Connect Siemens S7 with AllenBradley

Hello

The qestion is, what options do i have if i want to Talk with an AllenBradley PLC from a Siemens S7.
What connection is the most effective and are there any Limits ?

// Jim

I have used a prolinx DF1 to profibus brick to allow comms between a micrologix 1500 and an S7-400 profibus network . Whilst it worked , I can't say I enjoyed the process . Had a lot of problems with reliability with the bricks , more than a few failed - but there are many reasons why this could be .

What is it that you want to achieve ?

If your AB is an SLC500, ControlLogix or CompactLogix then there are Profibus modules that plug right into the rack.
SST/Woodhead is one supplier. I think that maybe there are other vendors too.

There are other solutions, but they are just as expensive, more complicated and/or less performant.

Update:
SST/Woddhead has modules for SLC500, ControlLogix and PLC5.
Hilscher has a module for CompactLogix.

What I want to achieve is to have the Siemens PLC as a slave and the AB as master.´For the moment i dont know what fieldbus system im gonna use.

You can setup the Siemens S7 to be a slave on the Profibus network, and the SST or Hilscher card to be the master on the network.
However I would do it the other way around, as Profibus is more native to Siemens than to AB.

Functionally speaking, you can let either of them be slave or master. The profibus network is just making the data communication happen.
The communication will appear as Inputs and Outputs in the respective PLCs.

What S7 PLC do you have ?
What AB PLC do you have ?

Depends on your plc's & what comms ports are availlable, but if you use a Beijers HMI, there are 2 ports, 422 & 232 + an optional TCPIP card (ethernet), They also supply a converter for siemens (232 to MPI) you can use the dual protocol & have them pass blocks of data to & fro, the only sticking point is, you may need to convert the 422 to 232 or 485 for the AB.

The price of say an E300 (min standard for Ethernet card) is about £650.00 & the ethernet card about £165, the converters i'm not sure of, but currently I have a Mitsi plc talking to S&-400 & mitsi talking to AB SLC505 on ethernet + you get an HMI into the bargain.

I dont really know what PLC types im going to use for the moment. I get this info next week. But I asume that theres an AB system installed on site and the machine that will be delivered to the site use Siemens.

"AB" and "Siemens" is not enough.
You need to know the exact CPU types, if there are extra communication modules installed, if the available network ports are allready in use, if you have access to the programs on both machines etc.