Use Old 1756 or new 1769 for budget training and simple app?

Hello to all,

I have been seeing on Ebay that there are a lot of early model and affordable Controllogix hardware cards, racks, and power supplies for sale. I'm wondering if such hardware is still suitable for training and applications at my level.

My current level of training: Completed the Rockwell Automation 2 day / 16 hour Controllogix Fundamentals course.

My application: dual purpose: (1): for repeating the fundamentals training using the books Rockwell gave me, (2) building a simple low budget home automation system. I'm talking simple stuff where a dozen or so very basic rungs would suffice.

My questions: (1) Would I be better off buying something like a 1769-L16ER-BB1B instead of the early generation of 1756 controllogix stuff? (2) Software: For the very early Controllogix such as the 1756-L1, I've heard version 20 is the highest I can go, but, there is a current version of the software available for the 1769 stuff and it has ethernet, etc. Will working with a new 1769 provide me better relevant training than working with the early 1756 stuff?
Thanks!
Robert I. Baker

Older AB hardware may be cheap on Ebay, but the software isn't. Something to consider...

I believe the 1756-L1 was only supported up to Rev 13.

For basic training purposes it'll do the trick provided you already have the RSLogix 5000 software.

OG