PLC with USB interface

Deebz

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• Apr 4, 2011

• #1

Hello,

I always wondered why do we always have to stick to the slow connection speeds of the serial and parallel ports when dealing with PLCs? Why does the communication interface has to be using serial or parallel ports? And why aren't there any PLCs with USB interfaces instead of the normal standard serial/parallel connections/interfaces?

Thanks a lot

 

jkerekes

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• Apr 4, 2011

• #2

There are. Several of the newer generation of ControlLogix processors, ethernet and controlnet modules have USB connections for programming.

 

Deebz

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• Apr 4, 2011

• #3

Thank you for your fast reply!

Are there any other reasons beside the speed that led to developing new PLCs with USB connection?

 

paraffin power

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• Apr 4, 2011

• #4

All of Omron's main PLC offering have USB. And their Hmi's, thinking about it. Oh, and their inverters and servos...

I guess manufacturers got wise that buying a 'special' cable is just plain annoying.

Another reason I like Omron...

 

creativepaper

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• Apr 4, 2011

• #5

I love ControlLogix with Ethernet.

To de-rail the topic.....
USB are great, apart from all the different miniUSB connectors. I have 2 digital cameras, a leapster for kids, and a cellphone which all use different miniUSB connectors..

 

dmroeder

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• Apr 4, 2011

• #6

A guy at Rockwell told me they have stayed away from USB because it's not a very industrial protocol. I think they were worried about shielding/noise. That being said, they are starting to replace serial on controllers with USB starting the the CLX L7X series processors. I'm am told this will eventually trickle down to CompactLogix.

 

lostcontrol

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• Apr 4, 2011

• #7

Having a standard cable is good!

The only downsize, is that you need to remember the physical port which the USB driver was installed on....

 

daba

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• Apr 4, 2011

• #8

lostcontrol said:

Having a standard cable is good!

The only downsize, is that you need to remember the physical port which the USB driver was installed on....

Click to expand...

Should work in all of them after it's worked on one.

After the driver is installed on a USB port, plugging it into another one just copies the existing driver for the new port.