Citect SCADA - WIN 911 integration

EICS_2

Member
Join Date
Mar 2015
Location
Melbourne
Posts
49
I have just ordered "Win 911 enterprise" alarm notification software for mobile SMS/Email alerts from my Citect SCADA V7.2 system.

Software is on its way, in the interim i thought i would ask if anyone had experience in setting this up.

Anyone in Melbourne Australia done this and interested in doing a project?
 
I have just ordered "Win 911 enterprise" alarm notification software for mobile SMS/Email alerts from my Citect SCADA V7.2 system.

Software is on its way, in the interim i thought i would ask if anyone had experience in setting this up.

Anyone in Melbourne Australia done this and interested in doing a project?

I haven't used Win911 but I have used a couple of others, i would say unless it integrates through the Citect API send it back and buy one that does, the one we used that used OPC was terrible......
 
I have used Win911 with Rockwell FT View SE and GE iFix... Works like a charm... haven't had a chance to try it on Citect but the Win911 software is great...
 
thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.

please explain "API's" i have not heard this term before?

i did approach Schneider (Citect SCADA) and they recommended Win 911 as they are an automation partner (maybe for wonderware only)
 
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I prefer to do this functionality using MS SQL Server Express. It is free product & works very well for email notifications. If you were using Microsft Scada system, MS SQL is very tightly & natively integrated. Also you will be using most current Microsoft technology instead of old technology used in the non Microsoft scada systems. Citect has some poor man's support for MS SQL Server. I agree with tragically1969 that APIs will work much better than OPC. API stands for Application Programmer's Interface.
 
I prefer to do this functionality using MS SQL Server Express. It is free product & works very well for email notifications. If you were using Microsft Scada system, MS SQL is very tightly & natively integrated. Also you will be using most current Microsoft technology instead of old technology used in the non Microsoft scada systems. Citect has some poor man's support for MS SQL Server. I agree with tragically1969 that APIs will work much better than OPC. API stands for Application Programmer's Interface.

Scadadoctor

I have no idea why you keep telling people that MS VB is a decent alternative to a SCADA platform, it isn't, it doesn't offer the correct drivers, offers no redundancy and its development would be very intensive.

I have been on the receiving end of home rolled SCADA systems before using similar technology, they are incredibly difficult to support and upgrade and are generally a bad idea, I for one would not entertain one on a site I was ever looking after.

And to the OP, API is Application Programming Interface, it defines a set of instructions and routines which can be used to allow direct access to the application rather than using OPC or other connectors.
 
Scadadoctor

I have no idea why you keep telling people that MS VB is a decent alternative to a SCADA platform, it isn't, it doesn't offer the correct drivers, offers no redundancy and its development would be very intensive.

I have been on the receiving end of home rolled SCADA systems before using similar technology, they are incredibly difficult to support and upgrade and are generally a bad idea, I for one would not entertain one on a site I was ever looking after.

And to the OP, API is Application Programming Interface, it defines a set of instructions and routines which can be used to allow direct access to the application rather than using OPC or other connectors.

Actually, now i understand after having looked at your website in your profile, if you want to use people to use your product then just say so, no need to try and rubbish other systems in the pursuit of business......
 
Trgically1969, No offense to anyone, just a tech discussion. 'rubbish' is not a good professional word to use for poor experience or knowledge about something. We have been using & delivering Microsoft VS solutions since 1992 & they have worked very well for us & the end users. We have built numerous apps using 3rd party HMI systems also & fixed/patched a lot of problematic solutions. We are exposing users to Microsoft products & solutions - folks who are using MS Windows OS. If you have had problems using VB, as much as I know 90% of the 3rd party (to Microsoft) HMI/SCADA products use VBA (crippled version of VB6) for scripting & are built using MS Visual Studio. I suggest you have a session with us to get exposed to the solutions we have built, before making any general comments. This will be an eye-opener & very educational for you. No 'pursuit of business' just sharing good technical ideas, concepts & cleaner solutions. Cheers.
 
Scadadoctor said:
No 'pursuit of business'...

Could have fooled me...

Scadadoctor said:
You may consider doing this in contrologix directly. We have done this way on multiple cases. Using an external box adds a layer, a dependency & processing delays. I can send you an example on request. You must use ver 17 or newer & a newer than ENBT module.
Will be glad to help you.
[email protected]

Scadadoctor said:
You can use a PC running windows (if one is available). We have a .net class or a really inexpensive activeX for clogix that you can use to exchange any kind of data between the 2 PLCs. You can also use another Ethernet module in one of the 2 PLCs. Both solutions will use another layer of hardware. For .net solution, get it from our web site www.controlsystemtools.com. If you have questions, contact me. Good luck.
[email protected]

Scadadoctor said:
I would advise using Microsoft products for HMI, instead of the 3rd party products. You will have so much power & flexibility. The terminal support is natively built-in & very inexpensive. Let me know if you need any help. [email protected]

Scadadoctor said:
I have done similar activity using Microsoft Visual Studio easily with Twido. I have done start/stop toggling via one button. I have used Citect & was disappointed by the limitations & high licensing costs. Citect being a very proprietary software & not a Microsoft product running in Microsoft Windows may not be capable of doing this. I will be glad to help you with this.

From a 10-year-old thread:
Scadadoctor said:
We have a n-out of m Matrix Voting in place. We have a very large Logix 5000 infrastructure created that makes the PLC work as a very large 'configurable' DCS. As part of the cause & effect or SAFE charts for a safety shutdown system (which is a small part of the whole system) it handles n out of m voting. Off course n & m have to be reasonable value. The Microsoft HMI helps 'configure' the 'triggers' as inputs & the Shutdown effected output devices, as well as 'n' & 'm' values. The outputs can also be of unlimited quantity & a mix of PIDs, DOs, valves, pumps & a lot of other things. The input 'triggers' could be any quantity of DIs, internal PLC bits or other 'events'. For each 'row' of the SIS system's safe chart the triggers are configurable as are the outputs for a column. The logic execution is event based, so it does not 'tax' the scan time of the PLC. We cannot share the code as it is intertwined with a lot of other activities that are being supported. It is designed so an authorized user of the system can 'configure' the safe charts without using RSLogix5000. We can advise in general how to implement it. [email protected]

Scadadoctor said:
You can use Microsoft MS SQL Server Express & MS Visual Studio Community Edition for almost no licensing costs. you can get the drivers at www.controlsystemtools.com with working examples & implement it. We have done it working with thousands of filed devices, collecting over a million tags, comparable in performance to the traditional heavy duty historians, data analytics & reporting solutions. This way you do not depend on any non Microsoft vendors products. Contact me if you need any help. Cheers.
[email protected]

I haven't seen any explicit detail on how to help anyone with anything from any of your posts, only encouragement to email you or go to your website (or search keywords that will lead to your website). You are on a forum dedicated to helping each other out with PLC's, HMI's and industrial SCADA systems, and yet only offering vague advice and insisting that we're all doing it wrong and we should be using Microsoft systems that very few of us wish to get involved with.

I don't know how others are feeling, but to me it feels like you are beginning to wear out your welcome.
 
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Trgically1969, No offense to anyone, just a tech discussion. 'rubbish' is not a good professional word to use for poor experience or knowledge about something. We have been using & delivering Microsoft VS solutions since 1992 & they have worked very well for us & the end users. We have built numerous apps using 3rd party HMI systems also & fixed/patched a lot of problematic solutions. We are exposing users to Microsoft products & solutions - folks who are using MS Windows OS. If you have had problems using VB, as much as I know 90% of the 3rd party (to Microsoft) HMI/SCADA products use VBA (crippled version of VB6) for scripting & are built using MS Visual Studio. I suggest you have a session with us to get exposed to the solutions we have built, before making any general comments. This will be an eye-opener & very educational for you. No 'pursuit of business' just sharing good technical ideas, concepts & cleaner solutions. Cheers.

You need to read more carefully, I used rubbish in the context of that's what you are doing to the SCADA platforms that 90% of us here have been delivering for over 10 years, in nearly all of your posts you imply they are poor relations compared to your MS/VB/SQL solutions.

As above in ASF's post, if you have a genuine piece of advice to help sort an issue then post it, if not then don't just point them to your solution, it adds nothing and helps nobody.

And let's clear one thing up Microsoft don't have, never have had and never will have a SCADA system so stop misleading people and using the term SCADA around MS.
 
By the way - I have used about 10 SCADA systems over the years and still have not found anything as good as the Citect trending system and display. There are other issues with Citect but the trending is superb - so is the machine concept. I just wish they would have one database with a spreadsheet type layout so that one can see what is attached to what. for example, tags with alarms and trends attached to the tags all on the one page in spreadsheet form and continuous and one shot monitoring of all the points - the one thing I really liked about FIX. The guy years ago in charge of Citect development and all the attendees at a conference thought it was a brilliant idea. He was going to implement it and then left after the company was taken over - never happened. Bugger!
 
By the way - I have used about 10 SCADA systems over the years and still have not found anything as good as the Citect trending system and display. There are other issues with Citect but the trending is superb - so is the machine concept. I just wish they would have one database with a spreadsheet type layout so that one can see what is attached to what. for example, tags with alarms and trends attached to the tags all on the one page in spreadsheet form and continuous and one shot monitoring of all the points - the one thing I really liked about FIX. The guy years ago in charge of Citect development and all the attendees at a conference thought it was a brilliant idea. He was going to implement it and then left after the company was taken over - never happened. Bugger!

You and me both, that would be the SQL back end they have been threatening for years, along with vector graphics etc.

I have been told by a fairly reliable internal source that the majority of the Citect developers have now moved their resources to Wonderware, so we will see what happens in the near future.

Never used Wonderware but if they take the Citect development environment and architecture and put that onto a decent back end I will be happy.
 

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