Q. What does the Agvance interface for Ranco’s Automated Blender do?
A. Blend Tickets are selected to use while controlling the Ranco DW Blender. The blender can also be started and stopped as well as control other functions.
Q. How many panels can the interface manage?
A. Agvance Blending will control up to five panels at once when interfaced with the Ranco DW Blender. This would represent a total of 25 bins (each panel in the control box handles five bins).
Q. How many augers, elevators, or conveyors can be turned on and off and controlled?
A. Up to four devices can be controlled. Start/Stop buttons on the interface screen will actually turn these units on and off to start the blender, conveyor to load the truck, etc.
Q. Are any special setups required to use the interface?
A. Product and Accuracy desired need to be set up for each bin. Labels for the devices to be controlled need to be entered. The Comm Port being used for the interface and a Data Storage Path for the location where Ranco Done files are to be stored also need to be indicated.
Q. How does the interface work?
A. Blend Tickets created in Agvance Blending are imported to the interface screen and the quantity for the Products on the ticket that match the Products set up for each bin will be calculated. There is also an option to import either a full or a partial batch (if the ticket imported was set up for partial batches). Additionally, specify a total weight for the blend and have the quantities prorated to meet that requested weight.
Q. What weight information shows on screen?
A. The batch will be broken down by the weight for each Product (i.e., each bin) and the Batch Total Weight will show. Pressing Get Done Amount will show the weight actually used from each bin and will in turn update Ranco Factors for those Products.
Q. How long should the blender be run?
A. Pressing Get Time will return the calculated runtime for the blend being done. Increase the time shown to slow the production of the blend.
Note: This is not a required step. The control panel will calculate the shortest run time assuming the blender is running at full capacity.
Q. Can completed blends be invoiced in Agvance Accounting without re-entering data?
A. Yes. Completed blends are marked with the file extension .RDF (Ranco Done File). These Done files or blends can be imported back into Agvance Blending through the Read Blender interface and in turn be imported as a loaded Blend Ticket into Agvance Accounting for invoicing.
