Anyone with knowledge of Pro-Face HMIs (legacy- software questions)

My Winter project of revamping a plastic sheet extruder is starting to progress. I stopped by the customer on Friday and looked at the Davis Standard roll stand that they purchased on the 2nd hand market. It has a separate Compact Logix 5571S PLC rack, and it uses an HMI that I'm not familiar with... a Pro-Face AGP3600-T1-D24. I'll most likely need to do some modifications and will need to get a copy of the software to upload the HMI runtime to edit. I'm curious if there are folks active here who use this software. I did a Google board search, and the results were few, with not that many within the last 5 years.

Looking at the Proface.com website, I'm assuming the software I'll need is GP-Pro EX, p/n: EX-ED-V40, currently about $320 US. It's hard to get a feel for working with the software with so few posts. The most important question is will I be able to upload the runtime file to edit, and download the file. I'm assuming that'll be possible. Are there folks here that have thoughts about working with this HMI and software? Any quirks?

You can upload from and download to Proface HMIs with the transfer tool, it’s actually pretty painless. Wish I could say the same for the HMI software itself. It’s not that it’s bad per se, it’s just clunky. Functionality wise it’s fine, never did advanced stuff with it because we’ve used a Proface HMI exactly once but the basics are all there. I like the import features. I think the results are ugly though.

Hmmm... well, I'll see how it goes. As long as I can upload and edit, I guess that's the main part. There is a possibility that I'll upload it and use the design for a template, then switch to an Ignition HMI.

Currently using about 2 dozen Pro-Face HMI's in various capacities. The GP-Pro EX software I found was fairly straight forward to use.
Given a choice, I would rather use it than anything AB.

AutomationTechBrian said:

Hmmm... well, I'll see how it goes. As long as I can upload and edit, I guess that's the main part. There is a possibility that I'll upload it and use the design for a template, then switch to an Ignition HMI.

Click to expand...

Be advised that the Proface program can be password protected and if it is you will not be able to connect or upload, and it will ask for the current password if you try to download a new program if you don't do a factory reset.

I_Automation said:

Be advised that the Proface program can be password protected and if it is you will not be able to connect or upload, and it will ask for the current password if you try to download a new program if you don't do a factory reset.

Click to expand...

I know that's possible. They bought this from a 2nd-hand marketplace. That would be quite the can of worms if that happened. I haven't hooked up to the Control Logix CPU either to see if the program is accessible. However, I don't know how you could sell equipment on that marketplace that was password protected. But you know, thinking about it... I've learned enough about extruders from the last project with them... It wouldn't be an insurmountable task to re-create the controls. The hard part would maybe be the speed scaling between the different rolls, but even that could be overcome.

AutomationTechBrian said:

However, I don't know how you could sell equipment on that marketplace that was password protected.

Click to expand...

Many OEM's password protect their programs. I have done local work for foreign OEM's and many PLC's and HMI's had passwords.

I've been fortunate not to have many password protected machines. I can only think of one, and that was a Chinese machine with a Mitsubishi PLC. When I started doing PLC troubleshooting, I anticipated it happening all the time. Knock on wood, that hasn't been the case.

Evidently, in the world of plastic sheet extruders, the big machine manufacturers are PTI and Davis Standard. The large extruder that I resurrected in 2012 was PTI, using a SLC 5/05. There wasn't a password on any of it. I sometimes get the feeling that a lot of machines don't have passwords because it just makes it harder to keep their customers happy. I have a limited view of the world, though. Now and then I see the technical service departments get overwhelmed and have a hard time keeping up... and that's without passwords.

These extruders are not rocket science. I really can't imagine someone putting a password on the control components. There isn't any proprietary knowledge that is needed to make them work. We proved it to ourselves... after we finished the big PTI extruder, this customer found an old, smaller, 1980s extruder that they bought for "scrap" with old-school controls. I put a Micro 850 and a small 6" Panelview, updated the drives and motors from DC to AC, and we made it work. They just sold it recently to make room for this much bigger machine.

Don't forget, Bubba that worked there a couple years ago and made a few changes he thought of could have added a password to protect his genius idea.

Lol! Well I cross that road if I get to it. I don't have anything scheduled for this Friday, so I'll head up there with a 110v plug with pigtails and power up the PLC. I'll hoping the firmware is at least version 12 or higher (It really should be higher). I don't have anything earlier than v12 because I don't know how to overcome the need for the original disks.

If I can get into the CPU, then I'll buy the HMI software.

If my memory serves me right you can download GP Pro and use it without a license but it will only do greyscale. Which might be good enough to verify that it indeed does not have a password or if you're just looking to see the objects to use as a template.

I have used them quite a bit but prefer other models, they are one of the few HMIs that supports ROC protocol.

watch out that you don't configure the HMI to read a register that does not exist as the error handling in these units is less than great and it will error out plenty of unrelated stuff.

C McAlpine said:

If my memory serves me right you can download GP Pro and use it without a license but it will only do greyscale. Which might be good enough to verify that it indeed does not have a password or if you're just looking to see the objects to use as a template.

I have used them quite a bit but prefer other models, they are one of the few HMIs that supports ROC protocol.

watch out that you don't configure the HMI to read a register that does not exist as the error handling in these units is less than great and it will error out plenty of unrelated stuff.

Click to expand...

Thanks, that was helpful info.!

One thing I need to add that has made my life difficult in the past is if you are having a tag issue in the bottom it will tell you in the error message. Check your "Sampling" (trending in any other software package) as your errored tag or register might be in that.

GP-Pro EX is indeed the software you're looking for. It's very uncommon for most users to set a password protection as IMO it's a pain in the butt for the user months down the road or the next guy coming in should Scottie beam us up ahead of schedule.

I have installed several of these on modern versions, retrofitted and extracted older models and programs several times and it has been a relative breeze. When you do establish communication, one bug in some older models I can attest to you will want to know is that when you try to download, at times you may get a message that looks like this:

"connecting to display unit."
"starting password check."
"password is not set up."
"password check complete."
"starting to receive project."
"disconnecting from display unit."
"complete disconnecting from display unit."
"receiving project complete."
"failed to receive the project. Run operation again."

This is a bug in firmware and can be fixed by simply adding a "1" at the end of your project file name you have created as a template. So basically if your project was saved as Sample.prx, just name it Sample1.prx and it will complete the download successfully. This is the only pain I have run into with the units.

That said, the appearance can be made to look fairly modern with the use of jpegs and gradient coloring but the platform is certainly a little dated and archaic in nature but it's pretty straight forward and gets the job done for a good price. I use them on furnaces and a few wastewater lines and they do a good job. The IO and tagging works well and I got these talking directly to TCP/IP Encoders, Siemens & GE PLCs, etc. and the information flow is quick and I haven't had issues with them. Are there fancier high priced items and displays out there like Ignition, Wonderware and a multitude of high end screens....sure. Just comes down to cost and objective. I don't think Pro-Face is going anywhere soon if that is being asked.

OK, I hope that helps and I've worked with these a quite bit, so if you have any questions or run into any trouble, feel free to let me know.

I_Automation said:

Be advised that the Proface program can be password protected and if it is you will not be able to connect or upload, and it will ask for the current password if you try to download a new program if you don't do a factory reset.

Click to expand...

I’m sorry for bothering you with so old post, but could you please tell me how to perform factory reset to proface gp device. I got AGP3500 device with password-protected offline mode and I have nothing to do with it.