Siemens Drive ES Basic

[Mike_RH]

Can anyone tell me what this software will do, that Starter does not?

When I ask my local Siemens guys, the drive guy says its a PLC thing, the PLC guy says its a drive thing, and I going WTF?

When / why do I need it?

Thanks

[dskohio]

My understanding is that Drives ES will integrate into your Simatic Manager software. This way you can save one project file that contains your PLC program and your drives configuration.

[Mike_RH]

Yes, but how is that different than Starter (Which is free!)

[dchartier]

Hello Mike;
Have a look at the following information from dsiemens:
http://support.automation.siemens.co...ew/en/43265497
Summarized:

Advantages a Drive ES Basic installation with respect to all of the individual tools (STARTER Stand alone, SIMOCOM U/A and DriveMonitor)

• • Drives can be more easily integrated into the hardware configuration of SIMATIC S7
    using the Object Manager (SlaveOM and DeviceOM) instead of using GSD files.
  • Communication that also extends beyond network limits using routing in the SIMATIC and SIMOTION stations.
    Without Drive ES, the individual tools can only communicate with drives, which are
    connected to the same subnetwork (PROFIBUS, PROFINET) as the engineering PC/PG.
  • The tool can be directly called from the SIMATIC Manager in a context sensitive way.
    When this is done, all of the network infrastructure information is automatically transferred for the routing.
  • Data is archived/saved in the S7 project
  • Direct communication via PROFIBUS
    Without Drive ES, the DriveMonitor can only communicate with drives using the
    USS protocol via a serial interface or via a PROFIBUS-OPC server

Hope this helps,
Daniel Chartier

[Mike_RH]

Thanks Daniel,
That link helped, but I am still a little unsure of the difference (benefits) of Drive ES vs Starter.

[JesperMP]

This part is not true:
"Communication that also extends beyond network limits using routing in the SIMATIC and SIMOTION stations.
Without Drive ES, the individual tools can only communicate with drives, which are
connected to the same subnetwork (PROFIBUS, PROFINET) as the engineering PC/PG."
I have succesfully had routing with only STARTER and MM4 drives. With STARTER being connected via ethernet to the PLC which connected to the MM4 via Profibus.

And this part only pertains to Drivemonitor, not to STARTER:
"Direct communication via PROFIBUS
Without Drive ES, the DriveMonitor can only communicate with drives using the
USS protocol via a serial interface or via a PROFIBUS-OPC server"
STARTER can communicate via Profibus.

So I dont think there is much advantage to DRIVE ES Basic.

[Mike_RH]

Jesper, I have also used Starter routed from Ethernet to DP, and slso integrated with Step 7. Which is why I am confused about the benefits of Drive ES Basic.

Anymore comments / opinions?

[Mike_RH]

Just to give this a little bump.

What would be nice is a comparison table between Drive ES and Starter, showing / highlighting the differences.

Thanks

[JesperMP]

I think it boils down to what dskohio wrote.

[JRW]

I think post #4 explains it best

Mike- what other details are you looking for?

There's also another package called DriveES Simatic. This is a library of function blocks
for communication, converting drive parameters to data blocks, blocks for displaying alarms...etc