I rev'd my studio5000 form 21.00.03 to 21.03 and now I cannot down rev to 21.00.03. This is what the customer has. The processor firmware is 21.11 and I cannot upload form the PLC into 21.00.03. Tech support said I can never go back. Use extreme cation when upgrading Studio5000 minor revs, there is no uploading out of the processor.
Yet for some reason, clients keep requesting this brutal hardware........
Yeah, it is silly, and ultimately makes NO sense. Consider this: How has your Ladder changes since the SLC 5 days? Probably very little? Maybe you use some AOIs and UDTs, but that is really only a function of the programming software, and nothing to do with the base level that the PLC processes at... XIO, XIC, LD....
But it's a moot point.
They have their business model, and it makes them a lot of money.
Recommend to your future clients:
Mitsubishi will take your old code and write it in to a mitsubishi PLC
Free of charge.
Their software is backwards compatible (I just troubleshot a PLC that was 16 years old using the exact same installation that I am programming PLCs for today)
Their hardware is about 50% of the price on average.
Their manuals are way more in depth, and available
Free of charge
Their tech support is 24/7 and available
Free of charge because they get fewer calls about "Why does version 21.03 not work with 21.00.03?" because that's a business play, not an industry requirement.
I've heard that Siemens is much the same way?