Rice Lake 920i Scale HMI and data collection

I currently have a scale system and filling machine that uses a Rice Lake IQplus 355 HMI for weight indication and a MicroLogix 1200 PLC to run the machine itself.

Now MGT has decided they need data collection, so I am working on a data collection system using a ControlLogix PLC and Factory Talk Metrics for collection and reporting. All my research so far indicates that with an Ethernet/IP module installed the 920i SHOULD be able to collect batch and net weight data long enough for my ControlLogix to collect this data via Ethernet so I can generate reports via FT Metrics.

Before I go with the salesman's pitch and buy a couple of these I would like to know if anyone has any experience with this unit and Allen-Bradley systems compatability.

Thanks

Have seen it working but I have not done it personally on a Rice Lake weight head. Have done something like this with a Metter Toledo weight head.

Bare in mind that the Ethernet adapter you plug into the Rice Lake weight head gets its data from a serial port so your data transfer will not be faster than serial speeds.

Thanks. I met with the Rice Lake rep today and things went well, it looks like this HMI should not have a problem sending data to the ControlLogix PLC after each tote is filled, which can then be collected by FT Metrics for report generation. I don't think data speeds are going to be a big factor since this is not a high speed machine.

I an curious about your experience with the Mettler Toledo head, as I have two different MT scales I am going to have to do the same thing with in the near future, both via Ethernet to ControlLogix processors.

One is going to be an XS unit and the other a new IND 560.

Thanks

I did this exact thing with a 920. The 920 would write the weight value to a tag and I would read the tag and set it to a 0. This way I could continuously monitor the tag, and when the value wasn't a 0, I knew I had a new weight value. My 920 was part of a inline check weigher, weighing parts every 6 seconds with no speed issues, but this is relatively slow.