Firejo
Member
I responded to a post that involved a 5069 PAC and within that post someone gave me a good suggestion which was to start a new thread about what I had commented on which was how the new Logix platform has some differences that are noteworthy (to paraphrase).
So the background is that I’ve been doing some limited testing of a 5069 processor (limited because I’m getting geared up for Automation Fair and don’t have time to go into the details I’d like to at this point, but I digress). In that testing I’ve noted two things that has the made me realize that this new platform isn’t just another Logix processor but something different that will require a fundamental change in the way somethings are done. Don’t get me wrong I’m not suggesting that this is good or bad, just different but because it’s a ControlLogix/CompactLogix some of us might get caught off guard when working with them for the first time. At very least they will generate some posts here (and already have).
What my intent with this post is to get generate conversations and get feedback on what people are seeing for themselves and maybe even comments on what they think about the changes.
For me two things that I’ve observed so far are the change in communications I.E. the “path” structure is different (although I don’t know details) and the I/O structure has changed. For the latter, (in my experience) in previous version of all Allen Bradley PLC/PAC’s, the discrete inputs and outputs, with respects to “on or off” are represented by a single word with each channel having a single bit. In the new platform you still have each channel’s “on or off” status represented by a single bit but they aren’t made up into a single word but rather they are part of a larger word that includes a lot more information about the module and the channels. Please note that I’ve got about ½ hour into looking at this, so I might be missing some details but the long and short is it’s different and what I used to do to read or write discrete I/O has to change. Not a bad thing, in fact I love challenges and figuring these kinds of thing out so I’m looking forward to when I will have time to dig in deep. I just hope it’s not because I have to figure out an answer for a customer but rather because I have time to “play”.
So the background is that I’ve been doing some limited testing of a 5069 processor (limited because I’m getting geared up for Automation Fair and don’t have time to go into the details I’d like to at this point, but I digress). In that testing I’ve noted two things that has the made me realize that this new platform isn’t just another Logix processor but something different that will require a fundamental change in the way somethings are done. Don’t get me wrong I’m not suggesting that this is good or bad, just different but because it’s a ControlLogix/CompactLogix some of us might get caught off guard when working with them for the first time. At very least they will generate some posts here (and already have).
What my intent with this post is to get generate conversations and get feedback on what people are seeing for themselves and maybe even comments on what they think about the changes.
For me two things that I’ve observed so far are the change in communications I.E. the “path” structure is different (although I don’t know details) and the I/O structure has changed. For the latter, (in my experience) in previous version of all Allen Bradley PLC/PAC’s, the discrete inputs and outputs, with respects to “on or off” are represented by a single word with each channel having a single bit. In the new platform you still have each channel’s “on or off” status represented by a single bit but they aren’t made up into a single word but rather they are part of a larger word that includes a lot more information about the module and the channels. Please note that I’ve got about ½ hour into looking at this, so I might be missing some details but the long and short is it’s different and what I used to do to read or write discrete I/O has to change. Not a bad thing, in fact I love challenges and figuring these kinds of thing out so I’m looking forward to when I will have time to dig in deep. I just hope it’s not because I have to figure out an answer for a customer but rather because I have time to “play”.