H2-ECOM/H2-ECOM100/H2-ECOM-F/ Which one do I need?

[plcnut]

I am building a data acquisition program in VB.net and I will be polling about five 205 series plc's once every second through ecoms. These plc's are all in noisy enviroments and so I'm not sure which module I should use. I will not be moving a lot of data at once but it needs to be reliable. The fiber optic module seems to look really good for the price, but I dont know about the fiber cabling. Has anyone used these that could let me know how reliable the fiber is mechanically? I do not currently have any need for the ability to E-mail from the ECOMS, so is there any other reason to use an ECOM-100? it seems like people on this forum have a lot more trouble with the ECOM-100's than with the ECOM's. BTW I do have my program up and running and I can succesfully poll an ECOM and and update a SQL Database. I still have some work to do on my error handling and on my user interface, but it is a good feeling to sit there and watch it do what it's supposed to do all by itself . Thank you guys for the .net SDK and the advice and knowledge I've gained from your forum!!!

[MikeS]

one more piece of information you need to consider: the -F modules are all 10Base-FX, and trying to find a 10Base-FX network card for your PC is going to be quite difficult. Fiber-optic networking isn't like UTP networking in that you can't have 10/100 fiber optic connections, it's always 10 or 100, there's no way to have the end-points auto-negotiate a speed like you get with UTP cabling.

Even trying to locate 10Base-T -to- 10Base-FX media convertors is getting near impossible. Ebay ....

[plcnut]

Okay, it sounds like I need to stick with the hard wired ecom's. Thanks

[Controls Guy]

Sounds like it's time to upgrade the fiber modules for compatibility with stuff we can buy.

[MikeS]

A few years ago we ran into a part shortage on the fiber-optic modules and we asked Automationdirect.com if they wanted us to rework the fiber-optic modules with 100Base-FX parts, and they told us no, that there simply wasn't enough market demand for fiber-optic products to make it worth the investment in our design time.

[Controls Guy]

Not sure I believe that, or why it would be so, but not surprised that it's AD's official dogma.

[BobO]

Well, given that we have been selling fiber products for many years now, both Host and ADC have a pretty good sense of the market for these things. It hasn't been worth the effort.

[franji1]

And the fact that you can buy a converter and get the exact same functionality with minimal cost, compared to the fiber and running the fiber.  Also, the fiber connector on the ECOM-F just screams BREAK ME!  BREAK ME!  and fiber ain't cheap to "tap"

[Controls Guy]

You're definitely right about the connectors, and about the ease of conversion too, so mea culpa!