Benefits and Limitations of an AB?

I've seen multiple PLC-5 submerged in rainwater and survive. The obsolete servo amplifiers in those panels didn't fare nearly as well.

I dropped a PLC-3 down the stairs once, picked it up, pulled and re-seated that cards then turned it on and worked with it.
 
As others have stated, the SLC platform is obsolete and no longer supported by AB. I hate having to invest in old technology but in a lot of cases, changing platforms is not an option.

If platform vendor does not have to be AB, then my choice would be Beckhoff. You get loads of performance for a great price while still getting the latest technology. For just a conveyor system, among other reasons, I would not pay the price for a AB CompactLogix or ControlLogix system.
 
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Some are still there but some of their SLC's are already gone and no longer available for sale.

That is NOT true, just because a 5/01 and 5/02 are no longer made it does not mean the whole line is not made... a SLC is more than two processors
 
That is NOT true, just because a 5/01 and 5/02 are no longer made it does not mean the whole line is not made... a SLC is more than two processors

If you look down to the next paragraph it states the 5/03 8k series of SLCs are gone too. Okay, maybe a few of the SLC processors are still available, but not for long. Its obvious that these are going away (very soon is my guess) as AB is systematically obsoleting the SLC line. The writing is literally on the wall.

So....now is your time to make the switch to Beckhoff in lieu of CompactLogix or ControlLogix. :p
 
Its obvious that these are going away (very soon is my guess) as AB is systematically obsoleting the SLC line. The writing is literally on the wall.
p

STOP guessing... the SLC 5/00 (brick) has been gone for 15 years, the 5/01 and 5/02 are not being made and the 5/03 is going away

All the older protocols are going away but Ethernet is here for a long time and will be supported and sold

really you need to just stop ;)
 
STOP guessing... the SLC 5/00 (brick) has been gone for 15 years, the 5/01 and 5/02 are not being made and the 5/03 is going away

All the older protocols are going away but Ethernet is here for a long time and will be supported and sold

really you need to just stop ;)

Okay, so in three posts, you went from they are all still here and supported, no problems and what am I talking about, to now just the 5/05 (Ethernet) is here and going?? Make up your mind, are the SLCs available and fully supported or not?? If its just the Ethernet (5/05), then say that. And if you say "for a long time" how long is that? Next year or two?? And No, I won't stop. The SLC platform is systematically being obsoleted. Take a look at their Product Life Cycle page and type in "1746". Almost all products listed are either at the end-of-life or "mature" and newer product available, aka CompactLogix. And what about the software - RSLogix500? Is that still supported and available, and for how much longer?

https://www.rockwellautomation.com/...lity-migration/lifecycle-status/overview.page
 
All the older protocols are going away but Ethernet is here for a long time and will be supported and sold
I know we disagree on Rockwell, but this is just not the case.

I have a CLX with Ethernet... I can even buy ethernet cards for it too and guess what?? I can't use Point IO (an Ethernet based Field IO) with it.

Why? The CPU firmware can only be upgraded to version X, but Point IO is only available from X+2 or something like that.



Assuming Rockwell is not going to screw people over with a "new" protocol that is a lot better, but will force people to upgrade is very naive.
 
I know we disagree....

Yes we do. (a lot)

What your talking about has nothing to do with SLC 5/05's, ControlLogix are not SLC's

cardosocea said:
Assuming Rockwell is not going to screw people over with a "new" protocol that is a lot better, but will force people to upgrade is very naive.

I have not idea what you are talking about
 
Traditionally we are very hard on students who post their homework questions while making little or no effort to answer them or who conceal that they are HNC class questions.

But I'll play along.

SLC-500 is a "mature" product. The first controllers came out in the late 1980's and the most popular modern model, the SLC-5/05, was introduced in 1993.

That means it's durable, and in wide use. Walk into a factory in North America and there are probably SLC's and call up a systems integrator and somebody will have the toolset and know how to use them.

But that's North America. In other parts of the world, Siemens or Mitsubishi or Omron are the leading brands that have the same degree of wide adoption and familiarity.

The popular brands are not just tough and well tested, their wide adoption, long life, and broad availability mean that they can typically provide longer service without breakdown, and that parts will be available for a long time and on short notice.

If I had an SLC-500 controller module fail today, I could have a replacement in two or three hours because there's a stocking distributor in my city. Even the fastest Internet-only distributors would take a day. In some situations, a day doesn't matter. In others, the difference in parts cost could be eaten up in a few minutes of downtime.

Hey, man thanks for the tips. I don't see why you're hard on students though? Like yeah if they're making no effort then that's fair enough, but how do you know how much effort someone is putting in? PLCs are complicated, I don't think there is anything wrong with students asking experts some questions for a little bit of help on there Homework, isn't that how people learn?

Thank you for the help though, and I'm saying that to everyone.
 
Hey, man thanks for the tips. I don't see why you're hard on students though? Like yeah if they're making no effort then that's fair enough, but how do you know how much effort someone is putting in? PLCs are complicated, I don't think there is anything wrong with students asking experts some questions for a little bit of help on there Homework, isn't that how people learn?

Unfortunately, the majority of the "homework posts" fall into the "just show me the code" category, without displaying any hint of what they have tried. I see in your original post that you had some extra information there than what we normally see, so to you, my young friend, I say bravo!

You'll also notice that we tend to derail threads away from the original context, but don't hold that against us. It also happens when we see something shiny.

For future homework questions, let us know it's homework, give us what you think the answer is (or show what you've done so far, if it's a program question), and we'll be happy to point you in the right direction.
 

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