Seeking Feedback/Review on Touchscreen, 10"+

My apology if this is the nth post on this same topic; I am looking for alternative to AB’s line of touchscreen and hoping you guys can provide some user feedback. I like the Panelview and the new Plus line a lot but the price is such that I may not even get one approved if the application is somewhat borderline necessary. At the same time, I don’t want something that’s too obscure to make future support difficult. So far I have looked at the following:

• AVG (EasyAutomation)
• Automation Direct’s new C-more.
• Maple System.
• Panelmate (Eaton)

I think the legal situation between AD and AVG has been resolved so I expect both companies to be in business for long time to come. Maple has been around forever as a smaller player in the market.

I will connect only to AB PLCs and SLCs and am only interested in screen 10 inches or larger. None of the three above will do Ethernet/IP to a SLC or PLC5. According to AD it’s because AB makes it difficult to research the protocol (that’s weird, since Prosoft’s serial box had this ability over a year ago).


Yet another alternative is to get a cheap touchscreen panelmount PC and run RSView32 or ME on it. However, I can’t find a suitable (cheap) PC for this purpose.

Take a look at redlion, I don't have any 10" but there small one's are good


http://www.redlion.net/Products/HumanMachineInterface/ProductFamilies/G3Panels.html

I recently saw an advertising pull-out in one of the trade magazines from AVG. In it they said they supported DF1 over Ethernet I/P. This would seem to allow communication to a SLC or PLC5 over Ethernet.

Am I reading this wrong? We were looking at AVG about 6 months ago. One of the reasons we didn't go with them is the ydidn't support the native ControlLogix CIP protocol. All they supported was the SLC/PLC5 protocol over Ethernet.

I must be getting something wrong here. Can someone clear me up?

The four HMIs harryting listed in the original post are the ones that pop into mind for me. I don't have any bright ideas that would be less expensive than what were listed.

Keith

my favorite line of touchscreens has always been siemens multipanel line, even more so now with the wincc flexible software. able to get the functions of a panel(full blown scada pack) pc in a touchscreen.

harryting said:

Yet another alternative is to get a cheap touchscreen panelmount PC and run RSView32 or ME on it. However, I can’t find a suitable (cheap) PC for this purpose.

Click to expand...

Check out this latest XYCom offering

http://www.xycom.com/cms/promotions/8504935452b09d73/index.html


We've been using XYcom for many years (similar model) as a platform for our Force-Distance Press Monitor product and haven't had any issues with them.

I am using the Redlion 10" colour touchscreens to communicate with AB SLC 5/05s over ethernet and they are working great.

I'll put in a plug for the C-More. Except for some inconveniences in the trending they look good, perform well, and are cost effective.

The Panelview Plus seems to be a good product inherently, but the line has been plagued with problems and they never seem to get entirely through them. We just recently were notified about a firmware glitch that can cause data loss. They also seem to have chronic delivery problems.

Have you looked at Pro-Face yet? It is a japanese model we have used on several machines. The GP2600 (I believe) is 10" with color and EtherNet comms to AB as well as several other PLCs. Cheap too.

I was in the same situation you are right now a few months ago and I went with a KEP to replace the PanelView on a new project. The KEP program is very simple and it's free and you can download it from their website. Tech support is free. The prices are very competitive. You can simulate on-line (you control your PLC with your program from your PC). Check out their MMI-1500T.
I downloaded their software and after getting a feel for it I decided to purchase their MMI. I had done the same for the RedLion, LG, Xycom and others.
Check this link:
www.kep.com/catalog/plc/pages/mmi-graphic.html
You may download the software from there and check out the prices.

And please, once you decide to buy an operator interface let us know which one you bought and your feedback on it.

Thanks so far for all the feedbacks. I found Panelmate to be in the similiar price range as the Panelview but I do recall Panelmate can access most of the AB file structure without need to remap anything. After reading over some of the issues with AVG i have move it to my "B" list.

Thanks for the suggestion on KEP and the XYCOM promotion.

I downloaded the KEP manual. It looks good price-wise but the resolution is only 640x480 at 10". There is an option for Modbus/TCP/IP but not Ethernet/IP.

I used Xycom panelmount PC before and I seem to recall some heat issue with it. For their higher function line (Pro-Face) the price is about the same as C-More, so no price advantage there. The 12" touchscreen (light-industrial) PC is going at $2100 with WinXP. After adding RSView should run around ~$3500, not a bad price for a lot of functionality.

If I limit the option to just touchpanel. C-More and Pro-Face seems to be the best option. C-More is a bit less $ (12" version) but Pro-Face got Ethernet/IP (?).

-Would be nice to have a review section for HMI and OIT as well. Phil?

geniusintraining said:

Take a look at redlion, I don't have any 10" but there small one's are good

Click to expand...

I,ll second that. I've just done my first G308 communicating to AB CompactLogix and it has excellent capabilities for half the price of AB.

The G3 range was born out of the old Paradigm HMIs which I have used extensively over the years, so picking up the G3 was quite easy.

Just in the middle of a Redlion G3 8" project and so far its excellent value for money, better than anything else i have used to date for the price. The web interface and trending facilities are great.

Communicating over DH485 to a 5/04, didn't have any problems and redlions support on email is superb.