What your go-to PLC for budget conscious projects?

defcon.klaxon · Aug 7, 2015

I was wondering what PLC solutions you guys would suggest when a customer is "budget conscious". Now I realize that's kind of an odd question to answer, being that we always need to be cognizant of budget...that being said, I would guess you guys when spec-ing a job would be cognizant of your customer and what is "affordable" to them...for example, I am developing water/wastewater controls for a municipality who wanted all the features of Wonderware and didn't mind the price tag, but I also did some work on a system for a *very* small town who couldn't even begin to afford a system like that, and we used an ICLinks PLC that was much cheaper. I've seen places with "budget" PLC systems like AutomationDirect, but I don't know if their systems are reliable and trustworthy. I'd love to hear what you guys would spec if you were working on a small, budget conscious project.

RussB · Aug 7, 2015

Every customer I have is "budget conscious". Part of my job is selling them "Quality", "Dependability", "Longevity" and "Service".

If they are not willing to pay for these I will let someone else supply them.

jstolaruk · Aug 7, 2015

Allen Bradley Micrologix 1400 or 5370 Compactlogix, and Siemens S7-1200. Programming time has to be a consideration and most of my library code is around these models verses Automation Direct stuff.

GaryS · Aug 7, 2015

some jobs it's just better to walk away from
if agree to the job on the cheap to keep the customer happy when things go bad you end up having to fix it at a loss and the customer is still not happy with you.
it better to have them call you in after to fix the problems on a T&M bases

danatomega · Aug 7, 2015

defcon.klaxon said:
I've seen places with "budget" PLC systems like AutomationDirect, but I don't know if their systems are reliable and trustworthy.

Why would you wonder if AD is reliable and trustworthy?

Those that use them are quite satisfied. They're quite capable devices. Good support and software free or inexpensive.

Maybe you have to get in a different mindset sometimes to figure out the software, but that's largely true on all platforms.

defcon.klaxon · Aug 7, 2015

danatomega said:
Why would you wonder if AD is reliable and trustworthy?

Simply because I've never dealt with them. In the pro audio industry (in which I have a good bit of experience) the companies that try to take the "super low budget price" angle are typically of poor quality, and it's not worth the hassle of a lower price but of poor performance. I don't have a lot of experience in the PLC world, so I wasn't sure if the same thing would happen here.

Those that use them are quite satisfied. They're quite capable devices. Good support and software free or inexpensive.

Ok cool.

Maybe you have to get in a different mindset sometimes to figure out the software, but that's largely true on all platforms.

Yeah that's one of the questions I had; you may get cheaper hardware but is the software usable and does it have good support? If not, it would be good to know to avoid that pitfall.

defcon.klaxon · Aug 7, 2015

GaryS said:
some jobs it's just better to walk away from
if agree to the job on the cheap to keep the customer happy when things go bad you end up having to fix it at a loss and the customer is still not happy with you.
it better to have them call you in after to fix the problems on a T&M bases

I don't mean to say that I'm working on a "lowball" sort of job, quite the opposite; the firm I work for does elect to pass on jobs if we don't think it's a good fit. I'm simply trying to tailor hardware spec choices with the budget and desires of the client.

defcon.klaxon · Aug 7, 2015

jstolaruk said:
Allen Bradley Micrologix 1400 or 5370 Compactlogix, and Siemens S7-1200. Programming time has to be a consideration and most of my library code is around these models verses Automation Direct stuff.

Ok cool, thanks for the suggestions. One thing I'm definitely trying to keep in mind is programming time since learning a new IDE can be quite time intensive. What I'd like to do is be able to be proficient with a couple systems so that we can spec them as per the job requirements and have go-to solutions.

Bit_Bucket_07 · Aug 7, 2015

defcon.klaxon said:
I was wondering what PLC solutions you guys would suggest when a customer is "budget conscious". Now I realize that's kind of an odd question to answer, being that we always need to be cognizant of budget...that being said, I would guess you guys when spec-ing a job would be cognizant of your customer and what is "affordable" to them...for example, I am developing water/wastewater controls for a municipality who wanted all the features of Wonderware and didn't mind the price tag, but I also did some work on a system for a *very* small town who couldn't even begin to afford a system like that, and we used an ICLinks PLC that was much cheaper. I've seen places with "budget" PLC systems like AutomationDirect, but I don't know if their systems are reliable and trustworthy. I'd love to hear what you guys would spec if you were working on a small, budget conscious project.

I've found Automation Direct products to be trustworthy and reliable. Their support is also much better than what you can expect from some of the more expensive brands.

adisharr · Aug 7, 2015

Another vote for Automation Direct. I've had questions about some of the cpu's that the firmware developer himself answered.

I've also never had a bad PLC from them and have used dozens of their various models (Click, DL205, DL05/06/105, Do-More, etc..)

OkiePC · Aug 7, 2015

We use a lot of Micrologix1400. The software is hard to beat in my opinion, but I have been using it for ten years. We also have some financially challenged municipal customers. One of them is already using the DL-06 and has not had any hardware issues aside from a failed analog card, but lightning will blow up anything.

We are going to be using the P-2000 for another job coming up soon. With free software we can install on the customer PC for remote support and modifications, and the very low hardware cost in this analog intensive little operation, we felt like it was a good choice. I think the software is okay, but I will probably spend a little more time in development than I would with RSLogix500.

For SCADA we have a lot of customers using DAQFactory. For $149 per runtime (we have the Pro developer license and hardware key) it is a bargain. We have looked at using Archie's Advanced HMI, but have not had the time to dig into it enough to really test it.

Doug-P · Aug 7, 2015

adisharr said:
I've also never had a bad PLC from them and have used dozens of their various models (Click, DL205, DL05/06/105, Do-More, etc..)

I like the products (not a developer or contractor) but I did replace a bunch of memory caps and serial port resistors on the DL-105 series to keep them going.

adisharr · Aug 7, 2015

Doug-P said:
I like the products (not a developer or contractor) but I did replace a bunch of memory caps and serial port resistors on the DL-105 series to keep them going.

Interesting, were the caps leaky? I used probably 2-3 of the DL105's years ago.

boneless · Aug 7, 2015

We use S7 300 for most of our stuff, and are starting to implement S7 1200 as part of a more budget friendly approach. The difference in price between the two is immense.

In the past we have used unitronics (combined PLC and HMI), never really liked them.

defcon.klaxon · Aug 7, 2015

OkiePC said:
We use a lot of Micrologix1400. The software is hard to beat in my opinion, but I have been using it for ten years. We also have some financially challenged municipal customers. One of them is already using the DL-06 and has not had any hardware issues aside from a failed analog card, but lightning will blow up anything.

We are going to be using the P-2000 for another job coming up soon. With free software we can install on the customer PC for remote support and modifications, and the very low hardware cost in this analog intensive little operation, we felt like it was a good choice. I think the software is okay, but I will probably spend a little more time in development than I would with RSLogix500.

For SCADA we have a lot of customers using DAQFactory. For $149 per runtime (we have the Pro developer license and hardware key) it is a bargain. We have looked at using Archie's Advanced HMI, but have not had the time to dig into it enough to really test it.

All very helpful info, thanks so much for chiming in. Financially challenged municipals is a very good way to put it and they very much appreciate when we can provide a solution that doesn't break the bank.

What your go-to PLC for budget conscious projects?

defcon.klaxon

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RussB

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jstolaruk

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GaryS

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danatomega

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defcon.klaxon

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defcon.klaxon

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adisharr

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boneless

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defcon.klaxon

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