PC Based HMI for SLC 5/05

[psychosunshine]

Does anyone know of a good HMI program that can run on Windows 7 or Windows 10 and communicate to 2 SLC 5/05 PLCs?


I want to have a Info screen in the office of the production counts of these 2 PLCs.

 

[dmroeder]

AdvancedHMI

https://www.advancedhmi.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=20

It's free, uses Visual Studio to create UI's, it's super easy to use.

 

[Ken Roach]

AdvancedHMI is certainly priced right, if you have the programming skills.

I prefer Indusoft Web Studio (now Aveva), because the feature set and price are right for me. Easy-to-configure comms drivers, fully baked SQL data logging, premade drag-and-drop HMI objects, VBScript to connect it to the OS, etc.

 

[drbitboy]

price ]is] right for me.

How many zeros (e.g. under $10, under 1k$, under 100k$, etc; Note 1)?


Which Aveva product(s) are you referring to?



Notes

1. I find the policy of these companies not publishing prices annoying, though not confounding if considered cynically.
2. I find the plethora of products and the amount of research needed to figure out which works, if even possible, for a given application to be annoying, but again not confounding.

 

[Phrog30]

Ken is referring to Aveva Edge. Aveva has rebranded some software, I think it's a little confusing. Indusoft isn't bad, but I think ignition is a lot better.

AdvancedHMI sounds like what you need. There is a learning curve though.

 

[dmroeder]

AdvancedHMI sounds like what you need. There is a learning curve though.

Curious, how do you compare AHMI's learning curve to other HMI software packages?

 

[cardosocea]

[*]I find the policy of these companies not publishing prices annoying, though not confounding if considered cynically.

Considering very few or inexperienced people buy licenses (and hardware to an extent) at list price, it's always random either way.
GE offered iFix at 50% discount last I dealt with them other manufacturers are the same or similar.

 

[jdbrandt]

Does anyone know of a good HMI program that can run on Windows 7 or Windows 10 and communicate to 2 SLC 5/05 PLCs?


I want to have a Info screen in the office of the production counts of these 2 PLCs.

As you can see from the previous posts, a question like this leads to many answers. The reasons all make sense:
* There are many commercial products that do this task.
* No single product can be eliminated from the list, because the criteria ("...good...") is not easily defined.
* No single product can be eliminated from the list, because the criteria ("...communicate...") can be satisfied in many different ways, with at least two different physical methods.

So the reply stream will be filled with "I prefer.." and "What I've made work.." kind of replys...all of which are informational and interesting, but the original post would generate more useful responses if the OP stated a price range ('...between $0.00 USD and $10,000 USD per display...') and a quality measurement ('...operate without interaction for extended periods...') as well as an experience requirement ('...to be engineered and designed by a person with no knowledge of PYTHON...').
.

 

[Phrog30]

Curious, how do you compare AHMI's learning curve to other HMI software packages?

I don't think it's much different, but I've heard from other users who have stated it was harder for them to pick up. I do think the feature sets are different. AHMI has some "normal" controls already part of the base application, but compared to other platforms there is quite a bit missing, and that opens up the need for the user to create them, which can be hard for the first time user.

But, to your point, almost everything has a learning curve.

 

[drbitboy]

Considering very few or inexperienced people buy licenses (and hardware to an extent) at list price, it's always random either way. ...

Which is why the (as yet unanswered) question was phrased "how many zeros?" I.e. make at least list available and tell me discounts from distributors are common, so I know the size of the ballpark (cricket pitch). Because of course discounts exist but rarely hit 90% i.e. an order of magnitude, and half an order of magnitude is close enough for most comparisons.

 

[dmroeder]

I don't think it's much different, but I've heard from other users who have stated it was harder for them to pick up. I do think the feature sets are different. AHMI has some "normal" controls already part of the base application, but compared to other platforms there is quite a bit missing, and that opens up the need for the user to create them, which can be hard for the first time user.

But, to your point, almost everything has a learning curve.

Makes sense, especially your point about functionality that does not exist.

 

[drbitboy]

I don't think it's much different, but I've heard from other users who have stated it was harder for them to pick up. I do think the feature sets are different. AHMI has some "normal" controls already part of the base application, but compared to other platforms there is quite a bit missing, and that opens up the need for the user to create them, which can be hard for the first time user.

But, to your point, almost everything has a learning curve.

AdvancedHMI has several more advanced, add-on widgets for a few dollars each; one could purchase them all and still be several orders of magnitude less than a full-blown OEM HMI with every control one could think of. Also, with AdvancedHMI there is flexibility to design a custom widget, for the price of that learning curve i.e. time i.e. money. So the value is very much dependent on the buyer's capability: to someone with Visual Studio experience the learning curve is all but non-existent; to someone else, it could be an un-scalable mountain.


For the OP's application ("Info screen in the office of the production counts"), I suspect it would be in the middle, even pylogix on a RaspberryPI with a screen could perhaps do the job, although I would worry more about how the office display gets access to the production network. I wonder if an OPC-type application, with the SLCs pushing data to the office, would be a better choice from a security standpoint, even if it is a sledgehammer cracking a nut.

 

[dmroeder]

...even pylogix on a RaspberryPI with a screen could perhaps do the job, although I would worry more about how the office display gets access to the production network.

Pylogix doesn't support SLC 5/05. For python, you'd have to use pycomm or pycomm3.

 

[Phrog30]

to someone with Visual Studio experience the learning curve is all but non-existent; to someone else, it could be an un-scalable mountain.

That's the issue, most of the users that have struggled don't have VS experience.

As I stated earlier, from the sound of it, AHMI sounds perfect for what they need.

By the way, the addon "widgets" (controls) are nice, but the feature sets I was referring to is good alarming, easy SQL integration, and trending/historical data. All of these are possible, but for the normal user will most likely be a struggle.

 

[Ken Moore]

VT Scada, they have a free version for up to 50 I/O.
https://www.vtscada.com/free-scada-software/