Rockwell. Where are we now?

Hi guys

Ten years ago I completed a 3yr course on SLCs. Sort of lost touch with Allen-Bradley now as the last 5 years have been spent utilising Siemens.

Please can someone spend a few moments of where we are with A-B?

My last version of RSL500 is v7 and I'd been working with SLC5/03 & 5/04. We'd just got rid of the PIC box for a UIC (I think). I recall RSL5000 just appearing on the market with the emergence of, would it have been ControlLogix(?).

Are SLC500 still in circulation for new installs?
Are they being phased out by the newer xLogix gear?
What is the future outlook for RSL500?
Is software keys gone the USB way, like Siemens?
What differentiates the newer stuff from the SLCs?
FactoryTalk...?

I'm going to look into the RSL5000 side of things, but just looking for some real world insight of the hands-on, ITK members here, please.

Thanks guys and gurus.

SLC-500 is still an active product line; the SLC-5/03, 5/04, and 5/05 are all produced new. The SLC-5/05 with 10/100MB Ethernet is probably the most popular controller in the family now.

The MicroLogix family has grown into a lot of SLC-500 applications, especially the MicroLogix 1100 and 1400 models with built-in Ethernet and online editing. The old MicroLogix 1000 will be discontinued within a couple of years, replaced by a small controller called the Micro 800.

There is no horizon for SLC-500 controllers, software, and I/O. If I had to guess, they'll be built new for another 10 years, then supported for another 10 years after that. RSLogix 500 is at version 8.30 and includes a free version for the MicroLogix 1000 and 1100 only.

Many new installations are choosing CompactLogix instead of SLC-5/0x; CompactLogix pricing will often be equivalent or slightly lower. The CompactLogix family includes a large range of controllers from the "brick" with built-in I/O (the 1769-L2x family) and the very popular 1769-L32E and 1769-L35E with built-in Ethernet, to the motion-control capable 1768-L4x controllers.

ControlLogix is still the heavy iron; they're on the fifth hardware iteration and Version 19 of the RSLogix 5000 software. You can do I/O, Safety, and coordinated motion control over Ethernet now.

When I look at a new application I start with ControlLogix and consider using CompactLogix if I know the system will be of limited I/O, and consider SLC only if there is significant installed base of SLC-500 hardware.

Activations have largely migrated away from diskette-based encrypted files to a text-file system called FactoryTalk Activation. It can be very confusing for some new users, but most of the wrinkles have been ironed out.

Thanks Ken, thanks for your time.

Am I right in thinking that ControlLogix is a modern upgrade of the PLC-5 and CompactLogix a modern upgrade on the SLCs?

As said... I've lost touch with A-B of late, and I've seen or read somewhere that the Logix5000 gear is not your vintage 'cyclic scan'. Please can you point me to an "idiot's understanding" of this new-style scan?

Thanks again, Ken. (not meaning to heap the burden on Ken alone!)

The control/compactlogix family now has I/O updates asynchronously to the scan. That is to say, you can no longer assume the input values is updated at the beginning of the scan and output at the end. This may allow faster reaction times to critical inputs, but is mostly an unmitigated nuisance for troubleshooting at other times (many more change conditions to consider when writing the code). Many/most experienced Logix people block copy the inputs to a stable area at the beginning of the scan, and likewise copy the outputs to the real outputs at the end to avoid this very problem.

Ken Roach said:

When I look at a new application I start with ControlLogix and consider using CompactLogix if I know the system will be of limited I/O...

Click to expand...

Ken - With your knowledge and background with the AB product line, your statement brought up a question: with the migration heading more and more toward remote I/O communicating via one protocol or another, do you still see the I/O count as such a large determining factor?

If the I/O count is not it, is there another most-significant aspect you would look at to determine the choice between a ControlLogix or CompactLogix processor?

Steve

Ken Roach said:

There is no horizon for SLC-500 controllers, software, and I/O. If I had to guess, they'll be built new for another 10 years, then supported for another 10 years after that.

Click to expand...

Really? For the past 3 years my Rockwell reps have been telling me 2011 is the target for obsoleting the SLC-500 and PLC5 at which point they will continue support for another 7 years.

To the original poster; I haven't installed an SLC system for over 5 years with the exception of a project I was a subcontractor on 2 years ago. And let me say I loved the SLC platform. It never crosses my mind to use them or PLC5 anymore. I always go for CompactLogix or ControlLogix and sometimes MicroLogix for small machines. Once you get a little practice on RSLogix5000 and realize the power of the system I think you will really like it. Using things like arrays, UDTs, and local tags really speed up programming.

Steve: With Logix family controllers, the "I/O capacity" is really the number of CIP connections supported by the CPU. Sometimes they're local (like the 1756 and 1769 buses) and often they are remote in 1756, 1794 FLEX, or 1734 POINT chassis.

My general rule is that CompactLogix is a single-machine controller and ControlLogix is a system controller.

Rob: I'm not posting as an A-B employee or spokesman; those are my guesses for what's actually going to happen with SLC-500. The horizon for PLC-5 controllers is probably closer.

The official word for product obsolescence is the "Silver Series" program that shows when the final order date for new hardware will be. There are some less-popular PLC-5 models on there now, like the PLC-5/30 slated for final order at the end of 2012.

Only the late-80's vintage SLC-500 "bricks" are discontinued from production; even the SLC-5/01 can be bought new.

I saw a PLC-5 "continuation letter" a while ago that described production and support horizons but you would have to get one of those from your distributor or RA office.

I understand Ken. I hope your prediction is right. Like many others, alot of my customers have alot of SLCs installed. I'd like to see them stick around for quite a while yet.