Siemens MP370 w/WinAC

I am starting a new design and I have a few options for this. I am looking at using a MP370 touch panel for the HMI. I don't need much of a plc but I do need about 20 inputs and 20 outputs. My first thought was to use a S7-200 but after doing some checks I found that I could get a soft-plc (WinAC MP) that would run on the MP370. This would be good because I could use the ET200S I/O that I use on my other systems. I am still waiting on quotes for both options.

So has anyone used a MP370 with WinAC? I use WinAC RTX on PC's all the time without any problems. But I worry about how fast it will be, will it slow down screen loading. Doing some searching on this site I find some old post of scan times of 50ms working good but 30ms slowing down the screens. Is that still a problem?

Another question is remote connections. I am planning on getting the smart service option for the panel. This should give me the web page information and stuff but wont help me make changes in Step 7 or WinCC Flexible. I will have an internet connection and a VPN to the customers network from my PC at the office. Once connected to thier network via the VPN will I have a problem connecting to the panel/PLC?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

I vaguely remember a post where someone complained that there was no retentivity with WinAC on MP panels. You would have to actively write to backup files with some SFCs in order to save settings between power cycles.

About the speed question, I only know that WinAC 2005 SP1 should be significantly faster than previous versions. A factor 3 times faster or something like that.

I'll check into the backups. I don't think it would be much of a problem because all the important stuff would be stored in a recipe in WinCC Flex.

I should have my quotes tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

CharlesM,

Check with your Siemens rep regarding the new WinAC MP 2007 software and it's release with the MP377 product line, it may fit into your time schedule. The new WinAC MP will run on all of the new MP277 and the soon to be released MP377 panels and will address the retentivity issue JesperMP is talking about.

You may also want to look at the PC477 HMI/RTX which gives you an industrial PC with no fans or hard drive and uses embedded XP so you get ruggedness of the MP370 along with the openness of Windows XP. The HMI/RTX option gives you WinCC Flexible RT and WinAC RTX for control.

Check with your Siemens rep regarding the new WinAC MP 2007 software and it's release with the MP377 product line, it may fit into your time schedule. The new WinAC MP will run on all of the new MP277 and the soon to be released MP377 panels and will address the retentivity issue JesperMP is talking about.

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Doing searches on Siemens web site I can't find a MP377 so it must be very new. I will check with my rep.

You may also want to look at the PC477 HMI/RTX which gives you an industrial PC with no fans or hard drive and uses embedded XP so you get ruggedness of the MP370 along with the openness of Windows XP. The HMI/RTX option gives you WinCC Flexible RT and WinAC RTX for control.

Click to expand...

I have talked to my rep about the 420-RXT microbox. I wanted a quote on it as well. I think it will be to expensive for this project but you never know. I think in a few years all PC's (for industrial use) will be like the 420 & 477.

Thanks for the info I'll post back what I end up with.

Follow up

I got all the cost together for this project. The MP370 is about $3K the WinAC add on is $1400. Way to much for me so it looks like I will be using a S7-226 for about $400.

Charles,

Have you looked at the ET200S CPU or a C7?
It will still cost more than a S7200 though but it uses the ET200S I/O.
The C7 has some built in I/O.

Charles,
If your looking to replace S7-200 with WinAC/MP I think your trying to compare a dump truck with a pickup. WinAC/MP will perform like a 317 and has gobbs of cheap storage memory. I would use it whenever I need S7300 like performance with lots of storage or windows connectivity.

Nick