DOA ControlLogix processor ... just sharing a sad story ...

[Ron Beaufort]

I'm pretty sure that I already know how this one is going to turn out – but I figured I'd ask anyway ...

I ordered a 1756-L75 processor off of eBay – and it got delivered today ... it was well packaged – and clean as a whistle ...

I plugged it into a 10-slot chassis – which already has other processors and modules all working fine ...

the red OK indicator LED stays solid red ... this can NOT be a good thing ...

just to make sure I wasn't misreading the indications, I pulled up article 43329 on the Knowledgebase which confirmed what I had already figured out ... this thing is dead on arrival ... "will need to be replaced or sent in for repair" is the only official recommendation ...

I've removed and reseated the SD card ... and I've removed the ESM module – after waiting till all of the LEDs had gone out as directed in the manual ... and then I reinserted the ESM again ... same indications over and over ... everything seems to fit together fine – and everything looks clean ... all pins are straight and accounted for ...

the OK indicator LED is always a bright SOLID red ...

the display says "TEST" for about ten seconds – and then goes off for about ten seconds – then just repeats the same cycle over and over again ...

the SD indicator LED just winks green very briefly each time the "TEST" indication comes on – but with or without the SD installed, all I ever get from the OK indicator is the same old ominous SOLID RED ...

absolutely ZERO indications on the USB port – and also absolutely ZERO indications through the chassis on ethernet ... (all other modules and/or processors in the chassis show up fine in RSLinx) ...

I've (almost) always had excellent results with parts ordered from eBay – and when anything has been defective, it's always been straightened out with ZERO problems ... I'll let you know how it turns out when I check on it tomorrow ...

no reply is expected – unless someone knows of some "secret handshake" reset for this thing ... frankly I think it's toast ...

 

[dmroeder]

Wow, that's a high dollar brick! Hopefully you aren't stuck with it. I wonder if someone goofed up a firmware flash.

My only suggestion is that if you can find someone that has another L75 that can store a program to the SD Card with the option to load the firmware on power up, then you might be able to get it to flash the firmware again (assuming that it is the firmware that's the issue). Chances are this won't work, but you never know.

We've done this and zipped up the contents of the SD card and dropbox'd it to people. We don't have one any more or I'd try it for you.

 

[TWS]

Or if you can find someone with a " factory new" SD card and try that. I was able to resuscitate a 1769-L18ER that failed a firmware upgrade.

 

[Ron Beaufort]

update ...

I just called the seller on the phone and explained the situation ... they say they will issue a refund to my PayPal account – but only after receiving the defective unit back ...

I fully understand that ... after all, the selling price on this unit was $1,665.99 ...

but ...

I still need a working unit pretty quickly now - since I have a sold-out custom class coming up soon which is going to require this type of processor for "show and tell" ... I think I'll just order another unit from some other supplier – and try to get the ball rolling that way ...

thank you all for the suggestions – including the ones made "off the board" ... I'm just not comfortable tinkering around with this thing – since it's got to be returned to the seller for a refund ...

the seller says that he always plugs these units in and tests them out before he ships them – even putting in a short program ... I don't have any reason to doubt that – but if I had to GUESS I'd say that this one probably didn't go through the proper "power down" procedure after being tested ... regardless – I've seen a constant solid red indication from the OK indicator LED since I first plugged it in ...

thanks again ...

 

[harryting]

Buying on eBay is actually quite safe now since eBay almost always side with buyer.

 

[daba]

.....GUESS I'd say that this one probably didn't go through the proper "power down" procedure after being tested ...

Hi Ron, Interested what you consider is a proper "power down" procedure, considering that ControlLogix modules can be RIUP.

 

[Ron Beaufort]

Greetings daba ...

I was just referring to some of the warnings in the User's Manual – particularly various items in Chapter 1 about removing and inserting the ESM ... that section also includes some warnings about making sure that the SD indicator LED is off before fiddling around with the SD card ...

http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/um/1756-um001_-en-p.pdf

basically, the seller told me over the phone that he had "tested" the unit before he shipped it out – and he even mentioned that he had put a small program in it ... I have no reason to doubt him – so I tend to take him at his word ...

as I said earlier, I was just GUESSING at what could possibly have caused the unit to go "belly up" between his test – and my chassis ... all that I did was make sure that the backplane pins were all straight (they were) and then I plugged it in ... the OK indicator immediately lit up solid red ...

anyway ...

the dud unit goes back in the mail tomorrow – and I've already ordered another unit from another seller ...

thanks to everyone for your suggestions ...
.

 

[Ron Beaufort]

update ...

FedEx just dropped off another unit (Saturday delivery service) - this one from another eBay seller ... I plugged it in - same chassis - same slot - same everything - and it automatically came up and started running ...

now I can get to work with the rest of the pieces of the puzzle ...

 

[Jeev]

I fully understand that ... after all, the selling price on this unit was $1,665.99 ...

We get massively ripped off in other parts of the world! We get decent OEM discounts from our suppliers and Rockwell, but an L71 still costs USD$3,200 over here.


If you guys buy from Rockwell, what's it worth?

 

[Ken Roach]

I don't share the rosy opinion of others about eBay sellers.

If somebody is selling the most powerful CPU that A-B makes for 10% of its retail price, then I'm not surprised when it's dead out of the box.

I can count the number of legitimate A-B software licenses I've seen advertised on eBay on one hand... hell, on one thumb. So why would "used, but not damaged, we promise" hardware be much different ?

While I can see shopping for an obsolete controller on eBay, if you're buying current-generation stuff there is a very high probability that it is damaged, defective, or stolen.

 

[nehpets]

Jeev,
+1 for getting ripped off by AB an L71 over here in the UK a L71 goes for around USD$4600 ouch!

Steve

 

[BobB]

Stupid prices - Schneider and Siemens are no different! Bit of a box at the end of the day.

 

[Ron Beaufort]

well, to be honest – IF (that's a big IF) I were buying this type of thing for a "production" application, then I definitely would purchase a brand new unit from an Allen-Bradley distributor – the local one where I faithfully worked for about 8 years ... the cost of the price that I'd pay would be passed directly on to my customer ... more specifically, if my customer wanted me to use Allen-Bradley on his job – then he'd pay an Allen-Bradley price ...

but – that is NOT the case here ...

this particular L75 is probably going to see less than one hour of actual "runtime" use during one specific five-day troubleshooting class – then it will go back on a shelf in my storeroom for several months (or more) ...

all I need to do is show-and-tell one class of students how the thing looks when it's working "right" – and then give them some examples of how to deal with situations where it DOESN'T work right ...

the maintenance manager (my customer contact) has already told me that he wants these specific topics covered for his technicians – and he's buying out all six seats in one of my boot camp style classes ... (with a promise of sending many additional students in the future – IF he gets the results that he wants) ...

so in my particular situation, I can easily justify paying about two-thousand bucks for a used L70-something processor on eBay – but I can definitely NOT justify paying anything even near ten times that price for a new one ... especially when you consider that all of my purchases must be approved by my financial manager – my lovely wife – who controls the purse strings of my little business venture ...

going a little bit further ...

quite a bit of my training equipment is what most folks would consider to be "throw-away junk" parts ... for example: input and output modules with one or two "bad" points ... shown below is how one particular output module has been mistreated ... the point is that teaching "problem-solving" and "troubleshooting" skills requires examples of "problems" and "troubles" ... so in my case, "used" eBay purchases are great for this type of thing ... "new" distributor purchases – well, not so much ...

so – to put a finer point on it ...

Ron's advice is that if you're buying something along these lines for "production" purposes, then personally I'd go with a brand new part ... on the other hand – for "show-and-tell" use in a classroom ... well, then – I'd consider that to be a horse of a different color ... and one man's junk – is another man's treasure ...
.

 

[JohnCalderwood]

Ron,

for production stability, yes, would always go with new items.

The factory where I used to work has just closed down, and prior to the process of demolition, told me that they had a lot of Rockwell items (PLC5 and ControlLogix), so me being the canny Scot that I am, went over and took a lot of stuff off their hands before they threw most of it in the skip.

Even when I was getting ControlLogix processors such as the L55, and the Ethernet Cards are only 10 Meg, never mind the age of the PLC5 bits, my boss has suggested that we should only use them for training purposes, even though I know they have been working fine for a number of years.
Some of the other modules I could possibly flash upgrade the firmware, but only to a certain level.