Yet another SCADA query.

Hi all,

Need some thoughts on choosing a low I/O count SCADA but with full functionality.( with none or low cost )

I do know pretty well some commercial platforms and lately working mainly with Ignition.

In this case need to quote an application involving max 20 field I/O's, around 20-30 internal tags. setup/calibration and report pages.

Basically will be collecting 4 analog values at around 100ms, calibrating min, max and after 2-3 hours compute the values and dump them into a report.
I prefer to keep all values in some database.

Ignition will do just perfect everything, except the price. Edge still to expensive for this, not to mention only 1-week data buffer.

Browsing the net and forum I am leaning towards these
1.VT SCADA Light
2. Advanced HMI

Others either have database issues, time/objects limitations or never heard of .

Any insights would be highly appreciated. ( With these or other platforms anyone is happy with )

Thank you
Sebastian

bScada is free, you pay for professional support. http://scada.com

I've quoted a project to use it, but haven't really had a good play with it yet.

Sampling as often as 100ms is not typically a scada task, but maybe 1s is more than ok?

spaderkung said:

Sampling as often as 100ms is not typically a scada task, but maybe 1s is more than ok?

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Why not? I've seen applications with over 10 PLC's where each was sending data at that rate and 500ms for "slower" data.

spaderkung : 100ms it's quite OK, depending on load on the notwork.
Just for sake of testing tried on one heavy loaded system to archive one tag at 100ms and on database can read values at intervals varying from 100ms~400ms. On light network chances to be OK are good.

But that's not the issue. I can increase sampling to whatever, even to 1sec.

Just need thoughts on SCADA with the specs from original post.

Jonnie_R : added bScada on my list.

Enyone else?

If you will actually make contact with Ignition(Inductive Automation) they will quote you a scaled down system for your exact needs.

It will have everything you need or want. BUT YOU HAVE TO ASK!!

Check RapidScada it's free and runs as web service.

https://rapidscada.org

a low I/O count SCADA but with full functionality.( with none or low cost )

Click to expand...

Why ?

I'm seriously asking the question. Why do you need a low-cost system ?

I recently was assigned to evaluate a no-cost HMI solution for a machine, and spent over a week discovering many of its limitations. I reverted to Indusoft, which I use all the time, and re-did the project in two days.

I used to work for a guy who did everything in Visual Basic because he valued his time at zero dollars and could put as much work into the machine as he wished. Twenty years later I'm in charge of retrofitting the machine system he built and I'm swearing at how much work he put into inventing inflexible features that would have to be completely re-written to support a modern controller. I'm basically going to buy what took him six months to program, for $1200 from Indusoft.

If you've invested the time to become experienced with the toolsets provided by Inductive Automation, then I very strongly recommend that you negotiate to get a fair price on the features you need from Inductive Automation.

++ What Ken said ++

I hope it's not a system I put in Tacoma.

Ken Roach said:

I used to work for a guy who did everything in Visual Basic because he valued his time at zero dollars and could put as much work into the machine as he wished. Twenty years later I'm in charge of retrofitting the machine system he built and I'm swearing at how much work he put into inventing inflexible features that would have to be completely re-written to support a modern controller.

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How do you really know how much time went into it? It may look like a lot of work to you because you aren't familiar. To him, maybe it was minutes.

I started using AdvancedHMI for projects that needed low cost. In the beginning there wasn't any savings because I struggled to figure the stuff out. Fast forward to today and I can easily create projects just as fast with AHMI than with FTView, for example, and now have vast libraries and examples that will save time and money. In my opinion, comparing the two I mentioned, I prefer AHMI.

How do you really know how much time went into it?

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Because I worked for him, and I worked the same nights and weekends he did.

I'm genuinely asking why OP thinks she needs a no/low cost HMI. If the answer is "because the budget for hardware is low but we get free engineering time and want to build hundreds of identical units", then fine.

My business seldom has two of the same machine go out the door. Today I'm shipping Serial Number 6 of a machine, which is very unusual for us. And on that machine, we've probably got a hundred distinct new features that weren't on the prototype.

For me, the cost of engineering far exceeds the cost of hardware or licenses.

Ken Roach said:

For me, the cost of engineering far exceeds the cost of hardware or licenses.

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This right here. Unless you are a student or hobbyist, you don't want a "low cost SCADA" if you need any kind of functionality. You will lose money that way. For every extra hour you spend jury-rigging your low cost system to do something it wasn't designed for, you could have spent $100 on the right piece of hardware.

$

Money4Nothing said:

...you don't want a "low cost SCADA" if you need any kind of functionality.

Click to expand...

Needs more definition to agree/disagree. On the face, I disagree.

Unfortunately has to be this way.
And it is not for hundreds of identical units, just two

The original application was made about 20 years ago and data is saved in text files And it is really simple. If they were smart enough to get the source at the time of purchasing now it would have been just a problem of getting new card, drivers for it and to modify the connection path.

I like the client and try to help as much as possible.
I am a huge fan of Ignition, to the extent I became certified integrator.

Unfortunately in this case there is no scale-down to fit the bill. As I said even Edge is too much to be taken in account.

I completely agree with Ken and everyone considering that tools like Ignition is the best answer. I am pushing it anytime is possible.

But now there is not a chance. And for a time I am considering testing something else to have as back-up for simple apps.

my thought is that you need more than 1 tool in the shed. on some projects you dont need the cadillac, maybe a ford focus will do the job just fine.