Getting Siemens PLC Software

There is small programming that has to be done for a S7 300 PLC. Most of the equipment here is Allen Bradley PLC except for this one Siemens S7 300. Rockwell makes it pretty simple for getting licenses but I cant seem to find where to get the siemens software. Or which version I need. Most of what I see it says SIMATIC STEP 7 V5.6...

This is the Siemens Canada Distributors webpage

That should let you know the distributor in your area.

It says "There is currently no contact partner available for your selection."

MattMatt9 said:

There is small programming that has to be done for a S7 300 PLC. Most of the equipment here is Allen Bradley PLC except for this one Siemens S7 300. Rockwell makes it pretty simple for getting licenses but I cant seem to find where to get the siemens software. Or which version I need. Most of what I see it says SIMATIC STEP 7 V5.6...

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Rockwell is as easy as everyone else to get licenses... on the other hand, getting a demo of the software is impossible but not so with most other manufacturers.



Since it's a S7-300, you can download the Simatic Step7 and use it for 15 days as a demo with full functionality. Would 15 days be enough for the change you have to do?

Probably. I'd obviously do my due diligence before purchasing so I knew what I was doing. Where is this free trial?

Here is the download for Step 7 Pro V5.6 SP2.

If you go up a page or 2 you can select different versions.

How do I find out which version I need?

Whichever one you want, really.

I have V5.4 and up on various PC's and laptops.

The only thing I was told once by a Siemens programmer I was working with on a project was on this system to NOT update the PLC programs to TIA Portal because of the old version of WonderWare the HMI's were using. The PLC's would take it, but the WonderWare wouldn't be able to communicate with them anymore.

Im asking though does it matter what version I have? 5.4, 5.5, 5.6? Are there like version 6 or 7? Im just asking because for Rockwell software, the version matters.

That is only on the Rockwell ControlLogix family. Any version of Step 7 from 5.4 up will connect and upload for you.

I do believe that using TIA you can upload but not change & download, I'm not sure about the 300 but we had a 400 where I originally had Step7 V4.xx, I decided to purchase TIA as that was the most up to date, however, found you could not download, I was then informed that I needed V5.5 as the PC was Win7, Siemens refused to take back TIA as it had been opened. so be aware.

How can you upload but not download? Whats the point of it then? But ok I will probably get v5.6 then

Also, I was wrong and it's a 21 day trial.

MattMatt9 said:

There is small programming that has to be done for a S7 300 PLC. Most of the equipment here is Allen Bradley PLC except for this one Siemens S7 300. Rockwell makes it pretty simple for getting licenses but I cant seem to find where to get the siemens software. Or which version I need. Most of what I see it says SIMATIC STEP 7 V5.6...

Click to expand...

Do you have an archive of the project?

As others have said, essentially all the V5 versions of Step 7 are as interchangeable as possible. Get the newest version, v5.6.

If you try to open a newer project (v5.6) in an older version (v5.4), if the new project uses an unsupported feature, that'll try to show you as much of the project as it can, but you probably won't be able to download.
If you try to open an old project in the new verison, it works fine. Make your changes, save, do whatever you need. As long as you don't activate any new features, the old version will be able to open it as if nothing special had happened.



TIA Portal is a separate beast. I like it, but managing software versions becomes a huge hassle.



FYI, you really really want to make sure you have an archive of the project. If you don't know where it is, it is worth a fair bit of effort to call around and beg people to find it. S7-300's don't store tag info or comments in the PLC, so if you have to upload, you essentially just see "Tag1" Tag2" etc.