Do More and HMI all in one

[Garyhlucas]

I don't like the PLC HMI combo. Break one buy both, wires to the door are stupid.

[HB_GUY]

Or it could be done similar to how unitronics does it. The back of the HMI is the PLC rack. You add in a cpu and your io cards.

Not that I am a fan of their hardware, but that style is neat.

[Mike Nash]

The upfront comms work isn't too bad, so long as you employ the 80/20 rule.

Initially, just implement Modbus RTU, Modbus/TCP, and DMP or whatever Do-More protocol is called, and you'll have covered about 90% of the available market.  Add other drivers as you can demonstrate demand for them.  Seriously, EVERYTHING talks Modbus.

I stumbled on this again looking for Protos X with Do-more experiences.

But it also brings to mind another tech wondering about adding an H0-ECOM100 to a D0-06 to tie it in to a brand new CompactLogix with an EA9. Not EVERYTHING talks Modbus, especially in Rockwell land. And no EIP for the D0-06. But we could possibly use the EA9 as a gateway if push came to shove. But you know, that is the problem with HMIs, there is always a new generation just a couple of years away and what if the features change and screw up your scheme? I have one machine in mind that has had Total Control to EZ-Touch to EA7 to EA9. (Ooh, I just looked and it's been 21 years, wow.) Only a TI PLC and a D2-260 though.

I actually like the Do-more engine in an HMI idea, but no local I/O for me. If I were an OEM maybe, but otherwise it is too big of a pain. But I could sure see handling the smarts for ethernet linked components.

[Controls Guy]

SLC's (as of about FRN 11 or so -- granted they were late to the party) and most (all?) Micros do Modbus, and I believe there are AOI's for Control/Compact Logii.

[deep6ixed]

Modbus is everywhere nowadays, I even found a Cordova plugin for using Modbus in a mobile app.  But you still have some manufacturers who have to sell their own special setup to force you into vendor lock in.

[Mike Nash]

SLC's (as of about FRN 11 or so -- granted they were late to the party) and most (all?) Micros do Modbus, and I believe there are AOI's for Control/Compact Logii.

CompactLogix $1400 for ProSoft Modus TCP
ControlLogix $2000-$2300 for ProSoft Modus TCP

CompactLogix $250 for ProSoft Modus RTU (Lite)
ControlLogix $2000-$2300 for ProSoft Modus RTU

Somehow I'm not feeling Modbus fits my budget with Rockwell/ProSoft.

[Controls Guy]

CompactLogix $1400 for ProSoft Modus TCP
ControlLogix $2000-$2300 for ProSoft Modus TCP

CompactLogix $250 for ProSoft Modus RTU (Lite)
ControlLogix $2000-$2300 for ProSoft Modus RTU

Somehow I'm not feeling Modbus fits my budget with Rockwell/ProSoft.

Yup, I've done that way too back in the day when it was the only way, and yes, I too thought it was spendy (though if you think about the amount of time it offsets it starts looking cheap), but....like I said SLC's do Modbus natively now (no $ required), Micros always have, and I believe Add On Instructions are available to make the 5000 stuff act as master or slave or both, and I think they're free.

So yeah, at this point Prosoft modules are starting to look spendy again.

[Controls Guy]

A Digi One IAP can bridge a lot of stuff for $500.  As far as I know, it will only support Control / Compact Logic via PLC/SLC emulation mode, and the implementation isn't perfect.  (I can't get it to support B-files of longer than one word, N-file support is pretty good but a little kludgey for buttons, etc.), but it might work OK if you MSG from the PLC to the DOIAP.

I have an app at the moment with a SLC that needs to talk Modbus to a bunch of Danfoss drives.  I'll use one of these methods and let you know how it works.

[jgreenewv]

...I believe Add On Instructions are available to make the 5000 stuff act as master or slave or both, and I think they're free.

I'll throw in my $0.02 and say the AOIs for Modbus are not very stable, flexible, or reliable.  They feel like they were developed to show that it could be done, but never fully fleshed out or tested.  I started a project planning to use the Modbus/TCP AOIs and ended up installing a ProSoft card because I could never get it to work quite right.  I really do wish Rockwell would circle back and get native Modbus support on Logix.

[Controls Guy]

Good to know!  Are the AOIs open or protected?   If open, we could probably finish them (or just start from scratch and do our own).

[jgreenewv]

As I recall, they are open, but fairly convoluted.