Allen Bradley Software

[jimlong]

Hi,
We have a lot of Allen Bradley equipment on our site
PLCs, (MICROLOGIX1400, SLC 5/05, LOGIX 5571, COMPACTLOGIX L32E,L33ER,L45),FLEX I/O

HMIs, (PANELVIEW PLUS 1000, PANELVIEW PLUS 7, PANELVIEW PLUS 1250)

VSD,s (KINETIX 6000, POWERFLEX 40

I would like to be able to access these devices for faultfinding , making program changes, adding screens to HMI (read/write, etc).
Maybe somebody can help me deciding which software package(s) would cover all of the above?

 

[dmroeder]

You need RSLogix 500 for SLC/MicroLogix 1400

RSLogix5000/Studio5000 for 5571 and CompactLogix. You'll need to note which major firmware revisions are used in the controllers, you will need to install every major revision of RSLogix5000/Studio5000 for every major firmware revision you have in your controllers. RSLogix5000 was v20 and lower, Studio5000 is v21 and newer

You need FactoryTalk View Studio ME for all PanelView Plus terminals. You'll want to know what firmware are in your PanelView's, if you have v5.1 or older, you won't want the latest v13 because you cannot compile runtimes older than v6 with it. You'd want to use v12.

 

[Mehtools]

Honestly, your best bet is to contact your local Allen Bradley distributor, also handy for them would be a list of what you have in the facility and that way they can assist in getting you the packages you need. dmroeder says it best but that guy that is in charge of software at your distributor can nail it down to exactly what you need. I also see you are in Tipperary Ireland. I looked for a distributor and there's one in Cork and over by Dublin. you might have a better contact.

 

[parky]

That is a massive cost so are you sure you can access them it will be almost impossible if they are password protected, ideally, talk to the manufacturers to see if that is the case, also would they be willing to give you copies of the documented code.

 

[jimlong]

Ok Thanks for the pointers guys. I will chase up with our local AB agent

 

[joseph_e2]

Your local distributor can also connect real quick to your ControlLogix and CompactLogix PLCs to verify which firmware versions and which add-on packages you might need. If, for example, the OEMs used a language other than Ladder Logic, you'll either need a language pack or a more advanced version of the programming software.


If you can get the backup files from the machine builders (or already have them saved somewhere), that would tell you a lot. You'll definitely want them anyway for the MicroLogix and SLC and possibly for the Control/CompactLogix if they're older than v24 or so when they started allowing comments to be saved in the PLC. Otherwise, you'll have a daunting task ahead of you to document the programs.



By the way, the ACD file (Control/CompactLogix) can be opened in notepad to check the last saved version. They can also be shared here where someone with the software can open them and help you some. Best bet, though, would still be your local distributor.