1756 L71 5571 / 1756 L61 5561 FW upgrade

Hello,
Have the two above controllers both on v 20.13/20.15 respectively. Both have 1756 ENBT/A v.4.011 modules in chassis.
I also have two 2711 Panelview Plus 1000 HMI's v.9.00

I have been asked to look into upgrading firmware to v 30.011. Simply for standardization as most of our other newer controllers are that or higher.

Based off all the horror stories on here, and a whole lot of condsideration Rockwell literature to wade through I figured I'd ask here to see if it's even worth the bother.

Two belt press processes here. Nothing real complex. Just some messaging between the two contrologix and a SLC 5/05. No motion controll modules or anything like that.

I understand I can step the firmware back, but these processed run 24/7. I'd like to avoid any extended downtime if possible.

My concern is really only if something would be out of whack post flash, with the enet modules, or the panelviews? Would they need to be flashed to a different version too?

Any insight/recommendations from anyone is appreciated.

Thanks,
Ben

I think the L61 can only go to V20 so that may help you decide and if it isn't broken...


HTH

Thanks Bob!

After your post I found the following version compatibility matrix.

http://support.softwaretoolbox.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3206

Think I'll blow this off for now...

Rockwell receives your old processor as part of payment for the latest version one, at least that´s what they say down here.

If standardizing on versions is the goal I like that idea. Having a wide mix of versions can be frustrating.

Updating firmware is pretty much an easy task these days. My only recommendation is to perform the upgrade via USB instead of Ethernet. Nearly the same speed and less risk of a lost connection. The upgrade process is about 3-5 minutes. After the upgrade, you'll need to change the firmware version of the offline file to version 30 and then download it to the newly updated controller. If you are saving the project to the SD card, you'll need to transfer it again once everything is updated. Otherwise the old v20 project is still on there and could revert everything back to v20.

As you have discovered, the L6x series tops out at version 20. So if they want to send you a replacement L71 controller to swap it out, then great. Otherwise you're stuck at 20 with that unit.

Of course, you'll need to make sure that everyone at your facility that needs it, has version 30 Logix software.

OG