Save long term data from PLC

[passwordg]

Using Allen Bradley PLCs,

What are some easy ways to save process data from the PLC to a computer ? Would I have to start getting into SQL type programming ?

Thanks.

 

[dmroeder]

SQL is good for storing data. How much data, how do you define long term and what is the budget?

 

[parky]

More information would be helpful, I agree with SQL, it will depend on your budget, many OPC servers now have SQL logging feature as well as many modest Scada packages, so no real SQL scripting required, however, it's easy to get data into a DB, getting it out in report form can be a little more tricky.
SQL is very stable, less likely to loose data through corruption & can store huge amounts of data. The other way would be CSV files, these are easy to populate in VB or other programming languages, Scada & HMI systems often have VBA to log to SQL or even simple log files.

 

[CAD Services LLC]

If your looking for interface hardware, I would suggest the Red Lion Data Station.
They can hold years of data when you add a Memory Card.
They also allow you to remote in using the Wed Server option, then you can format the data into pin graphs that management can see. They also allow you to export the data to CVS files.
https://www.redlion.net/products/in...ollers-and-data-acquisition/data-station-plus

 

[passwordg]

If your looking for interface hardware, I would suggest the Red Lion Data Station.

This sounds pretty great. I know SQL is great but it would require me to setup a SQL server which I'll have to spend a lot of time learning.

 

[CAD Services LLC]

SQL is not very friendly

This sounds pretty great. I know SQL is great but it would require me to setup a SQL server which I'll have to spend a lot of time learning.

I've got customers that went the SQL route and it has been over a year and they can't get it to do what they wanted it to.

The Red Lion support will help you do just about anything you can think of.

 

[harryting]

How much is time worth it to you? That's the thing that came to mind whenever I hear these type of discussions. While it's fun to explore if you just want it done, there are already tons products out there. For large organization, it's typically some type of process historian such as OSI PI, Proficy Historian, Wondeware historian, or Canary lab.

Tell us more about how many points, how often, and how the data would be used then we can provide better suggestions.

 

[Phrog30]

I've got customers that went the SQL route and it has been over a year and they can't get it to do what they wanted it to.

The Red Lion support will help you do just about anything you can think of.

SQL is very friendly. Buying a red lion or similar device puts you in a box and limits you.

Spend the time to learn SQL. It will be well worth the investment in time.

 

[CAD Services LLC]

The Red Lion DSP opens more options

SQL is very friendly. Buying a red lion or similar device puts you in a box and limits you.

Spend the time to learn SQL. It will be well worth the investment in time.

Depending on the Red Lion DSP it opens more options.

He needs it for Allen Bradly, but the DSP can talk to hundred's of other devices. If your collecting data for management it's a great way to get that data RS232, RS485, Ethernet/IP, it's got you covered.
And yes it takes all that data from many different sources and can interface with SQL also.
I was only sharing a single experience with SQL, I agree it is the best tool getting data to and from machines.

 

[Dravik]

I would start w/ figuring out, at a high level,
What data, What frequency(time series, event driven) and how/if it needs to be consumed/visualized.

Don't look for the solution until you have some of that handy as those answers will drive cost/scope.

 

[lfe]

At my work, in the manufacturing plant, there are many Android screens that access the ERP SQL server, they do not really execute SQL code but they call server Stored Procedures that are written in SQL.

This has several advantages:

• The server optimizes the Stored Procedures, The execution speed difference can be huge compared to sending the SQL code from the device each time.
• Stored Procedures can be altered on the fly.
  

 

[twocozz]

If you are recording data, then at some point it usually needs to be visualised. From experience this can take a lot more time than setting up the data collection. The advantages of SQL are that you can make pretty fancy reports just using basic Excel. The free version of SQL Server comes with a 10GB database limit which frankly is more than enough for most applications. It’s a simple click through install and the free SQL Management Studio lets you design databases without any SQL scripting at all.

 

[kwade]

My limited experience with storing long-term data:
Members in meetings requested that we store defined data at a defined interval.
The data was stored.
The data was stored.
and
The data was stored.

That was all that was done with the data. No one wanted to do anything with it -- not even the requesting members...

Do you have a committed consumer for your stored data?

In my case, storing the data for all sorts of data mining/process displaying sounded great in a meeting, but no consumers materialized and the data capturing stagnated.

 

[Ken Moore]

Since you are all Rockwell, check with you local guys about getting Factory Talk Historian,
It's really an OSI-PI historian with a custom interface.
Depending on how many points you have SQL gets really slow when running extensive, detailed, reports, our SQL based historian use to take several hours to run our daily reports. OSI-PI runs the same reports in a few minutes.

 

[Jim3846]

Every time I see another Overview system, Wonderware, AB, Iconics, Ignition, whatever. They all offer a Historian recorder or sql database. What is your overview package at your place of business?