Has anyone tinkered with EZPLC devices?

[psanchez]

I am very new to the whole PLC area and we need a simple for simple tests (connect sensors and other simple devices). Has anyone used EZAutomation EZPLC? It seems like a reasonable price for a simple system (which is what we need). We also want to drive this through a C# DotNet application on a W2K3 server. Has anyone done this? The information that we got back from EZAutomation was a little sparse to say the least.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Paul

 

[Tom Jenkins]

I had a demo unit of the EZ-PLC to play with for a while. It is an interesting product, with a lot of nice features, but I finally decided it wasn't right for me.

The software was pretty straightforward and capable of meeting my needs, on both the HMI and ladder logic sides. I did find the multiple combinations of dip switch settings for downloading the logic and HMI configurations excesively complex, and I had problems downloading.

The biggest flaw was the terminal sizes and wiring restrictions for the I/O. Even #16 AWG was too big to comfortably work with. Any kind of industrial application would probably require putting together a wire harness to separate terminal strips, which eliminates much of the charm of the concept. I also felt that the I/O modules were not as robust as those in a conventional PLC, but that was just based on appearance. I didn't really have opportunity to test this on a job site.

 

[Pierre]

...I also felt that the I/O modules were not as robust as those in a conventional PLC, but that was just based on appearance...

Last one I've played with had one dead out of the box and one dead after 1000 cycle (relay outpout).

I was also told that there having some issues with them PLC although there HMI is very robust.

I will probably never purchase this stuff but I'm a frequent flyer of there HMIs.

If price is the one factor in this, get something else.

My 2 cents.

 

[psanchez]

A bit more information..

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate the information.



My requirements are basically fairly light use. The environment is not harsh by any means and the load will be low compared to most industrial applications. The main thing here is that I need to gather information from a series of sensors crunch this information partially on a PC (also archive for reporting and trending on a backend SQL) and then drive a few devices (pumps, vents, ..). I am worried about the quality issues that Pierre mentioned but price really is a restriction, the budget for this project is low. Has anyone implemented anything that interfaces with C# (DotNet) over Ethernet? Are there any other good platforms out there?



Thank you,

Paul

 

[harryting]

I would look at Automation Direct 205 then. Get the Ethernet card and you can program over the ethernet and they also sell the OPC server so you can interface your .Net appliation with relative ease.

If you control "EVERYTHING" with PC based .NET than you don't even need a PLC. Get get AD's Terminator (sp?) I/O along with their OPC driver and you are set.

 

[HenryLamboo]

Unitronics

You can also look for Unitronics http://www.unitronics.com .
This is a cheap OPLC and the software is for free. The development software is updated with the recently-released Microsoft components. They talk about Microsoft Interoperability Issue and I think this has something to do with DotNet.

 

[Pierre]

IF price is a big factor THEN go for:

1. PLC Direct
2. LGIS PLC (GLOFA serie)
3. Mitsu (FXnn)

In this order, it would be my choice.

One thing I have encountered is the "Customer care" of AD which IMHO is miles ahead of the pack.

 

[Tom Jenkins]

Besides the 205 series look at the DL-06. As much memory as the 250, comm and co-processor cards and lots of I/O options. If your I/O count is low this may be the way to go. If you want an opertor interface look at the small C-More.

 

[HenryLamboo]

Operator interface for Unitronics always present for no extra cost. The O from OPLC stands for operator interface.

 

[psanchez]

Thank you all for the information, I appreciate it. I will take a look at the different options suggested. One thing is clear, the EZPLC option does not seem to have to many proponents.

Paul