What is the oldest PLC system you have running?

JeffKiper

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JeffKiper
Join Date
Jun 2006
Location
Indiana
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I was at a plant today and found a water treatment system with a SLC 100 and 2 expansion racks still running. The customer didn't even know it was in there. They thought it was all relay logic.

Just a funny little surprise. Makes you smile every now and then.
 
We have a bunch of PLC5's... one PLC3 and another PLC2. These are running and powered, but no longer controlling anything. I think we're just seeing how long the LED's in the front work.
 
We currently have a Modicon 984 running a machine in our plant.
Operators are trained every year to run without the PLC for practice.
When it finally dies we will upgrade our "PLC Room" to a small panel.
 
One of my plants has a mid to late 80's GE Series 6 controlling the steam host to a potato chip factory. I'm afraid to even look at that thing the wrong way or it'll die on me.
 
Like others, we're slowly but surely upgrading our PLC5 & SLC processors. We still have a 5/15 from almost 30 years ago and a fixed I/O SLC5/01 that I programmed when working for an OEM in the early 1990's.
 
I believe my oldest is a PLC-5/15.
With Data Highway.

I also have five SLC-5/04's and five Logix 5550's.

And the programming packages with which I have downloaded and archived
the programs for all of the above.

Oh, wait. Bender One.
I believe it has a Micrologix 1500. The book is marked 2003 . . does that sound right?

Poet.
 
Sapper307 said:
One of my plants has a mid to late 80's GE Series 6 controlling the steam host to a potato chip factory. I'm afraid to even look at that thing the wrong way or it'll die on me.
Click to expand...
Those things were built to last. But there are lots of upgrade options if you ever wanted to replace it.

Back in the '90's/00's I worked for the company that deigned/built the S6PIO cards and associated software for doing the conversions. As long as you did the prep work it was a fairly painless process.
 
About 3 years ago a kiln that I installed in 1987 was switched off the last time. It had a Hitachi E series PLC programmed with this keyboard

programmer-pgmj.jpg


It also had a simple SCADA programmed by me on a 8088 computer.
The computer controlled the regulation loops directly through an Analog Devices I/O card.
The PLC only controlled the logical part of contacts and coils
 
Last edited:
Ozpeter said:
Those things were built to last. But there are lots of upgrade options if you ever wanted to replace it.

Back in the '90's/00's I worked for the company that deigned/built the S6PIO cards and associated software for doing the conversions. As long as you did the prep work it was a fairly painless process.
Click to expand...

Nowadays you'd probably have to convert S6 to 90/30 or 90/70, then convert it again to RX3i. I'll have to push that site to budget for an upgrade, its pretty ridiculous.
 
I have 1 client with 3 SLC150 running every day he will not upgrade until they fail and he loses production.
another running an AB9300 CNC
Others running PLC 2/ 2/16 2/17 2/30
 
Still have a customer with a PLC 2/17 and a HMI running Windows 4.11 with Wonderware. It's on an old Alvey palletizer that they say they are going to replace. Been saying that for 10 years now.
 

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