Require suggestion selecting PLC

[spiderking]

My system has 11 analog inputs, 6 analog outputs. 10 digital inputs and 13 digital outputs.
I don't know which PLC I should select to get the system's requirement fulfilled at best and with lowest of the cost.
I have a 90 days trial of RSLogix 5000 v17. I have alreaady done laddder programming for much of the process in RSLOgix 5000 selecting a ControlLogix controller.
My company is a small and a start up company. We are Indians, we don't want to put much money, this is our limitation. I hope you guys won't mind this and suggest the best for me. Thanks.

[FONT=&quot]Hi everyone! I am new to this forum and inautomation industry. I've done a certificate course in PLC programming and SCADA. The institute lab had an Allen-Bradley Control Logix PLC, They taught programming in RSLogix 5000 v16, so I don't know PLC programing in other environment and other PLCs. Now I've joined a company which has a project in development phase and requires automation and I am doing the PLC part.[/FONT]

 

[ASF]

Just to background those who may not be aware on how we arrived at this point...

http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?showtopic=28379

 

[ASF]

If you have already done much of the programming, it makes no sense to go back to a micrologix for the cheaper hardware - you will have to rewrite all the code, and so any cost savings on hardware will likely be eliminated.

The cheapest PLC setup you can get to be able to use your RSLogix5000 programming is as mentioned on the MrPLC thread:

- 1x 1769-L16ER-BB1B (compact logix with digital in, digital out, ethernet, onboard power supply)
- 2x 1734-IE8C (analog in expansion card)
- 2x 1734-OE4C (analog out expansion card)
- 4x 1734-TOPS (terminal base for the expansion cards)

But this will mean you will have to buy the latest version of RSLogix 5000, as v17 will not work with this CPU.

If you must use v17, you will need:
1769-PB2
1769-L32E
1769-IQ16
1769-OB16
1769-IF16
1769-OF8
But I highly suspect that this setup - aside from being physically much larger - will be much more expensive that the cost of the previous setup AND the software combined.

Besides, you are going to have to buy a full version of RSLogix5000 sometime - what happens if your customer needs you to make a change in 4 months time?

 

[Geospark]

Cost is relative

...My company is a small and a start up company.We are Indians, we don't want to put much money, this is our limitation. I hope you guys won't mind this and suggest the best for me...

Whether you have a lot of money to spend or not, and whether we mind or not, is not really going to have an affect on what we advise you to use. If you must use a Logix 5000 based system, then you have already been advised as to which is the least expensive option available for your project. As you appear to be looking for further opinions on the matter- I will second the option that ASF has put forward as being the least expensive. However, if it were my project, I personally would use a CompactLogix 5370 L2 controller minimum with the 1769 I/O modules. I just prefer them for analog, but that's just me.

Have you priced up the 1769-L16ER-BB1 option yet?

Forget for a minute the hardware you need for this one of hopefully many projects your business will have. Going into the automation business as a start up with only trial version software available to you is like a soldier heading into battle with only one round. You need to decide up front that the Logix 5000 platform is going to be an invaluable weapon in your armory. In other words you have to invest in it. It will pay for itself in time.

But also, as an automation company, only having one programming tool in the box may severely restrict your ability to meet customer demands, effectively, efficiently, and affordably. It can also limit your customer base.

You are selecting hardware based on what software you happen to have and know, which is also only on trial, rather than selecting which or what is best for the end user, the customer. This is not a good business model to start out on, in my opinion.

In business, cost is relative. It is relative in both how much you can afford to spend, and it is relative in how much you can afford not to spend. The basic principle being that if you do not spend money, you will not make money. Most startup businesses need investment capital. They often will most likely lose money before they make money.

Cough up or choke out.

Either way, I wish you good luck!

Regards,
George

 

[DwSoFt]

I agree with the above. now if you.are still looking for a cheaper option. then let's forget about Allen bradley. http://www.automationdirect.com has cheap plc's and cheap software. and The plc guy has great AB to direct logic comparative learning Web pages.
suck it up buttercup. you think this is tricky try learning FST or ACCOL automation languages...honestly from my.experience in automation at the beginning it really is sink or swim

 

[danatomega]

+1 on Automaton Direct if money is an issue.

 

[spiderking]

Hey guys thanks for your replies, I am overwhelmed. Thank you George for spending quite much of time to write for me, really appreciate it. Actually my company is not an automation company nor it is going to be one, it's just that the project now it is working on is requiring automation.

We are developing a Fuel Cell based Power Generator, and the final commercial product i.e. the final generator is supposed to have the automation based on micro-controller. It's just that that for initial testing and development we are going to use PLC for automation, when everything works out fine with PLC, we are going to convert the program in language of that particular controller(probably the assembly language or C). One team is parallely working on initial hardware testing using micro-controller(not on the actual fuel cell process but some parts).

Currently for proof of concept we're developing 1kW generator. My boss was once discussing with me that he has plans to scale the generator capacity to higher of 2kW, 5kW 10kW etc. once 1kW gets success. So I am going to talk to him to lets buy all the resources which we are going to require for PLC based automation i.e all required hardware, software etc i.e I have in mind to dump the trial version of RSLogix 5000 and get a liscenced one.

Thanks again

 

[Geospark]

Understood spiderking, and you are welcome. Also thanks for the kind PM.

If you outlined some of the above at the beginning, then I would not have guessed or assumed as much as I did.

Good luck with your project!

Regards,
George

 

[spiderking]

Yeah.Actually I presented it in a wrong way... it was natural of you or anyone to assume all that.

 

[spiderking]

Hi Geroge,you have mentioned in one reply that if it was your system, you would go for an L2 controller and 1769 I/O modules, I compared L1 and L2 controllers, I found L2 better. Can you please tell me specifically the name/model number of the L2 controller and associated I/O modules the way ASF mentioned in his reply according to number of I/O mentioned in my post.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Geospark]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay. I just saw your PM...

The basic L2 controller, the 1769-L24ER-BB1B, comes with an embedded 16 digital inputs and 16 digital outputs. So this covers your discrete I/O needs (11In/13Out). It has no embedded analog I/O, and while the other two higher model L2's do, they only provide 4In and 2Out. So you would still require additional analog modules. This gives a basic configuration as follows..

1769-L24ER-BB1B
1769-IF16
1769-OF8

You don't need a power supply like the 1969-PB2 that ASF listed above as the L2 controllers have one built in.

Also, normally, configurations for the older CompactLogix controllers, such as the L32E, would require you to also order a right hand side end cap (1769-ECR) to terminate the bus, but this comes included with the L2 controllers.

Regards,
George

 

[spiderking]

Thanks a lot again George. Thank You very much.

 

[FactoryTalktotheHand]

If you're not looking to spend a lot of money, then going with Allen-Bradley was a mistake. Instead, look into the Productivity Series of processors from AutomationDirect. The software is free and the components are much less expensive.