SLC 500 OEM Lock

Hi Folks,

I've run into an annoying problem while backing up our PLC programs. Two of our machines have the OEM lock enabled (S:1/14 = 1). I would contact the manufacturer, however we no longer do business with them and they will in no way support their products. I don't have a copy of the original program on file anywhere (at least not that I can find, I wasn't here when the equipment was originally installed), so a memory reset is out of the question.

Is there any way around this? I'm concerned that we'll lose the battery one day and dump the program.

I know this can be a touchy subject on here, and wouldn't be asking if I hadn't already exhausted every other resource.

I would contact the manufacturer, however we no longer do business with them and they will in no way support their products.

Click to expand...

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=83128&highlight=OEM+lock

how old is this system - in particular, how long has it been since the OEM has done ANY programming on it? ... or had ANY contact with it?

Ron Beaufort said:

how old is this system - in particular, how long has it been since the OEM has done ANY programming on it? ... or had ANY contact with it?

Click to expand...

The system has been in place since 2007 (I believe) and the OEM has had no contact with it since. At the very least not in the past 6 years.

You are correct that it's a touchy subject. Many of us work for OEMs and have been through the intellectual property debate from the other side of the table.

The good news is that SLC-500 controllers will generally hold the program for several days just using the onboard capacitor, so changing the battery is only a medium-risk proposition.

Ken Roach said:

You are correct that it's a touchy subject. Many of us work for OEMs and have been through the intellectual property debate from the other side of the table.

The good news is that SLC-500 controllers will generally hold the program for several days just using the onboard capacitor, so changing the battery is only a medium-risk proposition.

Click to expand...

I fully understand the need to protect intellectual property. I too design and write programming for custom machinery. The problem occurs when the OEM goes out of business, or in this case, when they're angry that we've taken our business away from them. I would have no issue paying them for the back-up or even paying them to make required changes, however they won't even answer my emails. I've sent them emails in both in English and in German (they're a German company) with no response.

The decision to no longer continue our business relationship wasn't made by me. I don't even know the reason for it. Unfortunately I now find myself in the position where I need a back-up and guaranteed, I'll have to make changes to this program in the future as we slowly change our process.

You can go to your local distributor, fill out some paper work and hopefully he will come in and unlock the plc for you.

I had to do that years ago and sign my life away to get the information needed. Former employee wasn't very happy when he found out what we did, but the customer sure was.

james

IIRC there is no bypass for OEM lock since it's not a password. With OEM lock you need an exact copy CRC match of the .Rss program file and it has to be loaded in the projects directory.

When OEM lock is enabled the .Rss file acts as an encryption key of sorts.

Time would be best spent coming to an agreemnet with the OEM to buy the program and sign some documents that you won't rip them off since you do not wish to do future business with them.

I do a lot of programming for equipment in the Oil Industry. Normally when I get a contract for my services it is stated that I will not put any lock or password on any processor. I am also required to turn in a unlocked copy of the code to them with in 30 days of the end of the project.

I know this doesn't help you out now but putting something like that in future contacts for equipment purchases might just save a headache later. There may be a price adder for that, but pay it. What is a few thousand $$ in 2007 compared to the issues you are having now?

My opinion, FWIW, would be to observe the machine functions now while it is working and develop a replacement program to duplicate those functions. I have had to do just that for a customer in the past. I even had to completely re-program a product line that had been down for a few years then sold to another customer. The only info that I had was from an old operator that had run the equipment in the past.