From v.21 to v.31 help

I am about to undertake an upgrade like I have not done before. I have a contrologix PLC, 6 Kinetix6500 drives, 3 RIO's with point I/O, and 4 PF-40's, all connected to one machine. It currently has RSL5000 v.21.06 running and I am going to update it to Logix Designer v.31. I realize I will now have to flash the CPU, my coms modules(?), probably my VFD's also however, will this require any changes to the actual code that is running this system? I am making an assumption that the Kinetix6500 control modules will be able to be flashed up to more current software but don't know how to tell that, or if that is even an issue(?). If I sound a little frightened, it's because I am! This is a vital part of our production so I am doing my due diligence and spending as much time as I need to make sure this goes as smoothly as possible. I am certain many of you folks here have done this multiple times, which is why I am asking. Thank you much.

Depending on the part number and existing firmware level for all external modules, you can see compatibility with your processor with V31 loaded onto it. There is a chance that all you need to do is change the controller's firmware and that's it!

The Kinetix 6500 compatibility is available on PCDC. An example of a query I made with an L73 V21,31 and Kinetix 6500 V3 and V1 is here:

This is my process: Upload current controller image, save on my desktop with OldV21 appended onto it, remove old processor from chassis(if you don't have a new/spare processor, just do the next steps with this processor), put in prog mode, insert new processor, put in program modeuse controlflash+ to upgrade processor firmware, change program firmware level using your PC but just going to controller properties and Change Controller>Software version, save this with NewV31 appended, download to the new processor, put processor in run mode.

Hopefully this helps, you should definitely check compatibility with current firmwares before upgrading.

PreLC said:

Depending on the part number and existing firmware level for all external modules, you can see compatibility with your processor with V31 loaded onto it. There is a chance that all you need to do is change the controller's firmware and that's it!

The Kinetix 6500 compatibility is available on PCDC. An example of a query I made with an L73 V21,31 and Kinetix 6500 V3 and V1 is here:

This is my process: Upload current controller image, save on my desktop with OldV21 appended onto it, remove old processor from chassis(if you don't have a new/spare processor, just do the next steps with this processor), put in prog mode, insert new processor, put in program modeuse controlflash+ to upgrade processor firmware, change program firmware level using your PC but just going to controller properties and Change Controller>Software version, save this with NewV31 appended, download to the new processor, put processor in run mode.

Hopefully this helps, you should definitely check compatibility with current firmwares before upgrading.

Click to expand...

Thanks much for the advice!

I agree with the previous post. Particularly about only upgrading the CPU firmware. I wouldn't expect any other modules would require an upgrade. But while you are shutdown you might WANT to upgrade them. Particularly comms modules. This usually will apply fixes to any comms issues they've come across.

As mentioned, the PCDC is the goto for checking on the PF and K6500 compatibility. But I suspect those should be OK as is.

There should not be any changes necessary in the logic for this upgrade. It is a little tougher to try to go backwards due to some changes implemented in v24. But going forward you shouldn't see any issues.

OG

If you have "extra" hardware that you could temporarily use for the upgrade, I would suggest it. It all depends on how much in demand the machine you are upgrading is. Whenever I do a firmware upgrade and program conversion, I try to use spare equipment. The reason for this is that if there is a major problem, I can quickly switch back. Years ago we did an upgrade on a Logix system (I think from v16 to v20) and the motion system no longer worked like original. There were no indicators there was a problem during the conversion. The suspicion was that there were some timing issues that were not correctly handled in the original version. When the upgrade happened, the problems were magnified and caused the machine not to run properly. This only affected the motion, which included 18 axes of motion. All of the upgrades I have done that do not include motion went quite smoothly.