CoDeSys. What do you think ?

JesperMP · May 28, 2007

Hi.

I have been looking at the Beckhoff hardware. It looks very interesting. It could also be an advantage that the CoDeSys programming software is used on other platforms, and that it follows IEC61131-3.
However, how is CoDeSys to work with ?
I have had a go with the Automation Studio software used with B&R, and I have heard a rumor that it is actually CoDeSys. But the Automation Studio software does not impress me. Is it true that Automation Sudio is really CoDeSys ?
Any CoDeSys users out there ?

jdbrandt · May 28, 2007

I've used COdeSys for the BRC Indramat Motion Controller (PPC), as used with electronic line shaft, shaftless servo printing.

Codesys is pretty good, and there are lots of features to the software, of which, Indramat uses only a portion.

Others in my company have used it for a Bergher Lahr stepper project, with similar comments.

ninanderson · May 28, 2007

CoDeSys

I've done numerous progects using Moellers version of CoDeSys, XSoft. I find it good to use and very powerfull. Its not as slick as something like RSLogix but the fact that its used by loads of different hardware vendors is a huge bonus.

Before CoDeSys I was a ladder fan but now I find myself using the structured text language more than ladder.

CoDeSys is also built in to some SCADA packages, Axeda Supervisor for example.

jacekd · May 28, 2007

Hi,
Beckhoff soft can be downloaded from their web site. For 30 days you can play with it for free.
Personally I don't like the way they handle x-ref list (Step7 is much better for this). Also their help/manuals are far from perfect (at least english version).
But their TwinCAT (soft plc) is really powerfull tool. And this speed... Yeah, this is something. And when you add to it the EtherCAT net it's even better.
The downside is that with the EterCAT you can only go with Beckhoff

and they have difficulties to bring AX5000 servodrives familly to the market.

JesperMP · May 28, 2007

jacekd said:
Personally I don't like the way they handle x-ref list

Aha, that sounds like B&R Automation Studio. Basically there is no real x-ref. In stead it does a search every time you want to find a variable. And I did not find Automation Studio very good. I felt a bit primitive in places.
It is good that there is several languages incl. ST. But I have that in STEP7 too so it is not such an important difference between them.

jacekd · May 29, 2007

JesperMP said:
Basically there is no real x-ref. In stead it does a search every time you want to find a variable.

Exactly.

JesperMP said:
It is good that there is several languages incl. ST. But I have that in STEP7 too so it is not such an important difference between them.

However in case of Beckhoff you have them out of the box. For each additional language in Step you have to pay separately. Which can be also a factor.

kamenges · May 29, 2007

I like CoDeSys. I have used it as Beckhoff TwinCat and as Indramat Indralogic. Personally I like it. Sure it has it's quirks. But as the latest go-round of the Siemens vs. AB thread shows, so do all pieces of software. The only real gripe I have is I haven't found a way to do the equivalant of a C union or an AB 'COP'. I have run into cases where it would be nice to transfer a float split between two integers and i couldn't find a way to do it.

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with it. And it does help that it is fairly similar between implementations. I started with TwinCat and moving to Indralogic was seamless. The difference comes in at the hardware mapping level, as that is implementation specific.

Keith

ndzied1 · May 29, 2007

I have used the Moeller version of CoDeSys and AB RSLogix 500 as my main programming languages.

For ladder editing, AB wins hands down in my book.

However, as others have said, I find myself using Structured Text more often than not in CoDeSys.

I have run into cases where it would be nice to transfer a float split between two integers and i couldn't find a way to do it.

If I understand what you want to do, I think you can. It would involve using marker addresses to define the same area of the marker memory with two different tags. I'm not on a computer with the software but something like this:

 

 

myFloat AT %MW4: REAL; (* Must start on an Even Num Word *)

myIntLO AT %MW4: INT;

myIntHi AT %MW5: INT;

I'm not sure I got the HI & LO right but this works in the Moeller XSoft (CodeSys v2.3)

hokie · May 29, 2007

B&R is not codesys based as I understand it.

Codesys very flexible, mainly because it is an OEM product. In fact something like 150,000 PLCs were sold with it last year. So the usage is bigger than I thought.
They have some unique libraries, like a sockets library for instance where you could make you own ethernet interface, etc.

JesperMP · May 29, 2007

Here is a screenshot from B&R's ladder editor where a "find in files" have been completed:

Does that look like CoDeSys ?

If B&R Automation Studio is not the same as CoDeSys, then there is hope that CoDeSys is better than B&R Automation studio.

ndzied1 · May 29, 2007

It doesn't look like CoDeSys to me.

Here's a ladder screenshot I have from Moeller XSoft which is most definately based on CoDeSys:

ndzied1 · May 29, 2007

Correction to my previous post about creating a "union" in CoDeSys.

The REAL had to be on an address divisable by 4 and the integer reference had ot be an array of 2 ints. It didn't let me put a single integer at %MW5.

 

 MyReal AT %MW4: REAL;

 MyInt1 AT %MW4: ARRAY [0..1] OF INT;

This makes me think it may be target dependant on how the memory packs so you'll have to test it on your specific target.

kamenges · May 29, 2007

I'm pretty sure that CoDeSys is sold as multiple pieces. At the most basic level (at least from a CoDeSys point of view) you can get a runtime processor and you (as a software development company) make a develpment environment to 'wrap around' the whole thing. Both Indralogic and TwinCat look very similar so they are definitely more closely related than just a runtime engine.

I'll have to try the memory definition thing. I don't know how TwinCat defines arbitrary memory. I'll need to look into that. I don't think that Indralogic on the PPC provides for arbitrary memory definition. It could be harder with that.

Keith

Archie · May 30, 2007

I've used Beckhoff TwinCAT (CodeSys) quite extensively on numerous projects.

I have a lot of experience with AB and Omron also. But I will say that if the control system is quite advanced, I much prefer to use TwinCAT.

I also find there are things that can be done in TwinCAT that just can't be done with a typical PLC.

ndzied1 · May 30, 2007

I'm encouraged that others here are using CoDeSys. I hadn't known it was spreading this much.

My two favorite things about it are the possibility for Simualtion and also the built in visualizations.

CoDeSys. What do you think ?

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