Assembly Engineer

I am thinking of purchasing a couple of SLC 505s to replace some old 503s. I only need the 16 bit model 1747-L551. i am relatively new at this so I need to know what I need to be wary of. i have seen some posts about the different version units and firmware issues. Any help ? I found some "in the Box" units on EBAY.

Sorry I can't help, just curious as to why?
This appears to me sort of like replacing your old Pinto with a slightly newer Maverick.

To go from DH-485 to Ethernet, maybe?

Welcome to the forum!
If they are standalone units, and if there are no HMI or displays connected, it should be a simple swap. If you are going to load the same program to the L551, you may be asked to resize the data tables. The software will do that. Now if you are going to use the ethernet feature, you will have a few things to deal with such as IP addressing, but nothing major.

My Distributor has been telling me that the SLC Processors are going to become very difficult to obtain. They have a Logix conversion where you can use the I/O as a remote rack with a new processor.

I would not recommend using a 5/05

To Jkerekes, you are correct. seemed to be least expensive option for to add an assembly system to an already problematic DH 485 comm network. We already have other newer systems hooked in to our data cocentrator with enet.
To Brian, sounds interesting, I'll look into it. Any quick suggestions on where to look or do I need to comb through the extensive AB data base?

I would recommend talking to your distributor. I haven't done this type of conversion myself. Most of the systems around here are smaller, and it makes as much since to just re-wire the I/O to a new rack.

Brijm said:

My Distributor has been telling me that the SLC Processors are going to become very difficult to obtain. They have a Logix conversion where you can use the I/O as a remote rack with a new processor.

I would not recommend using a 5/05

Click to expand...

I would tend to agree if they were trying to do large scale upgrades, but I don't think that is what the OP is trying to do. Swapping from a 5/03 or 5/04 to 5/05 shouldn't take but a few minutes to do and gaining Ethernet connectivity is a HUGE plus. And if he is getting processors on the used market, it shouldn't be that expensive.

However, having to convert all your programs from Logix500 to Logix5000, buying Controllogix processor(s), and possibly buying RSLogix5000 will be expensive, time consuming, and possibly harder to troubleshoot if their maintenance department is not used to Logix5000. Also, the new Ethernet conversion device (1747-AENTR) doesn't work at all with several of the specialty modules, making integration even harder if his SLC system uses some of those modules.

One (possibly) cheaper option may be go with 1761-NET-ENI modules, but if you are going to be using a lot of datalogging or several HMIs, it will probably be too slow. I believe upgrading to 5/05's is by far your best option.