Open the panel's own setup menu, open its versions page, and log the firmware revision into a record keyed by panel ID. Most small HMI families publish no firmware system tag, so the PLC cannot fetch the value and a screen cannot show it; the panel-by-panel inventory is the maintenance record. Build an automated read only where the tag table documents a firmware value.
Small HMI panels keep their firmware revision to themselves. On the family this procedure was written for, the maker's documented answer is that the revision has no system tag. The PLC cannot read it and no screen object can display it. The version you can get is the one shown on the panel. Open the panel's own setup menu, open its versions page, and log the revision into a maintenance record under each panel's ID. That record answers the field problem directly: one line per panel, read in minutes at each enclosure. It works whether the line carries 4 panels or 40. Build a PLC display only where the tag table documents a firmware value, and this article gives you the check that decides which case you are in.
Panel side or PLC side: decide the path first
Start by naming the requirement, because the two versions of the job have different answers.
| You need | The panel gives you | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The revision while you stand at the panel | A Versions Screen in its own setup menu | Read it and log it, steps below |
| The PLC to fetch the revision and show it | A firmware value in the tag table, on documented families only | Wire the documented copy and verify it on one panel |
| The PLC to fetch it when nothing is documented | Nothing to fetch | Keep the manual inventory |
For the family behind the key sequence below, the third row applies today: the revision ships with no tag. The first row still answers the maintenance need, and the second row opens up the day your panel's documentation lists a firmware value.
What you need
- The panel's manual, servicing or information chapter, which names the documented menu entry route for your family
- A maintenance record with one line per panel ID: a clipboard sheet, a spreadsheet or a CMMS entry all work
- No programming software, no PLC edits and no production stop for the basic read
Read the revision at the panel
- Leave the panel on its normal runtime screen. The read needs no power cycle and no disconnection, so the machine keeps running.
- Open the panel's own setup menu, using only the route the manual documents. Two documented routes cover most small families: press and hold F1 and F5 together for 3 seconds until the Setup Menu is displayed, or press and hold the panel's ENTER key for about 4 seconds. If neither matches your panel, stop before trying combinations and open the manual's servicing or information chapter.
- Open the information page. On the two-key family, make sure Information is selected and press F5 to open the Information Screen.
- Open the versions page. Make sure Versions is selected and press F5 again to open the Versions Screen. The firmware revision is listed there as a dotted number.
- Log the value against the panel ID. Record the date, and where the panel also shows a project or application revision, put that on a separate line so the firmware number and the project number never merge.
Example: 24 panels, one person, under an hour
Scenario: a filling line carries 24 HMI panels and maintenance wants every firmware revision on record before an update program starts.
Time one panel from the steps above: 3 seconds for the two-key hold, about 30 seconds to move through Information and Versions and read the dotted number, and about 90 seconds to walk to the next enclosure and log the line. That totals about 2 minutes per panel including the walking.
The arithmetic for the line: 24 panels × 2 minutes = 48 minutes, so one person with the record sheet clears all 24 inside an hour, with the line running and no programming software involved.
The update program later touches 6 of the panels. Re-read only those: 6 × 2 minutes = 12 minutes, on the day of each update, and the record never goes stale.
A page of the record looks like this, with the revisions shown as example values:
| Panel ID | Location | Firmware | Read on |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNV-07 | Filler 1, by the cap elevator | 1.5.2 | 12 May |
| CNV-08 | Filler 1, pack-off cabinet | 1.5.2 | 12 May |
| CNV-09 | Filler 1, labeler | 1.4.9 | 12 May |
Two readings do the checking for you: panels flashed together usually show one revision, so a lone outlier is the first panel to re-read, and it is either the one that was updated or the one whose record was written against the wrong unit.
Check the tag table before anyone tries an address
A PLC display can only show a value the panel publishes through a documented exchange path: a system tag, a fixed value or a register the manual defines. A screen object has no route into an internal value the panel keeps to itself, and for the family above this is the case on record: the firmware revision has no system tag.
So the tag table is the gate, and the check takes minutes:
- Search the panel's tag or variable list for a firmware, version or revision entry.
- No entry: the PLC has nothing to read, and the manual inventory from the example is the whole answer.
- An entry that looks right: confirm the manual describes it as panel firmware, because a project revision, an application revision and a runtime version are different values that sit near the same wording.
Where a documented path exists, one family shows the pattern to look for: an internal tag is defined with a start value equal to the firmware version, and pressing an on-screen button copies that internal tag into an external tag mapped to the PLC. If your tag table offers the same, wire the copy and then verify it on one panel: the value arriving in the PLC tag must equal what the Versions Screen shows on that same physical unit. Only then repeat the object across the line.
Skip any address the documentation does not define. A guessed register can return live process data or a value whose meaning changes between firmware versions, and the screen would present whichever of those arrives as the revision.
Re-read around transfers and updates
A recorded revision goes stale the day a panel is flashed, so tie re-reads to the two events that change firmware.
Project transfers. If you are collecting versions because a screen reload is coming, the HMI firmware revision check before a project transfer is the pre-flight companion to this inventory.
Firmware updates. Re-read each updated panel during the same visit and write the new revision over the old line. Expect a startup difference: one family's manual states that after a firmware update the terminal starts in its configuration mode, so the runtime is not on screen when power returns. Restart it into the runtime, hand the machine back, then read the new revision from the Versions Screen. If the panel then will not talk to the PLC, the checklist for an HMI panel with no communication after a firmware update picks up from there.
One safety note belongs here: never interrupt panel power during an operating system or firmware update. An update that loses power partway can leave the panel without a bootable image, so run updates only by the manual's procedure with a steady supply.
How to check it worked
- Open the Versions Screen on one panel and compare it with the line you logged for that panel ID: the same dotted revision on both.
- Re-open the Versions Screen on a second panel a week later and confirm the record still matches. Firmware does not drift, so a mismatch means someone flashed the panel without updating the record.
- If you built the documented copy path, the value in the PLC tag equals the Versions Screen reading on the same unit, checked on one panel before rollout.
- After the next update on any panel, the record changes on the same day as the update.
Recommendation: Read the revision at the panel and keep the per-panel inventory as the maintenance record: it works on every family, takes about 2 minutes per panel, and the 24-panel line in the example clears in 48 minutes of one person's time. Build a PLC display only where the tag table documents a firmware value; wire the documented copy, verify it against the Versions Screen on one panel, and extend it only across panels of the same family and software generation. Where nothing is documented, the inventory is the answer.
Questions
Why is there no system tag for the HMI firmware revision?
The panel publishes to the PLC only what its documentation defines: system tags, fixed values and defined registers. For the panel family in this procedure, the maker's documented answer is that the firmware revision has no system tag, so there is nothing for a screen object to fetch. If an automated read matters to the line, send the maker's support channel the exact panel model and programming software version and ask whether a firmware value exists for that combination; the answer can differ between families and software generations.
What if the setup menu will not open when I hold the keys?
On the two-key route, both keys must go down at the same moment and stay down for the full 3 seconds; a staggered press opens nothing. On the single-key route, hold ENTER for about 4 seconds. If the menu still does not appear, stop trying combinations and open the manual's servicing or information chapter: the documented route is written there, and arbitrary key presses on a live runtime screen are a poor habit on a running machine.
What goes into the firmware inventory record?
One line per panel: the panel ID and location exactly as your electrical drawings label them, the firmware revision exactly as the Versions Screen shows it, the date you read it, and the project or application revision in a separate field so the two numbers never merge. Add the software version that last transferred to the panel. When an update or transfer changes either number, the same line shows which records need a re-read.
How often should the inventory be re-read?
Firmware changes only when someone flashes the panel, so trigger-based re-reads cover it. Re-read a panel in the same visit as any firmware update or project transfer, and walk the whole line on a fixed schedule; once a year is plenty for panels nobody has touched. Between triggers the record stays correct, because nothing on the panel has changed to make it wrong.
Planning information, not legal or engineering advice. Rules differ by place: check codes and permits with your local authority and your licensed trades.