Siemens OP25/OP35

[93lt1]

I've recently come into a project that will include devising an upgrade plan for some Siemens OP25 and OP35 operator interfaces. Being obsolete, I will need to perform an upgrade. The plant in which these are installed is typically an AB plant but the German vendor of these machines refused to do AB.

My question is, What software is required to program these OP25 and OP35s?

I called a local Siemans distributor (not big on Siemens automation products) and they weren't sure. I heard Protool and WinCC as a couple of options....

 

[aloudermilk]

More info needed

You will need Protool if you have the original protool files, from the OEM. You could use WinCC Flex if you have the original Files as well. You cannot upload the editable file from the OP. You can back it up with prosave but this file is not editable in any of their HMI packages. If you cannot get the original files, then buckle up cause you are going to have to do a rewrite.

 

[93lt1]

I've got the files. They came from the machine builder in a compressed .arj format, inside the file is hundreds of .dbf, .mdx, etc.

Protool or WinCC??

 

[aloudermilk]

make sure you have the .pdb file

You cannot use WinCC at all. You have to use either Protool or WinCC Flex (different than just WinCC.) I would use Protool if you can get it. It is less complex etc. WinCC Flex has more features, but if you want to make it easier on yourself then use Protool. There is a conversion in Protool, but.... alot of German OEM put alot of stuff in the OP 25/27 and OP 37 that does not migrate very well to windows CE platform. You can do it but it is a pain. Good luck

 

[93lt1]

Thank you. I'll shoot for ProTool.

 

[JesperMP]

You will definitely need Protool.
I dont think that Flexible can convert from OP25/OP35 to one of the Windows based panels.

Even with Protool there will be a few things that will not convert.
In my experience the unconvertible things are not so critical.
Most irritating is that multistate selectors (=Windows "Combo boxes") requires more space, and thus may require you to rearrange the screen contents.

The ARJ-file you mention probably contain the entire project, STEP7 and OP etc.
You can find the panel projects by searching for "*.pdb".

When you have Protool, and have located the panel projects, then you can convert them to one of the newer panels. There is a "convert" utility in Protool.
An OP25 would convert to an OP270-6.
An OP35 would convert to an OP270-10 or MP270.

Lastly, are you sure that you will do that yourself ?
Purchasing Protool, doing the conversion, checking everthing and doing the final touching up may be unnecasserily timeconsuming and expensive for a newcomer to Protool.
If you are not planning to make other Protool projects then I would hire an integrator to do the job.

 

[aloudermilk]

Protool or WinCC Flex

You can import OP 5/7/15/17/25/27/37 projects into WinCC Flex. You merely have to specify another platform in the beginning. EG:

I needed to convert an OP17 project to WinCC Flex. When I opened the Protool project to convert it, WinCC Flex forced me to choose another Flex compatible platform (OP170B) to convert the project into.

However, the messages that Flex generates during the conversion are @80-90% German language. I am not against that except that I was using English as the installed language. If you speak German, this is fine. This did represent a challenge to me. Final Conclusion for me- Stick with Protool for now because the documentation is 95-99% english in the English install. I have created projects in WinCC Flex with not very many issues, I would say it is very usable and I Like some of the new features it adds. I prefer Protool for Conversions though.

 

[93lt1]

The ARJ-file you mention probably contain the entire project, STEP7 and OP etc.
You can find the panel projects by searching for "*.pdb".

I do have the .pdb file in there. If the Step7 file(s) is included, which extension would that be?

Does the Siemens software recognize the .arj files or do I need to pull all of the files out manually?

 

[PLucas]

Simatic manager should be able to open .ARJ archives.

Do you have Step 7? If so just select File -> Retreive, then navigate to where you have the archive, select the archive and away you go

Paul

 

[93lt1]

Yes I have Step7 Version 5 including service pack 3. I'm sure it's a couple years old. What is the current version?

 

[PLucas]

The current version is 5.3 SP3 (I think it's SP 3 it might be 2)

I am running v5.3 hotfix 1 on one PC, v5.2 SP1 on another and yet another one is running v5.1 SP3. I have no problems 'migrating' my projects from one machine to another.

Paul

 

[93lt1]

I just tried to install it on my current laptop with Windows 2000, and it says "operating system not supported" what version does support WIN2K? The last time I had this software installed was on a Win 95 laptop.Can I download a newer version from the siemens website? I looked around a little, and had no luck finding anything.

 

[PLucas]

I think v5.1 supports win2k, v5.2 and v5.3 certainly does.

Step7 is not available to download from the Siemens web site, your local Siemens rep should be able to supply you with the 'demo' version. This would be an 'unauthorised' copy, which means that you get the nag screens telling you that you have no authorisation, this doesn't stop you using the program and editting, but you can't download to a PLC without the authorisation, or so I am led to believe.

If you find that you can't open the project and you want to, perhaps you could email me the archive and I could open it and print it to a PDF file.

Paul

 

[aloudermilk]

Compatibility

Check out this file, it's location is:

C:\Program Files\Product notes\English

I think this has been istalled since Step 7 V5.0.

 

[93lt1]

Step7 is not available to download from the Siemens web site, your local Siemens rep should be able to supply you with the 'demo' version. This would be an 'unauthorised' copy, which means that you get the nag screens telling you that you have no authorisation,

I still have the authorization disk and serial number from the version 5 package. Do you think that this auth. will work with a "demo CD"?