Survey: How Often Do You Utilize 1732 ArmoBlock I/O in your designs?

1732 ArmorBlock I/O has been around for quite a while and seems like a great way to distribute I/O.

On a recent job, where I spec'd out 1732-8X8M12DR ArmorBlock I/O, we found that our A.B. distributor didn't have any of the modules in stock at any of their locations and we had to scramble to find one - eventually from another distributor.

Just wondering how often all of you are using ArmoBlock I/O modules in your designs and how often you run into supply issues?

Also wondering how many of you prefer similar modules from other manufacturers over the ArmoBlock I/O?

Nick

My plant is exclusively Siemens and I have been using their equivalent (ET200 ECO PN) without issues for the last 12 months or so.
I also find that my distributors do not keep much of this range in stock and typically I have to wait 5 days for delivery.
Because of the type of project work we do (and because we have our own maintenance stock in our stores), the 5 day wait is not a problem.
I find the convenience of being able to use pre-made M12 leads and plug and play to the sensors far outweighs the need for a bit better planning.

A 5-day delivery time would have been fine. In this case, delivery time was on the order of a number of weeks, as it appeared A.B. didn't have any in stock either.

I considered similar products from Turck or Murr, but we managed to find a supplier with stock on-line and ended up staying with the A.B. part.

Any Turck or Murr I/O Block users out there that would care to comment on their experiences with those products with ControlLogix or CompactLogix based control systems? (Or similar products from other manufacturers?)

I have used both the Devicenet and Ethernet modules from Turck and A/B - both work good. Our A/B pricing is actually better then Turcks at the moment so we have been using A/B.

Never had issue with either of them with CPLX and CLX systems.

We're pretty much an all AB shop but we use Murr for our distributed I/O pretty extensively. Cube 67 specifically. It goes into the I/O tree as a generic Ethernet module.

They system is pretty slick, you buy a "bus node" which is the module with the Ethernet connection. The bus has 4 ports which can connect 4 I/O blocks each (or maybe it's 8, I can't remember at the moment). Their selection of modules dwarfs AB's Armorblock line. The I/O modules are connected with a single cable that carries power and comms (6 pin M12).

Support has always been good. They'll do training, always respond quickly to calls and have even visited sites to do training/support for our end users.

The one thing that used to be a little bit of a pain is how the modules map. When you connect up a system, they map the I/O depending on the order that the modules are connected (starting with the top left port). So if you add blocks later in the middle of the system, it will throw I/O mapping off for everything after. This problem has been solved though with a newly released bus node that allows custom mapping.

Setting up a system is pretty easy. They have a tool to figure out your mapping offline. When the system powers up it automatically maps all the devices connected, you just get into it's web page, set it's IP address and save the mapping to flash.

The Turck is a much better product. AB can't do cables. Even the AB rep couldn't get the cables right. I ended up buying all of my cables from Truck and just the IO blocks from AB. When I did the project last year AB only had 16 (of the 24 I needed) in stock and Turck had 560 in stock. Had to delay part of the project because of AB not stocking the stuff they push!

Has anyone used the Ethernet/IP I/O blocs from IFM?

One of the local distributors was suggesting them as a potential alternative to the ArmoBlock I/O blocks.