B&R NTCP 33 - is it dead?

ToolGuyFred

Member
Join Date
May 2007
Location
Nottingham
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145
I have two (more or less) identical machines, each fitted with a B&R NTCP 33 plc. One machine is refusing to respond to the "go" pulse from the machine up stream. The battery LED is out and the backup cell only measures 2.4V. I am wondering if the plc has lost its program?

I have no copy of the original program, either electronic or hard copy. I do not have a programming cable or software either. (I did enquire about this a year ago and was quoted £1800 which seems a little steep.)

I called the office and the guy there told me that this model was before his time and is contacting a colleague to get more information. He also told me that he believes that you can't upload the program from one PLC and download it to another. Is that the case? Am I completely stuffed? Does anyone else out there use this kit (and if so, why?). Anyone got a pdf of the manual?

Any help offered would be gratefully received (Especially if you are a UK expert who can revive our kit.) Thanks in advance.
 
I was wondering, you say you have two of these units that are more or less identical. You dont happen to have a photo of these PLC units do you? I ask because I know some of the B&R equipment and there is one series where it has an memory card that you can boot from. If this is the case with your units you could take the program from the one and load it into the other. It is quite a task to do without the programming software but it can be done. If you have a photo and can post it I will see what I can do to assist from this end. Have a great day.


ToolGuyFred said:
I have two (more or less) identical machines, each fitted with a B&R NTCP 33 plc. One machine is refusing to respond to the "go" pulse from the machine up stream. The battery LED is out and the backup cell only measures 2.4V. I am wondering if the plc has lost its program?

I have no copy of the original program, either electronic or hard copy. I do not have a programming cable or software either. (I did enquire about this a year ago and was quoted £1800 which seems a little steep.)

I called the office and the guy there told me that this model was before his time and is contacting a colleague to get more information. He also told me that he believes that you can't upload the program from one PLC and download it to another. Is that the case? Am I completely stuffed? Does anyone else out there use this kit (and if so, why?). Anyone got a pdf of the manual?

Any help offered would be gratefully received (Especially if you are a UK expert who can revive our kit.) Thanks in advance.
 
mrtweaver said:
I was wondering, you say you have two of these units that are more or less identical. You dont happen to have a photo of these PLC units do you? I ask because I know some of the B&R equipment and there is one series where it has an memory card that you can boot from. If this is the case with your units you could take the program from the one and load it into the other. It is quite a task to do without the programming software but it can be done. If you have a photo and can post it I will see what I can do to assist from this end. Have a great day.
BRplc.JPG


Sorry, its a bit dark in the panel - the flash picture was even worse. Does the fact that we have some outputs on point to the program still being intact?
 
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Ok you say that both machines are pratically identical. Lets hope that the software is as well. On the NTCP33 card you notice the EE32 card, this is the memory card. If the software was stored on the card then you are in luck. What I would recommend doing is replacing the battery in the bad unit just to make sure that is not causing any issue, then if the system still does not run the first thing I would do is take the EE32 card out of the unit that does not function and try it in the unit that does. Or course have the power off and the usual safety proceedures and ONE IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER HERE IS TO MAKE SURE THE SWITCH ON THE EE32 CARD IS IN THE WP setting. If the EE card from the non functioning unit works in the functioning unit then the problem is either the PLC or some IO not doing what it should.

The next step would require you to have a print out of the logic or to have the software and communication cable. This way you could find out what step it is on and what conditions need to be met. You dont happen to have these do you?

And the fact the outputs are on could indicated that the program is indeed intact it is hard to say with defininty.

Hope this helps. Have a great day.


ToolGuyFred said:
BRplc.JPG


Sorry, its a bit dark in the panel - the flash picture was even worse. Does the fact that we have some outputs on point to the program still being intact?
 
Good day to everybody Just happened to me today. What I did is replace the battery remove the card, re install the card with the togle switch on the upper stting. Power the plc back wait for a cuople of seconds and then toggle the switch to the WP position. It worked:). However, seeing some of the light on gave the hope that probably there was something still alive inside.
 
How old is that machine? I've been working heavily with B&R for a decade now, including retrofitting older machines, and I've never seen this product line (I have heard of their old "black box" line, which I guess this is). I'm assuming it programs with PG2000 (which I've never had to use) instead of Automation Studio. B&R should give you PG2000 (runs in DOS) for substantially less than an Automation Studio license and possibly for free. In any case, they should let you use the 30 day trial for free.

You're not going to find a PDF because it probably pre-dates PDFs. I've heard rumors that some German OEMs were installing these as late as 2005, but this line was obsoleted long before then. Good luck.

EDIT: I found a PDF! http://manuali.eltex.biz/Manuali_B&R/PKAT_E_3_1.pdf
 
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I asked a friend of mine in Austria (used to work for B&R) and it looks like the cable you need is a BRKAOL5 and the software is even older than PG2000 and is called ProSys.

They stopped selling these for new projects in the late 90s (this model came out in the mid 80s), so it is probably a few years shy of 20 years obsolete. Be careful if you start trying to swap things back and forth to troubleshoot, don't want to break a connector.
 
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I asked a friend of mine in Austria (used to work for B&R) and it looks like the cable you need is a BRKAOL5 and the software is even older than PG2000 and is called ProSys.

They stopped selling these for new projects in the late 90s (this model came out in the mid 80s), so it is probably a few years shy of 20 years obsolete. Be careful if you start trying to swap things back and forth to troubleshoot, don't want to break a connector.




hello every body. I need ProSys software .where can I download?
 
Hello
I´m from Germany not very good in technical english.
We have a ntcp33 working for an automatical galvanik. Now i have a Problem.
The ntcp is stopping after a short time of working. No entry is accepted.

Also the remote control does not react anymore.The program is on a chip so i can shut down completly und restart.
usually it works then at the first time, but not always.

So what can i do? is it possible to change the ntcp ?

Another question: is it possible to chance the program. I can´t find anybody who can programming the ntcp.
 

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