1734-aent

I eluded to this in a previous post, but thought I would start a new thread. We have a system that is going into a food plant. What we are setting up in the first phase is 5 scale hoppers. Each hopper will have a Rice Lake scale controller on Ethernet protocol, a Schneider Magelis touch screen HMI and AB point I/o. For about 6 months this needs to be tied into the existing control system which is run by a SLC540. We need to connect the Ethernet into this PLC. First, does the 1734-AENT operate on AB Ethernet IP or some other protocol? What we were looking at using is Prosoft MVI46-DFNT. Here is what their tech support sent me..."If we are talking about A-B EtherNet/IP, we do not yet have a solution that can directly read I/O. As an Encompass Partner, A-B has to approve our products that use their licensed technology and they will not let us create a solution that can talk directly to EtherNet/IO. "...If this won't work I am asking the guru's out there what we can do to make this work that is cost effective?

1734 pointI/O modules are intended to provide remote IO over ethernet to the Controllogix family of processors. The SLC and Micrologix family was not designed control I/O over its ethernet family. Also, I assume by "SLC540" you actually mean SLC5/04 which doesn't not even Ethernet connectivity at all.

While it is technically possible to read and write the I/O and configuration assemblies of the 1734-AENT with SLC-5/05 it is not practically feasible and is strongly discouraged. You really need a Controllogix or Compactlogix.

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=63483

I don't see any simple way to use interface or bridge modules to make your skids work with an SLC-5/04.

If it were me, I would substitute 1769-L16ER CompactLogix controllers, and have them run the local I/O and communicate with the local POINT I/O and network to the Rice Lake weighing modules and the Schneider HMI.

Then you can add an Ethernet module to the SLC-5/04 (either to its serial port or in the chassis) and exchange status and command data over that connection.

When the time comes to upgrade your overall control system, you can use Produced/Consumed Tags to exchange status and command data with a full size ControlLogix. This is assuming I understood your other post and that you're going to upgrade the SLC-5/04 to a ControlLogix later.

A 1734-AENTR with 16 digital inputs and 16 digital outputs is only about $300 less than a 1769-L16ER-BB1B controller.

Thanks Ken. You have confirmed what I thought to be. I have ordered the 1769-L16ER. The only different thing I will do is use the embedded i/o to signal the SLC as required. Thanks!