Commnets on Keyence PLC

Hi Folks,

I just got a very attractive quote on a small Keyence PLC which includes the software.

I do not have any experiecne with Keyence, I did do a little Mitsubishi programming about 10-12 years ago, and I understand all the Japanese PLC's are similar. (Most of my expericence is with Allen-Bradley and Texas Instrument PLC's)

My question is, does anyone have any bad experiecnes with this brand of PLC. My planned usage is not critical, so I do not need on line editing and so forth.


thanks,

Ken

We have a half dozen or so and haven't had
any problems with them over a 12 year span.

The software is ok. It can get the job done.
The simulator is a nice feature.

I had several in use a few years ago in a plant, that had several dozen brands of PLC's and hundreds of plcs in use. My section of the plant had over 300 Fanuc 9030's alone, a lot of Micro 90's, and all the off brands. The rest of the plant was all Allen Bradley and Reliance AutoMax.

We had no problems with Keyance, they did their job okay. They were probably bought because they were new at the time, and one engineer wanted to try everything that came out. You would not believe the number of laptops he went thru.

I don't see a problem with you using them.

Question, why Keyance as opposed to something else?

What others did you look at?

What made you decide on Keyance?

regards....casey

Why Keyence?
I am looking for a cheap PLC, and counting the price of software, cables etc... They were the cheapest (cheaper than automation direct,plus I can get local support), plus even the smallest units are expandable.


I'm thinking of buying a small unit, getting the software and playing around with it, worse case I never use it, best case, I like it and use it as a replacement for relays and timers.


Ken

Ken,

I've just recently been exposed to the Keyence line. One of our subcontractors uses it in a piece of equipment that they build for us. I have had no problems (though don't have much history with it).

The software is a little klunky, though nothing that should give you much trouble after a short while poking around. For the price, it'll be hard to beat if it has enough capability to handle your process.

Good luck,

Marc

I think klunky may be being polite. Trying to describe it, I would say that you program your rungs backwards. I'm not used to having a single line on the left branch into several as it reaches the output contact.

Keyence did just send me a nice programming book "Beginner's Manual: Basic Instructions" and a mini-cd entitled: "Shortcut To Becoming a PLC Expert, 39 Ladder Logic Examoles for Practical Applications".

Both FREE and available on their site keyence.com

regards.......casey

Since you have Mitsu experience, is their local support? Even if you don't plan on using lots of them a local distributor may see helping you as an oppurtunity for other stuff(sensor's, drives motors etc.)
If its been 10-12 years the small Fx1s is great and is faster smaller more powerful and less $'s to the old FxO units.