KerryP
Member
I’m preparing to decommission a PLC5 and replace it with Control Logix. This is a core process in our plant and there is no margin for downtime whatsoever. My best opportunity for availability will be in July when we have a bunch of 3 and 4 day weekends of downtime.
I’ve done this conversion a couple of times in the past with small systems and, after seeing the conversion results, ended up writing a new program for the CLX. I just ran the 58,000 words of PLC5 program through the converter and it is not pretty. The conversion results are an insult to the possibilities of Control Logix programming.
The existing architecture is a PLC5/80 Enhanced with 5 17-slot racks and a couple of PanelViews and a couple of PF70 drives on RIO. In addition there is an iFIX 32 HMI PC on DH+. I have recently installed the CLX with an ENBT and a DH/RIO. The CLX is reading new Ethernet IP laser rangefinders for the transport hoists and messaging the position data to the PLC5 over a DH+ channel that only has the two processors on it. The PLC5 is still doing all of the control. The ultimate goal here is to replace the PLC5 with a 1771-ASB. Replacing the 1771 I/O will happen in the next 3 to 5 years.
1. I think my first question is RIO sharing. Can I connect the CLX to the PLC5’s RIO channel? This would allow something of an incremental approach. I could write small chunks of CLX code and bring them on line one bit, one card, one VFD, or one rack at a time. I’ve reviewed the literature and some forums and I’m still not sure what is possible. The second option for the incremental approach would be ‘node-at-a-time’ by unplugging a node from PLC5 and connecting it to CLX.
2. My next question is about the “conversion”. I’ve never been happy with the results of a direct PLC/SLC to CLX converted program. Am I being prissy here? In the present case I have several thousand tags with names like I_002_Bit15 instead of LS-2711. I have not figured out how to get the address/instruction descriptions to convert and there are literally only about 20 symbols in the PLC5. Right now, the converted program in the Control Logix is 99.5% undocumented, no tag descriptions and no rung comments. Has anyone of you ever been pleased with this process? Is there a way to get all of the address/instruction descriptions or rung comments into the CLX that I am missing? I am using v19 of RSLogix 5000.
3. Finally, what am I going to do with this iFix 32 HMI? The data base is like 6,000 tags. I have the ‘Ghosted’ backup PC at my desk and I’ve been looking at the ABR driver configuration a little bit. The existing system is on DH+ and I would like to use Ethernet just to eliminate the cost/risk of the DH+ adapter in the PC. So far it looks like a tedious, manual database editing project to re-address the tags to CLX data, if it will work at all. Any suggestions?
Once again, I thank all of you in advance for any input whatsoever. In the recent past you helped keep me on the right path with those laser rangefinders on my transport hoists by affirming my approach. That project was successful and relatively painless and I have to give you guys credit.
I’ve done this conversion a couple of times in the past with small systems and, after seeing the conversion results, ended up writing a new program for the CLX. I just ran the 58,000 words of PLC5 program through the converter and it is not pretty. The conversion results are an insult to the possibilities of Control Logix programming.
The existing architecture is a PLC5/80 Enhanced with 5 17-slot racks and a couple of PanelViews and a couple of PF70 drives on RIO. In addition there is an iFIX 32 HMI PC on DH+. I have recently installed the CLX with an ENBT and a DH/RIO. The CLX is reading new Ethernet IP laser rangefinders for the transport hoists and messaging the position data to the PLC5 over a DH+ channel that only has the two processors on it. The PLC5 is still doing all of the control. The ultimate goal here is to replace the PLC5 with a 1771-ASB. Replacing the 1771 I/O will happen in the next 3 to 5 years.
1. I think my first question is RIO sharing. Can I connect the CLX to the PLC5’s RIO channel? This would allow something of an incremental approach. I could write small chunks of CLX code and bring them on line one bit, one card, one VFD, or one rack at a time. I’ve reviewed the literature and some forums and I’m still not sure what is possible. The second option for the incremental approach would be ‘node-at-a-time’ by unplugging a node from PLC5 and connecting it to CLX.
2. My next question is about the “conversion”. I’ve never been happy with the results of a direct PLC/SLC to CLX converted program. Am I being prissy here? In the present case I have several thousand tags with names like I_002_Bit15 instead of LS-2711. I have not figured out how to get the address/instruction descriptions to convert and there are literally only about 20 symbols in the PLC5. Right now, the converted program in the Control Logix is 99.5% undocumented, no tag descriptions and no rung comments. Has anyone of you ever been pleased with this process? Is there a way to get all of the address/instruction descriptions or rung comments into the CLX that I am missing? I am using v19 of RSLogix 5000.
3. Finally, what am I going to do with this iFix 32 HMI? The data base is like 6,000 tags. I have the ‘Ghosted’ backup PC at my desk and I’ve been looking at the ABR driver configuration a little bit. The existing system is on DH+ and I would like to use Ethernet just to eliminate the cost/risk of the DH+ adapter in the PC. So far it looks like a tedious, manual database editing project to re-address the tags to CLX data, if it will work at all. Any suggestions?
Once again, I thank all of you in advance for any input whatsoever. In the recent past you helped keep me on the right path with those laser rangefinders on my transport hoists by affirming my approach. That project was successful and relatively painless and I have to give you guys credit.