WTB: PLC-2 to PLC-5 Conversion S/W

As of a year ago, Allen Bradley has discontinued selling the conversion software so we're looking for a copy to purchase. We got a quote from A-B for the service but with the number of panels we have coming up for conversion, it would be a cost savings to buy it. The part number is 9313-L5225D. I can be PM'd here.

Thanks in advance, Jeff

Quick.. Is it really worth using conversion software?

I've usually found that I'm faster, especially BrandA to BrandA conversions to do it manually, and I often catch errors in the original at the same time.

I only ask, because PLC2 to PLC5 isn't that bad (not like PLC3 to PLC, well, to Anything).

I don't mind doing the conversion manually; I do some Modicon to A-B now. But our backlog supports saving some time by getting most of the work out of the way first with the S/W. We still have to go through and check it but its one more task out of the way quickly. Each panel consists of 4 racks and roughly 1000 rungs of logic.

Maybe just me, but the debug time from conversions > doing it manually.

Ignore that for a minute, and I don't know what you are doing, but why in the world convert to PLC5? Just a query. For the price of a PLC5 CPU, I can often drop in a 4 slot ControlLogix rack with a CPU, DH+/RIO module, and ENBT/EWEB module, and I'm ready for whatever the future may bring.

I shudder at spending more than 10K for a PLC5/Ethernet CPU.

The PLC-5 was requested by the customer and that is what the sales guy quoted. Its probably a good time to suggest the ControlLogix / 1756-DHRIO solution before we get too deep in but if the UAW maintenance people on the floor don't have the training they'll want to stick with what they can support.

This scenario occurs often; the customer requests what they can support, not what would do the job the best.

Your AB distributor's PLC/HMI specialist might offer this conversion service at no cost (many do but probably not all), if you are only talking about 1 or 2 processors; more than that and they will all want to sell you the software. Since you will be purchasing a very expensive PLC5 CPU from him, ask if he will do it.

If you have a backup of the PLC2 application, I beleive Werner Electric will do the conversion for you at a cost of aprox $120. I recently did a conversion on one of our machines from PLC2-PLC5 and it went rather well. Only had to over come 2 issues. My backup hand no comments, so I added the comments (from hard copy) to the PLC2 app before the conversion. I also had to change some values back to BCD in the converted file to get the Dataliner going again. The rest of the coonversion went with out a hitch. Do be aware though, there are some items that are not convertable from 2-5. I beleive the conversion SW spits out a report, pointing to those items. (I don't believe our report pointed to the converted BCD values though. Found that myself, when the DDL20 did not respond to the PLC5.

OH, I had the PLC5 laying around and it was just a swap of the processor. The rest of the hardware was already compatable with the PLC5. This is not always the case.

Anyone looking for a PLC2?

At $120 (verses the $800 RA wants), it changes the whole dynamics of buying it. Got a contact name and number for Werner Electric?

(920) 729-4500 Ask for Lawrence. He's the one that helped me through it.

dalem said:

(920) 729-4500 Ask for Lawrence. He's the one that helped me through it.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give him a call.

rdrast said:

Maybe just me, but the debug time from conversions > doing it manually.

Ignore that for a minute, and I don't know what you are doing, but why in the world convert to PLC5? Just a query. For the price of a PLC5 CPU, I can often drop in a 4 slot ControlLogix rack with a CPU, DH+/RIO module, and ENBT/EWEB module, and I'm ready for whatever the future may bring.

I shudder at spending more than 10K for a PLC5/Ethernet CPU.

Click to expand...

BINGO

It so sooo much cheaper to make the move to Control Logix. The last time I did one of these conversions, I did it by hand. Except for typo's it went well. The conversion software spit out way to many issues, so I did it by hand. I didn't have to buy the software, I can't remember if I just downloaded it from AB, or if the company already had a copy. That system had five racks of IO and a little less than a thousand rungs of logic. Make sure to check the backplane/chasis to see if it is compatible. I had to swap chasis for each on our racks. I don't remember which rev. was required, but I do remember having to buy the hardware.

I lobbied for Ctl Lgx, but was over ridden by management. Hey, it was their money. A 5/40E was about $9000.00 at that time. By the time I got all the hardware upgraded, I'd spent close to 15K. (this included analog cards and RIO cards.) The fun part was getting way outdated VFD's and hydraulic servo valves set up to work with the new cards. It was not real bad, but it took some work.