MARQUEE SYSTEM OVERVIEW
A typical Marquee control system comprises of a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) to drive the logic
and a Master/Slave Marquee to display the messages based on the PLC logic. The Master Marquee itself
can drive a network of several Slaves.
Note: A PC is only required to initially program the Marquee and the PLC.
Fig 1.3.1 A Typical Marquee System
2.2 MOUNTING THE TPRLS:
Please refer to Chapter 3 in the ToughSmartMarquee Hardware manual for mounting and
installation information.

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2.3 ACCESING CONNECTORS AND SWITCHES
The ToughSmartMarquee has an Access/Cover plate on its backside. This is a gasketed cover plate
with two sealed grommets for power and communication cables. The gasket and the grommet seal
must be intact to retain NEMA 12 rating. Once you remove the cover plate by removing the four
access screws on the plate, you have access to wiring terminals required for marquee
communication. See picture below:
Fig 2.1.1 Marquee Board Fig 2.1.2 Connectors for User’s
Wiring Purpose
Dip Switches:
Ethernet Port:
CAUTION!
Please DO NOT TOUCH any of the DIP switches. They are
for factory use only! Changing DIP switches may make the product
inoperable.
CAUTION!
If there is a second Ethernet Port available on the Marquee
board,please use only the Ethernet Port1 shown in fig 2.1.2, for
Marquee programming and communication purposes.
DO NOT use Ethernet Port2 (marked in Fig 2.1.1 )

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2.4 CONNECTING POWER
The Marquee’s power input is 110-220VAC @ 50-60Hz. Three terminals are provided for connecting
operating power to the unit. These terminals are located on the Control Board (see the figure 2.2
below). Power Input terminals are labeled L1, L2, and chassis ground (8). Always connect the ground
terminal to the safety ground.
Connect the unterminated end of the AC Power Cord to L1, L2, and GND (Black or Brown to L1, White or
Blue to L2, Green or Green w. Yellow stripe to GND).
Fig 2.2 Power connector pin-out
2.5 MARQUEE COMMUNICATION
2.5.1 SERIAL PORT1 (SP1) WIRING
Serial Port 1 (SP1) is pre-wired in the factory as shown below, i.e. Pins 1-2 on SP1 are jumpered
together. This jumper connects the serial port on the Message Controller board within the marquee, to
the serial port of the Message Display board in the marquee. The jumper is required for the Marquee to
display messages sent from the controller.
This port IS NOT used for PLC communication. Except in some special cases, the user would NOT wire
anything to this port.
Fig 2.3.1 SP 1 pin-out

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2.5.2 SERIAL PORT 2 (SP2) WIRING
The SP2 connector is used to connect the Marquee to the PLCs via RS-232 or RS 422/485 (only
one at a time) communication. If the user is using PLC over Ethernet, no wiring is required on
this port. See Fig 2.3.2 below for Marquee to PLC connections.
Fig 2.3.2 SP2 Pin-out and PLC wiring
Pin
Number
Pin Function (from the
Marquee’s perspective)
Marquee serial
Communication
1
N.C.
2
TXD
RS- 232
3
RXD
RS- 232
4
N.C.
5
GND
RS- 232 / 422 / 485
6
N.C.
7
N.C.
8
N.C.
9
RD+ (Receive Data)
RS- 422 / 485
10
RD-(Receive Data)
RS- 422 / 485
11
SD+ (Send Data)
RS- 422 / 485
12
SD-(Send Data)
RS- 422 / 485

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2.5.3 ETHERNET PORT
The Ethernet port is connected to a switch or a hub in LAN. (If your Marquee unit has two Ethernet ports, please
use the one below SP2 port; DO NOT USE the other Ethernet port).
The Marquee is generally programmed using the Ethernet port. (But, under certain cases as mentioned later, serial
port SP1 may be used). In addition, the Marquee may communicate with PLCs over Ethernet when using Ethernet
protocols such as Ethernet/IP, Modbus TCP/IP, etc.
The Factory-default IP settings are:
IP Address: 192.168.0.1 and Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
The IP address of the Marquee is displayed on Power up. The user can change the IP address using the Marquee
programming software (see section 3.4)
If you have trouble communicating over Ethernet …
If, for some reason, you are unable to communicate over Ethernet, you can try communicating to the
marquee over the Serial port (SP1) instead. The latter allows you to change IP address, download a new
user program, or upgrade Marquee application (firmware) over the serial port.
To communicate with the Marquee using the Programming software running on a PC, follow these
steps:
1. Turn off the power being supplied to the unit, and wire the serial port of PC to the serial port SP1 on
the Marquee’s Controller board. The wiring diagram is as shown below (DO NOT remove the jumper
between pins 1-2 on the SP1 connector (refer to Fig. 2.3.1 for SP1 pin-outs) :
Fig 2.3.3 RS-232 connection (PC to Marquee)

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2. Turn ON the power to Marquee. Wait till the marquee appears to be running (in about 30 sec).
3. Press on Switch 1 (SW1) located on the Marquee Controller Board to enter “Setup Mode”. The
Marquee would beep twice to acknowledge that it’s in the Setup Mode. The following message is
displayed on the Marquee:
IN SETUP MODE
4. Once in this Mode, you should be able to communicate to the Marquee from the PC through the
programming software. You can check /modify IP parameters, download a new user program, or
upgrade the Marquee firmware serially.
5. Push Switch SW1 again to exit the Setup Mode. The Marquee would now send a single long beep to
acknowledge that it is exiting the Setup mode. (Please DO NOT turn off the power for at least 2 minutes
to allow the marquee to save any changes made to its nonvolatile memory). The Marquee should start
its normal operation and get into run mode. Remove the PC to Marquee serial connection.
Note: If there are no messages stored in the Marquee, then it would continue to show the
“In Setup Mode” message even after exiting the Setup Mode.
2.6 MARQUEE MESSAGES SEEN ON POWER-UP
When the Marquee is initially powered up, it automatically displays a series of Messages; mainly the
Marquee attributes (Baud rate, Group #, Unit # etc) as shown below:
REVISION O (Firmware Revision)
GROUP 01 (Group Number)
UNIT 0001 (Unit Number)
BAUD 38400 (COM port Baud rate)
CHAR 2ll (Character size)
Once the controller board is activated, a scrolling message appears displaying the ToughSmartMarquee’s
IP address. Example:
CONTROLLER STATIC IP 192.168.0.1
After the IP address appears, the programmed messages (Power Up messages followed by PLC Messages)
are displayed based on the PLC tag status and control parameters. Section 3 explains how to program
these messages.
POWER UP MESSAGE 1
PLC MESSAGE

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3. PROGRAMMING THE MARQUEE
The following example demonstrates how to enter the project information for a ToughSmart
Marquee communicating to an EZ PLC via EZ Ethernet TCP/IP protocol.
3.1 ENTER PROJECT INFORMATION
Open ToughSmartMarquee programming software . The following dialog box appears:
Entering Project information:
1. On the Project Information screen, click on the Edit Program OFF-LINE (Write to Panel Later)
button.
2. UnderProject Name, enter the same. The primary ToughSmartMarquee file has a “.tsm” suffix.
3. Click on the DOWN arrow to the right of PLC Type and Protocol to view the list. In this example,
select EZ PLC (Ethernet TCP/IP) –Connecting to an EZ PLC via Ethernet TCP/IP protocol.
4. Click on the View/Edit PLC Com Setup to edit the PLC attributes. The PLC Attributes dialog box
applicable to the type of PLC selected in Step 3 above, will appear. Here you can make changes to
the PLC communication setup. If communicating over Ethernet, “Add PLC Details” along with its
Ethernet IP, gateway, Subnet masks etc. Click on OK to save the changes or ‘Help’ to view the help
topics available for that particular PLC.
5. Now that you have entered the project information, click OK to save the project. You may
click on Clear to clear the Project details and start over. Exit can be used to quit without
saving the Project.
Select PLC Type and protocol

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3.2 ADDING PLC MESSAGES TO THE MARQUEE
The ToughSmartMarquee software allows you to program different Marquee Messages, based on
the tag values in the PLC. You can program Active or Inactive Messages based on whether the PLC
tag condition is fulfilled on not. Refer to the “Add Messages” index in the ToughSmartMarquee
software Help section for a detailed explanation on setting up Marquee Messages.
3.3 SETTING THE MARQUEE ETHERNET PARAMETERS AND UNIT NUMBER
1. CONFIGURE ETHERNET PARAMETERS:
The Marquee’s Ethernet parameters can generally be programmed through the PC using the
Marquee’s Ethernet port. But, under certain cases, serial port SP1 may also be used to configure
the same:
a. Via Ethernet connection between the Marquee and the PC
In the Marquee software’s Main programming window, Click on menu Marquee
>Ethernet Setup
Read the current Ethernet settings from the Marquee.
You can also configure the following Ethernet Parameters: IP Address, Subnet Mask, and
Gateway Address and write them to the Marquee.
Resetting the IP address to its default value..
If for some reason, you want to reset the IP address of the Marquee to its default
settings, press and hold the Switch 1 (SW1- located on the Marquee Controller Board),
for 5 seconds till you hear 3 quick beeps…There is an approx. 5 second pause, after

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which you should hear 3 beeps again. This would imply that the marquee has been set
to its default IP address (192.168.0.1)
To assign new Ethernet parameters, enter Setup Mode again and assign the new IP
address serially. You would be prompted to exit the Mode once the parameters have
been set.
b. Via Serial connection between the Marquee and the PC:
If, for some reason, you are unable to communicate over Ethernet, you can try
communicating to the marquee over the Serial port (SP1) instead and then change the
Ethernet IP parameters using the Programming Software.
To do so, connect serially to the Marquee and enter the SETUP Mode (refer to Section
2.5.3). Using the Marquee software, change the PC to Marquee connection to “Serial”.
Next, bring up the Ethernet Setup Dialog box and assign new IP settings to the Marquee.
Once that occurs, you would be prompted to exit the Setup Mode.
2. GROUP AND UNIT NUMBER
Each ToughSmartMarquee is assigned a unit address. A unit address is programmed into each
message to specify which unit or units should display that message
Each unit address consists of two identifiers—a Group and a Unit Number. A group may contain
up to 4095 slave units, connected serially or via Ethernet to the Master marquee. The unit
addresses allow the ToughSmart message controller to select and send messages to select slave
Marquee units.
The slave Marquees can be
assigned the Group numbers and
the Unit number using the
Marquee software.
Click on menu Setup ->Marquee
database. A dialog box pops up.
Enter the IP addresses/unit
numbers for the slave marquees
and create Marquee Groups that
would contain multiple units.
You can also assign a group and unit number to the Marquee
connected to the PC.
Click on menu Marquee ->Set Group and unit number
Assign an appropriate group and unit number.
This is the address of the marquee being programmed.

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3.4 TRANSFERRING PROJECT TO MARQUEE
1. In the Main programming
window, Click on menu
File ->Transfer to Marquee
to send the Messages to the
Marquee.
2. A dialog box appears as
shown in Fig 3.4
3. Enter the Marquee’s IP
address and press ‘Start’.
Fig 3.4 Write Program to Marquee
4. TECHNICAL SUPPORT
If you are still having difficulty with a particular aspect of installation or messaging, technical support
is available at 1-800-TEC-ENGR (832-3647) or FAX us at 1-563-359-9094. You can also contact
technical support through our website at www.uticor.net.
Green, when
Marquee is
connected to the
PLC, else red
ToughSmartMarquee
Ethernet IP address