Cheap way to record history of 30 inputs

[Timeismoney08]

Hello,

I have a project where I need to monitor 40 24V devices that are on out in the field. I can't tap into the program of the OEM, but I will add something to monitor when each thing is on, keep up with how long it was on, and then export weekly reports to an CSV file.

What is the most economical way to go about this?




Thank you for any help!

 

[Ken Roach]

I will add something to monitor when each thing is on, keep up with how long it was on

So you're planning to add physical input devices ?

How widely distributed are they; do you need 40 individual I/O devices, or 4 devices with 10 input terminals, or one device with 40 input terminals ?

export weekly reports to an CSV file.

Is there an HMI or other computer that is already operating that needs to receive or host this CSV file ?

Or do you need a device you can query via FTP or another protocol to retrieve the CSV file or the data that will go into the CSV file ?

What is the most economical way to go about this?

How much is your time worth ? What controller or data acquisition devices are you already familiar with ?

 

[James Mcquade]

more questions.
how often do you want to see the I/o change?
if its every scan, your csv file is going to be pretty big.
how many shifts?
how many days per week do you work?

what will you use to generate the report?
how much time do you want to spend generating the report?
we had (2) 10 hour shifts with 52,000 enteries per day and it took 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours to do the report.
james

 

[OkiePC]

DataStation or Red Lion HMI would be my choice for this. Since TimeIsMoney, the hardware might cost $1000 more than some other solution, but the time to create the application for it will be le$$ than the time it takes to generate the list of tags and find out the comms settings I need.

 

[Timeismoney08]

So you're planning to add physical input devices ?

How widely distributed are they; do you need 40 individual I/O devices, or 4 devices with 10 input terminals, or one device with 40 input terminals ?



Is there an HMI or other computer that is already operating that needs to receive or host this CSV file ?

Or do you need a device you can query via FTP or another protocol to retrieve the CSV file or the data that will go into the CSV file ?



How much is your time worth ? What controller or data acquisition devices are you already familiar with ?

They're all next to each other within 5 feet, so cables will run to each.

The idea is that we can save the CSV to an SD card or to a folder on the network.

There is currently nothing to display the data, so I would preferably network it to an already existing computer or just have a means of collecting the data on this device.

 

[Kelkoon]

Tiny PLC + Tiny PC

Hi,

I've recently done something similar. I used a small PLC (Siemens S7-1200) to adquire the signals and a small PC to read them from the PLC and store in the disk.

The PC would read the data from the PLC and write it to disk using a small script in Perl. The data is transfered using ModbusTCP.

Another option is to buy a logger program, in example:
https://www.process-informatik.de/produkte/s7-filelogger&lang=en_&mt=1

Best regards

 

[JesperMP]

You cannot tap into the program of the OEM, but maybe you can read the I/O with an OPC server.
Then you dont need to add any physical hardware to do the recording. Obviously the update rate is limited to what the OPC connection can provide. Maybe it is good enough for you.

 

[gclshortt]

The easiest way that I know of is to use a BRX (Do-More) or Productivity 1000 PLC.
Each of these PLC's is capable of logging to an SD card on the CPU itself. You can then email the reports out when you want and automatically delete the file on the SD card.
BRX (Do-More)
Data Logging:
https://accautomation.ca/brx-plc-data-logging/
Secure Email:
https://accautomation.ca/brx-plc-email-text-sms-messaging-gmail/
Entire Series:
https://accautomation.ca/series/brx-do-more-plc/

Productivity 1000
Data Logger:
https://accautomation.ca/productivity-1000-series-plc-data-logger/
Secure Email:
https://accautomation.ca/productivity-1000-series-plc-email-and-text-communication/
Entire Series:
https://accautomation.ca/series/productivity-1000-plc/

I hope this helps you out.
Regards,

 

[Timeismoney08]

The easiest way that I know of is to use a BRX (Do-More) or Productivity 1000 PLC.
Each of these PLC's is capable of logging to an SD card on the CPU itself. You can then email the reports out when you want and automatically delete the file on the SD card.
BRX (Do-More)
Data Logging:
https://accautomation.ca/brx-plc-data-logging/
Secure Email:
https://accautomation.ca/brx-plc-email-text-sms-messaging-gmail/
Entire Series:
https://accautomation.ca/series/brx-do-more-plc/

Productivity 1000
Data Logger:
https://accautomation.ca/productivity-1000-series-plc-data-logger/
Secure Email:
https://accautomation.ca/productivity-1000-series-plc-email-and-text-communication/
Entire Series:
https://accautomation.ca/series/productivity-1000-plc/

I hope this helps you out.
Regards,

That is perfect, thanks.