Legacy System based on DirectLogic 205/405 EBCs with Entivity PC control

[drshanester]

Hello Everyone!  This is my 1st question on this forum.

I am looking at an old (2014 era) control system with several remote enclosures containing various DirectLogic 205/405 PLC racks (H2-EBC/H4-EBCs connected to a PC running "Entivity" via Ethernet).  The owner claims he doesn't have a backup of the Entivity application source code and wants to replace it with something else.  Would you recommend using BRX or Productivity xxxx processors to control the existing DirectLogic Hx-EBC racks? Obviously, the owner will have to specify the details of the logic function.  Thanks in advance.

[BobO]

Hello Everyone!  This is my 1st question on this forum.

I am looking at an old (2014 era) control system with several remote enclosures containing various DirectLogic 205/405 PLC racks (H2-EBC/H4-EBCs connected to a PC running "Entivity" via Ethernet).  The owner claims he doesn't have a backup of the Entivity application source code and wants to replace it with something else.  Would you recommend using BRX or Productivity xxxx processors to control the existing DirectLogic Hx-EBC racks? Obviously, the owner will have to specify the details of the logic function.  Thanks in advance.

Well, being as Host makes BRX and not Productivity, that's an easy answer for us. 

More seriously, BRX/Do-more has a nice metaphor for flow charts in Stage programming, so any application that worked well with Entivity will likely code well in our world. Beyond that, it's really using what platform fits the need best.

[Greg]

Of course, we would recommend you use 205 Do-more PLC and not just because we make them and not the Productivity. 

The BRX PLC cannot control the older H2- and H4-EBCs. Instead, it wants to talk to the later H2-EBC100s. And we didn't make an H4-EBC100, so that would be out.

But using a 205 Do-more PLC, you can install an H2-ERM100 (Ethernet Remote Master) in its base that can master your existing H2- and H4-EBCs as they stand.

A more updated solution would put a BRX PLC in charge instead of the 205 Do-more, and replace the H2- and H4-EBC racks with Do-more BX-DMIO controllers and BRX I/O modules. Then the BRX PLC's built-in Ethernet port could utilize the Do-more Ethernet I/O protocol to control the DMIO racks and map the modules there directly into its I/O space.

[drshanester]

Thanks Greg and BobO!

I now understand that the H2-EBCs are actually H2-EBC-100s...

Would the 205 Do-More PLCs with the H2-ERM-100 still work with H2-EBC-100s and the H4-EBC?

Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Shane

[BobO]

Thanks Greg and BobO!

I now understand that the H2-EBCs are actually H2-EBC-100s...

Would the 205 Do-More PLCs with the H2-ERM-100 still work with H2-EBC-100s and the H4-EBC?

Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Shane

Any Do-more PLC (205, T1H, or BRX) can natively control the H2-EBC100. The H4-EBC can only be controlled by the H2-ERM100, which would only be available to the 205 CPU.