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Lookout Timeofxxxx Objects

Primary Software: Lookout
Primary Software Version: 5.0
Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A
Secondary Software: N/A

Problem: I would like more clarification on the Lookout Timeofxxxx objects and its parameters.

Solution: The Lookout Timeofxxxx objects are powerful tools designed to generate a pulse at a specific time every minute, hour, day, week, month or year.

Each timer object has four parameters:

  • Name
  • On/Off Signal
  • Timer Offset
  • Timer Duration
  • Display Format

    There have been some questions about some of the parameters and how to configure them. In this knowledgebase, each of the parameters will be defined and hopefully some previously misunderstood information will be clarified.

    On/Off Signal
    This parameter is a boolean signal dictating whether the timer itself is enabled or disabled. If a false value is placed here, the timer will become inactive and will therefore never pulse. If a true value is placed here, then the timer will actively count down and pulse at the next designated time.

    Timer Offset
    This parameter dictates when the timer will generate a pulse. The entry format for this parameter is days:hours:minutes:seconds

    Obviously, the TimeofMinute object will disregard any offset of days, hours and minutes and only acknowledge the second offset; the TimeofHour object will disregard any offset of days and hours and only acknowledge the minute and second offset, etc...

    The starting points for the various timers are:
  • TimeofMinute: Starts counting from the beginning of each minute
  • TimeofHour: Starts counting from the beginning of each hour
  • TimeofDay: Starts counting from 12:00 AM of each day
  • TimeofWeek: Starts counting from 12:00 AM of each Sunday
  • TimeofMonth: Starts counting from 12:00 AM of the first of each month
  • TimeofYear: Starts counting from 12:00 AM on January 1st of each year

    Timer Duration
    The Timer Duration determines the length of time that the pulse is "high". The entry format for this parameter is days:hours:minutes:seconds

    The timers will acknowledge everything in this entry. In other words, a TimeofMinute entry of 1:0:0:0 will actually have a pulse lasting 1 full day (which will make it basically always high).

    Display Format
    This parameter dictates the timer "countdown" if displayed on the front panel. You can either choose the lower case mm/dd/yy hh/mm/ss or the capital case HH/MM/SS. If you select the lower case entry, you will see a display showing the next absolute date and time that the timer will trigger (Example: 6/3/03 2:24:03). If you select the upper case entry, you will see a display showing the time remaining until the next trigger time (Example: 10:22.2).

    Example:
    I have a time of month timer with the following parameters:
    Name: Test_Pump
    On/Off Signal: True
    Timer Offset: 2:13:26:08
    Timer Duration: 0:01
    Display Format: mm/dd/yy hh/mm/ss

    Assuming that it is April 29, 2003, the next pulse will occur at:
    May 1, 2003 12:00 AM + 2 days + 13 hours + 26 minutes + 8 seconds = May 3, 2003 1:26:08 PM
    The duration will be 1 second.
    The display on my front panel will be 5/3/03 13:26:08.

    For more information, please see the Lookout help.

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    Report Date: 05/05/2003
    Last Updated: 05/13/2005
    Document ID: 2X482KPE

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