Wireless ethernet/PLC adapter

[geniusintraining]

I am sure this has been talked about before but searching there is a ton of other things that come up... I have a customer thats installing 16 PLC's (Click Ethernet) and one master BRX they all need to talk to the BRX, the company that runs their Ethernet cables charges 500 per drop so they are asking is there a way to use a wireless ethernet adapter, the Clicks are going to send data to the BRX once per shift, anyone make there PLC wireless?

IOGear has these ? https://www.iogear.com/product/GWU637/

 

[Dravik]

Cheaper than 500 per unit and reliable.. Hmm.

I would look into the UniFi gear, I've used Unifi AirGateway units running in router mode to accomplish this.

For $500 i'd just run the data drops myself, but ours are mobile in areas where that wasn't easy/feasible.

 

[PreLC]

I am sure this has been talked about before but searching there is a ton of other things that come up... I have a customer thats installing 16 PLC's (Click Ethernet) and one master BRX they all need to talk to the BRX, the company that runs their Ethernet cables charges 500 per drop so they are asking is there a way to use a wireless ethernet adapter, the Clicks are going to send data to the BRX once per shift, anyone make there PLC wireless?

IOGear has these ? https://www.iogear.com/product/GWU637/

Used these things in the past to no limited success, no maintainability: https://www.anybus.com/products/wir...dge/detail/anybus-wireless-bridge-ii-ethernet

Honestly too cumbersome to configure. Also, the IT WAP must have things like QoS and some advanced settings turned off. Honestly a no-go, at least with my plant network.

 

[James Mcquade]

we use these to interface a slc plc to our wifi network.
phoenix FL WLAN 5111 access point. It is setup in bridge mode.
hope this helps,
james

 

[geniusintraining]

Thanks guys!

For $500 i'd just run the data drops myself, but ours are mobile in areas where that wasn't easy/feasible.

I would agree but they are about 1k miles away and (I hope) this is the first 16, it will end up with about 500+ drops throughout the US, they have a contract with someone so just looking for options

phoenix FL WLAN 5111 access point

I saw them but I think they are out of my budget

Used these things in the past to no limited success

Thank you, I saw them also... and yes they need to be easy to setup

 

[mk42]

1) You're just asking for issues by switching to wireless. How far away are the clicks from the BRX? Is there any other wireless infrastructure in place? To do a wireless system right usually requires a ton a of work, and doing it the cheap way means who knows what will happen. How critical is it that the data gets from point A to point B?

2) If they are all within 100-200 feet of a central point, WiFi could make sense. If they are scattered over a larger area, something like a cell modem could make sense, but would have ongoing costs. Things like WiMax also exist, but almost certainly would be out of the price range.

3) it is entirely possible that you spend so much time troubleshooting Wifi that it costs more than the wired, and then run into entirely different issues at the next site.
3.1) It is also possible that it works just fine when you plug it in, but stops working 6 months later when someone turns on a mobile hotspot on their cell phone.
3.2) It is ALSO entirely possible that it just works when you start it up, and you never have an issue

 

[sharkyh2o]

We used a Buffalo NFiniti wireless-n dual band ethernet converter as a bridge. Went to a Red Lion PTV and had to run cable for live data.

 

[Ken Moore]

I have used Moxa with good success, great support. But...they cost more than your wired option, so too expensive.
I have not tried any others.

 

[Zimmer]

Have used these before, although only on Siemens Logo's, might be worth a try.

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wire...uter&qid=1599684205&sprefix=tp,aps,249&sr=8-2

 

[OkiePC]

I have quite a few Ubiquiti Nanos and Locos in some pretty harsh locations. Almost all of them are set up with line of sight between points. One of them is about 1/2 mile with some trees in the way and still works good. It is two Clicks with messages once per second with about a 95% success rate. On that application, once per minute would be good enough, so If we missed 9 out of 10 messages it would still work.

I recently installed a LocoM5 between a Ignition SCADA PC and the main PLC panel and have had no issues. It is only about 1000' away and has good line of sight. The LocoM5 we chose has a bluetooth option so you can configure it with your smart phone. The blue tooth shuts down 15 minutes after powering it up and is password protected for security. I think I gave $120 for that pair.

We support one plant that has I think about 6 NanoM2 units connecting various buildings with Micrologix. There is a spiderweb of PLC messages and HMI traffic non stop 24/7 and I think they have only had one incident of damage after severe storms.

Another customer with Clicks and Ubiquiti required one or more Rocketdish antennas to get the range they needed (about a mile IIRC).

so +1 for Ubiquiti.

 

[Ken Roach]

I have installed Ubiquiti access points in the Saudi desert, commissioned them during a monsoon in Osaka, and checked them in baggage through Lahore.

Best value, stability, power, and product quality for the money, in my opinion.

Sure, you can buy consumer-grade stuff cheaply, but you're going to get consumer-grade hardware, longevity, durability, stability, and lifecycles.

 

[geniusintraining]

Thanks guys!

I dont know for sure but I was told all 16 will be in one corner of the warehouse, they are now considering using 8 because the stations are back to back and having one PLC report two station back to the BRX, the BRX will be hardwired and sending data to the cloud.

I will definitely look into the Ubiquiti, its not critical data so I would think 99%-95% data collection would fine if they could reduce the cost by 50% but its their choice, I will giving them the options

Thanks again!
Mark

 

[Bolt]

I also use Ubiquiti Nano Stations to communicate with Click PLC's, ~800 feet away. I poll every 250 milliseconds, (that's 345,600 times a day!) On average, I have MUCH less than one comm failure per day. If there is an issue, it's usually related to other network traffic that is using the same bridge.


What are you using these Click's for again? Could you use a device with wifi built in? I've used Advantech WISE modules to do such, then you just need an access point on the BRX's network, and you're good to go. Cost about as much as a Click with wifi built in. Not much logic capabilities though.

 

[geniusintraining]

What are you using these Click's for again? Could you use a device with wifi built in? I've used Advantech WISE modules to do such, then you just need an access point on the BRX's network, and you're good to go. Cost about as much as a Click with wifi built in. Not much logic capabilities though.

Thanks Bolt!

They are basically ratting out the employee if a device is not used and the person does 'this' its not safe, they have procedures in place and they are not using them, so the PLC (Click) along with a few sensors will time stamp if the person does 'this' the act thats not safe and records it, it will then send the stamp to the BRX and the BRX to the Cloud so all the safety people can see the data and know how many times this is happening

Needless to say they have had several (many from the sounds of it) recordable accidents, I have also installed a stack light connected to the Click, so when it happens and its recorded the red light flashes and the horn sounds... I think if they know big brother is watching the employee is less likely to do the unsafe act and reducing the recorables.

 

[Bolt]

You could probably do all that with a WISE 4050/4060, depending on how many inputs/outputs you're trying to use. The WISE could send the sensor data to the BRX in real time, it processes the data, and enables the stack light outputs with whatever logic you please.