PLC 5 program

Hello i have a quick question for you guys if don't mind answering it.

I opened a existing PLC5 program and then saved it as a different name and made some modifications and now that i've saved it. The new file i made the changes to is smaller then the original. The original is 1042KB and the new one i made modifications to is 746KB is this a normal thing or did something not save maybe.

Thanks alot in advance for your help

Have you used the same version RSlogix5 for the last save? I would think that as long as the data tables have been uploaded, the file size should be similar. The only thing that I can think of is that with a newer version of software the compression is better.

I think you are correct kcarlen i'm quite sure i have a newer version on my laptop where i made the modifications then the one they have at the place where i got the program from. Is that going to make a big difference when i go to upload the program into the PLC over there?? Or should i make the changes while online over there to be safe..

Thanks for your reply kcarlen

the .RSP and .RSS file sizes are pretty much random ... just scan the file to convince yourself that all is well ...

the download should be ok - no matter how you do it ...

So i should be able to download this one in to the PLC and everything should be ok. One more quick question, should i download the program from the laptop i used to make the modifications or should i use the computer they have over there to download it in??

Thanks alot Ron for your speedy reply

Use the laptop you made the modifications with. Upload the current program first (using the existing name) then download your modified program (using the new name). This way you have a backup in case something is missing and the name difference will enable you to differentiate between the two.

thanks alot Dr. Watson.

And Thanks to all that replyed to this thread.

You've all be very helpful

I would make sure the end user has a copy of the new program saved as a version they can open. You can do this by exporting the database to a removable disk, and then importing it on their PC with the older version of RSLogix5 after uploading the new file.

I have noticed that the file created from an 'on-line' save is often larger than one from an 'off-line' save. Happens with RSLogix 5 and 5000....can't comment on 500 as I hardly ever use it.

In my case it depends on the if you like that customer or not , if you like them I would at least for the time being use their computer go online and either upload, and make the changes then download or make the changes online. Otherwise if you don't like the customer take the chance and use your computer. The reason I say this is, depending on the changes you are going to make, I have seen situations where a program change was made with a new version of RSLogix 5. Then the customer could not go back and make changes anymore because they had an older version forcing them to upgrade their software. Either way I never trust a disc that customer has, I always upload prior to making the changes, just to ensure that I have the current program. I think of the disc that I got from the customer as reference, to get me familiar with the system. It happened to me once, years ago, where the customer gave me a disk that was not current, and in turn I had to spend a bit of extra time to get them back up and running.

Keldog,

I have noticed in RSLogix that if I save a program with a bunch of unused address references in the database, then later do a "Tools, Database, Delete Unused Addresses", then save the file using the same name, the size used on the disk does not change. However, if I delete the unused addresses, then rename the file and then save it, it usually gets a lot smaller. Maybe the original programmer did it that way.

Thanks alot for all your information guys, it was extremly helpful. When i open the program it dosen't say anything about it being from an old version so i believe they may be using the same version, i could be wrong about this and am going to find out for sure very shortly so i'll keep you guys posted on how this goes.

Thanks again for all the replys