ControLogix Spare IO Channels

Hi all,

Is anybody aware of an easy way to find out which IO channels are not referenced or aliased in a program?

I've been sent a site copy of a program and it would be great to be able to be able to quickly determine which IO channels are spare for use in our project.

Thanks,

Matt

The only way I know is to go to the Controller Tags, expand out the Local I/O. Right click on each point and select "Go to cross reference for Local.x.x.Data.x". That will show you all the place were that point is used in the code.

Bullzi said:

The only way I know is to go to the Controller Tags, expand out the Local I/O. Right click on each point and select "Go to cross reference for Local.x.x.Data.x". That will show you all the place were that point is used in the code.

Click to expand...

I use this for small systems and upgrades, but when there's 1000 I/O and we're adding in another 100, it would be great to be have a little tool that say's "here's the unused channels". Of course this doesn't guarantee that they aren't referenced by SCADA or similar, but it's a 99% chance it's free.

That's one of the things that really annoys me about RS5000. It's supposed to be so advanced, yet it lacks a popular, heavily used feature (tag usage maps) on it's more "primitive" counterpart. You'd think someone would have thrown that in at some point in the 21 revisions they've done so far.

Matt1234 said:

I use this for small systems and upgrades, but when there's 1000 I/O and we're adding in another 100, it would be great to be have a little tool that say's "here's the unused channels". Of course this doesn't guarantee that they aren't referenced by SCADA or similar, but it's a 99% chance it's free.

Click to expand...

So, why not start with the Electrical prints??

Seems to me you have to figure out where you can wire additional IO too first, even if Logix5000 could tell you what is available does that mean you understand where the physical location of the new field device is in-relation to a control panel to be wired? In my opinion going through electrical prints is by far easier and quicker then fumbling through software. Tells you more about the system and indicates if your existing IO can even handle the additional load.

Paully's5.0 said:

So, why not start with the Electrical prints??

Seems to me you have to figure out where you can wire additional IO too first, even if Logix5000 could tell you what is available does that mean you understand where the physical location of the new field device is in-relation to a control panel to be wired? In my opinion going through electrical prints is by far easier and quicker then fumbling through software. Tells you more about the system and indicates if your existing IO can even handle the additional load.

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The site has 100's of drawings and none have been kept up to date

As we identify candidates we have an electrician go round with a camera and take photos to guarantee it's actually spare.

Matt1234 said:

The site has 100's of drawings and none have been kept up to date

As we identify candidates we have an electrician go round with a camera and take photos to guarantee it's actually spare.

Click to expand...

that is the norm over here,
NO FN DRAWINGS UP TO DATE
I subcontract to a company we supply - even CAD updates but their masters are not on cad and no-one wants to spend the time/MONEY to update them.
so as usual - somewhere - there if a draw of a file of loose sheets that are useless too all others - and of course those who dont know what they are throw them out.
I had an Engineer at Toyota that, rather than update electrical drawings (his task), he liquid papered photocopies, it took him 8 years to make all our masters useless - I left

Have you tried cross-referencing the I/O module from the I/O Configuration tree? You can select to cross-reference "By Tag" to see what Alias tags have been assigned.

Not perfect, but I use it all the time.

OG

Matt1234 said:

The site has 100's of drawings and none have been kept up to date

Click to expand...

Understandable, but if that is the case then I can't see how anybody can ask RSLogix to make up for it. Besides, who's to say your program has been kept up too? How much "dead" code could exist and even if RSLogix could tell you the availability, certainly doesn't mean it's doing anything.

I suppose my point is, that a physical audit is in order. The site needs to pay for it one way or another. It's a pain in the butt I know, but still needs to be done on some level. Heck, even on a "good" set of prints, if I go to site and am modifying an existing system I still do an audit to validate or invalidate the prints that I do have.

You could always export your tags into CSV and start with IO that has comments on it, and which do not. You can at least build an IO-list of sorts and go head to your panels. If terminals have IO wired and the IO is commented in the code it should clear up a lot of confusion, or at least get you close to the "initial" commissioning state of the system. From there start to fill in the gaps or just compare IO portions which are not wired and mark as such on your IO.

The only way I know is to go to the Controller Tags, expand out the Local I/O. Right click on each point and select "Go to cross reference for Local.x.x.Data.x". That will show you all the place were that point is used in the code.

Click to expand...

Instead of cross reference. Use the drop down arrow by Data. It will show all bits if used in program they will be grayed out.

You can also select Unused (along with others) as an option in you tag files.
Depending on your version this could be a drop down list or a button to open a selection window.

Maybe this is obvious...

When you do the cross reference in controller tags, you only do one per I/O card. Local:5:I will get you all references to an input card in slot 5 of the local chassis.

In the tags, sort by alias. Look at the IO cards, and the inputs that are tagged in them. When one isn't used, it isn't aliased. Period. If you have a system where somebody actually added all the available IO, hopefully they are marked "Spare". Still, you have to check to see if they were used and just not documented.