The hardware points on the 400 series controller and other Circon controllers are the connected to sensors and actuators using the input and output wiring terminals.
Programming blocks representing inputs or outputs are associated with the hardware point by the property ‘Index’. Every input or output programming block placed on a page is automatically assigned an Index number corresponding to an input or an output on the device. The numbers are assigned consecutively beginning at 1.
The UHC-400 does not have separate digital points and analog points. All hardware inputs and outputs are fully configurable through software as either Universal Inputs or Universal Outputs. As a result, there is only one series of Index numbers to list all the input terminals, and only one series of Index numbers to list all the output terminals.
Once an Index number is assigned to an input, no other input can use that Index number. The Index numbers for outputs behave in a similar manner.
For example: UI3 could be configured as either an analog input, or as a digital input. As a result, if there is already an analog input 3 then there cannot be a digital input 3 as Universal Input 3 and wiring terminal 3 are already in use.
Note: other devices such as the SCC-410 do not have universal I/O and are more limited in how the inputs and outputs can be configured.
You can change the hardware point associated with a programming block by changing the Index number. This allows you to select specific hardware points in the graphical programming interface. If you select an Index number already in use by another programming block, Catalyst will inform you of the problem and refuse to accept the Index number.
The Index number appears on the programming block. The number on the block changes if the Index changes. Figure 9 indicates the location of the Index number on an AnalogInput programming block.
Figure 9: Index Property Affects Programming block description
