New to Allen Bradley

Hi all
I have been programming Siemens S5 PLC's for a few year now , and I have just aquired some older Allen Bradly PLC's that I thought my students might be interested in using.
I have an SLC3/03 CPU but no software , is there any free software available for programming this PLC.

Any ideas ?

There is no free software of which I am aware for the SLC 5/03. There is a free version of RSLogix 500 for programming the 10 point Micrologix-1000. For the most part it is functionally the same as the RSlogix500 Standard version required for the SLC5/03, but the SLC5/03 has capabilities that do not exist in the the ML1K. The free software won't connect to any PLC except the ten point ML1K.

OK thanks , I will have to find the software , it must be here somewhere.

You will most likely not find the software (for free anyway).

Allen Bradley or shall I say Rockwell Automation (they write the software for AB) does not give out software (for free).

When you buy or get an AB plc you must ALSO buy the software (if you don't already have it.) Fortunately this is a one time deal. Once you have the software/license, you can do whatever you want with the software.

Call your local AB rep and see what it will cost to get the software. It will be a worthwile investment...

I thought my students might be interested in using

Click to expand...

Rockwell has a program for teaching facilities that deeply discounts the software. Contact your local AB rep.

They figure if you learn AB in school, you will use it when you get out in the real world, so they make it easy for the schools to use/buy thier hardware/software.

OK thanks , I will have to find the software, it must be here somewhere.

Click to expand...

what you're looking for is a 3.5" floppy - this is the Master Disk - Activation Disk - whatever you want to call it ... if you find this part of the puzzle, then post again and we'll help you proceed ...

but Ken is right ... I used to work for an AB distributor and helped a couple of tech schools set this "discounted software" up ... there are some paperwork hoops to jump through - but nothing that's going to break a sweat ...

abwiz said:

.. Fortunately this is a one time deal. Once you have the software/license, you can do whatever you want with the software....

Click to expand...

Is it true that I have to pay yearly so I can use thier software (RS500, Rs5000 ..) legaly? (Somebody outthere told me that!)

If you purchase the software outright, no you don't have to pay on a yearly basis. They do offer TechConnect support contracts that are renewed yearly, that allow you a certain level of tech support from Rockwell and will allow you to download (free) updates to the software during the length of that contract. The only other "pay yearly" deal is for something called "Integrators Toolkit". This is for integrators/engineering firms that need multiple installs of the same software. It comes with either 3 or 5 installs of just about every Rockwell Software product out there. The activation is dated, so it will expire in one year. You essentially are leasing all of that software under this program.

You have to pay yearly to be eligible for support on the software as well as software updates.

If you don't want to keep up to date with the latest software and you don't need technical support, then you are just fine with what you have.