Trio motion.

Elcan

Lifetime Supporting Member
Join Date
Apr 2008
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NC
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Hi all,
A customer wants to replace the Allen Bradley PLCs with Trio PLCs in all the coming motion projects. And the drives will be Kollmorgen.
I hadn't heard about Trio until recently, and there aren't many threads talking about here.
I've took a look at the Trio software (Motion Perfect), and I learned that I will be missing things that I love, like UDTs and Add-Ons.
And the user interface doesn't seem to be very intuitive for me.

Is anybody around programming Trio PLCs?
Are you happy with this controller and software?
How easy is to create the Trio equivalent for an AB program?
Any comments about Kollmorgen?

Thank you!
 
Based on the no responses, it seems that not many people use Trio Motion in our community...
The last post mentioning Trio were 3 years ago.
 
personally, I'd be tempted to ask my Trio and Kollmorgen salesmen for a few referrals from some of their previous satisfied customers ...

maybe they really have created a "better mousetrap" ... if so, they should welcome a chance to prove it ...
 
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personally, I'd be tempted to ask my Trio and Kollmorgen salesmen for a few referrals from some of their previous satisfied customers ...

maybe they really have created a "better mousetrap" ... if so, they should welcome a chance to prove it ...

They don't have to convince me, since our customer already made the decision...
 
Is anybody around programming Trio PLCs?
Are you happy with this controller and software?
How easy is to create the Trio equivalent for an AB program?
Any comments about Kollmorgen?

Thank you!

sorry - somehow I misunderstood ... I thought (based on your questions) that you were interested in hearing some pros-and-cons about the Trio/Kollmorgen equipment ... since there don't seem to be too many forum members with that type of knowledge - then I thought that maybe some previous customers might be able to shed some light on the subject ...

They don't have to convince me, since our customer already made the decision...

well then - it looks like you have a "journey of discovery" ahead of you ... please come back from time to time and let us know how it turns out ... I'm certain that I won't be the only one who would be interested in the comparisons with Allen-Bradley that you'll be able to make ...

best of luck with your project ...
 
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sorry - somehow I misunderstood ... I thought (based on your questions) that you were interested in hearing some pros-and-cons about the Trio/Kollmorgen equipment ... since there don't seem to be too many forum members with that type of knowledge - then I thought that maybe some previous customers might be able to shed some light on the subject ...
I AM interested in hearing about the pros and cons! The fact that I HAVE to use it doesn't mean I won't appreciate any comments about Trio. :)
I'm sure SOMEBODY around here is using it, but they are so few people in that select group, that the chances of anybody from that group visiting this site, since the day I posted this thread, are slim.

well then - it looks like you have a "journey of discovery" ahead of you ... please come back from time to time and let us know how it turns out ... I'm certain that I won't be the only one who would be interested in the comparisons with Allen-Bradley that you'll be able to make ...

best of luck with your project ...
Yes... a journey I was not expecting to do. :(
 
Has your customer said why he wants to change from Allen Bradley to Trio?

Will the Trio PLCs have the functionality that he requires - has he seen them in action somewhere else?

or is is a budget decision, one that he may regret......?
 
Time to get in touch with the local Kollmorgen representative and distributor of the product line to see what kind of local support is available.
My only experience with that product is as a user. There were several axes on a line of machinery I supported for a few years. They did everything they were supposed to do. I never had to do anything more than troubleshooting, never had to modify anything. My impression was that they suffered from a higher than average rate of component failure.
 
Has your customer said why he wants to change from Allen Bradley to Trio?
Will the Trio PLCs have the functionality that he requires - has he seen them in action somewhere else?
or is is a budget decision, one that he may regret......?
It seems that they have a person in upper management who decided to go that way, and no more details were given.
 
My only experience with that product is as a user. There were several axes on a line of machinery I supported for a few years. They did everything they were supposed to do. I never had to do anything more than troubleshooting, never had to modify anything. My impression was that they suffered from a higher than average rate of component failure.
Thank you for sharing!
 
Trio as a motion controller are excellent. Their editor is garbage. You are stuck with Trio BASIC, nothing else. To use it as a plc is going to be a pita.
Iirc, there are 2 fast task and the others fill in the gaps. You have to think differently to plc programming; the program execution can be held whilst waiting for an event. Their global variables are addressed as VR(0) to VR(1023) but this varies by controller.
Local vars are just defined as you go without datatype. Last time I used it, and I bet it ain't changed, there was nowhere to define these. If you use a var, then typo later on, you've just defined a new variable! Debug that. I used Trio from late 1990s for abot 10 years. I saw it again recently, and it all looked familiar.
I will reirerate though, as a motion controller I haven't used anything better. Just as good maybe, but not better.
 
Trio as a motion controller are excellent. Their editor is garbage. You are stuck with Trio BASIC, nothing else. To use it as a PLC is going to be a pita.
They currently have ladder logic, function block, sequential chart, and structured text. However, the distributor advised me to NOT use other than Trio Basic (?!)

You have to think differently to PLC programming.
Yes, I noticed. As I said, no UDTs, no Add-Ons, for example.

Local vars are just defined as you go without datatype. Last time I used it, and I bet it ain't changed, there was nowhere to define these. If you use a var, then typo later on, you've just defined a new variable!
Well, now they allow you to the variable declarations compulsory.

I will reiterate though, as a motion controller I haven't used anything better. Just as good maybe, but not better.
For many nowadays applications, you need the power of a decent PLC.
 
It seems that they have a person in upper management who decided to go that way, and no more details were given.
In my experience, that never turns out well...


It often turns out to have been a decision based on a brother-in-law or golfing buddy that means nothing tangibly important to that upper management person, but they still expect it to all come out fine. They often think of control systems suppliers like they think of raw materials suppliers.
 
+1 for what pp said.
The other think I’ve found useful is the terminal window, you can issue/execute most commands directly from here by just typing. Very useful for testing.!

But, they are a Motion Controller not a PLC.!!
Sure, they can do similar functions but only the most simple without creativity.
 

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