SLC 5/03 battery change

I have a SLC 5/03 and need to change the battery.
Currently I have no backup .RSS or .RS1

How do I find out if the program was burned to EEPROM or only in volatile RAM?

I will upload the program as a backup before attempting the battery install.

Thanks for any help !

ascot01 said:

I will upload the program as a backup before attempting the battery install.

Click to expand...

Good idea...

Does your 503 have a eeprom??

The best way to tell if theres an EEPROM is to go online with the cpu and try and do an EEPROM save (Comms>EEPROM>Store To EEPROM). If that option is greyed out, I guess you don't have an EEPROM. To check physically, the module is on the CPU board to the right of the battery and is grey with a part # something like 1747-M11.

Even without an EEPROM you can change the battery without making a backup of the program first. The program is retained in RAM memory by means of a supercapacitor. I can't say how much time you have to change the battery, I should look it up, but I don't have the info at hand.

Nevertheless, making a backup of the program is always a good idea. You never know when that supercap is bound to fail. I for one have met Murphy more than enough to do things the safe way.

Kind regards,

Your plan to back up the program before powering down is absolutely the best practice.

But with SLC-5/03-4-5 controllers the capacitor onboard will hold the RAM memory for many days, so there is a 99% chance that your program will still be present and unmodified when you power back up.

Always remember to power down the SLC chassis before pulling any module. So many users are accustomed to ControlLogix RIUP they forget that the SLCs don't do it.

Thanks alot guys for the response. I'll get the uploaded backup safely stored then I'll see if the "store to EEPROM" option is greyed out or not like you said.
That's great the capacitor can keep a prog in mem for that length of time..makes me alot less nervous now.

Thanks again

The capacitor works great until the one time you really, really NEED it to....


I've had too many of those 'moments' to take any risks.
Like the time an old DCS died halfway thru a revision upgrade and the cutsomer replies 'we were supposed to have backups??'



Preparation prevents disaster when the unthinkable/impossible/unfixable happens.