adccommunitymod (AutomationDirect) asked a question.
Created Date: April 23,2012
Created By: Dean
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I have done a couple projects on the Micros. I am looking at a project where we have always wanted to do some notifications of certain events during times when no one is in the plant. We even set up dry contacts for the local alarm company to trigger phone calls, but the bosses didn't want to spend the money to have a another system installed, plus the monthly fee. The built in Ethernet seems like a perfect solution to this, if I can convince the boss to spend the additional $ that is. I figure between the HMI, and software we are looking at an additional $700. Not bad for a a basic warning system should things go bad on a Saturday night. My question is what is the learning curve for the setup software? Are the two similar?
Created Date: April 23,2012
Created by: Bob S BN
The two are similar, just a lot more options on most of the objects in the full CMORE.
I'd double check you prices though. I thought the Cmore with Ethernet was $699 on it's own.
Created Date: April 23,2012
Created by: Dean
This project already calls for an HMI, and I have spec'd out the 3 inch micro. If I went with the fancier of the 6 inch C-mores, plus the software, I am looking at a little less than $700 difference. I haven't figured the cost of a power supply yet though. I assume these are like the bigger micros, in that they need their own power?
Created Date: April 23,2012
Created by: Adisharr
Honestly, the build quality of the Micro's is not all that great. I 've got multiple units with backlight failure / dimming and two with bad keys (very low use). You generally get what you pay for. The C-more units are much better.
Created Date: April 24,2012
Created by: Bob S BN
I assume these are like the bigger micros, in that they need their own power?
You are correct. You will need a 24 volt Power supply for the HMI.
But you should be able to send Email messages on faults or other events of your choosing to alert you of problems with the system.
Also, you'll be able to log in from a web browser to see what's going on in the HMI as well. Check other topics on "remote access " to see how that's done outside your plant network.
Good Luck,
Created Date: April 24,2012
Created by: Dean
I downloaded the demo C More software this morning, just to play around with it a bit. Everything looks and acts like the micro software. Lots more stuff to play with though. I saw where you set up the embedded e-mail client,and the events database where an e-mail event is added. I think I can get this working. As far as remote access, everyone is a bit frightened of having even this small segment of the system exposed to the web. Getting the bosses to agree to even the ability to send an e-mail alert will be a battle. That said, for future larger projects remote viewing in house at least will be something worth pursuing. We are presently working towards a new warehousing facility across town, and environmental monitoring is a big deal in our industry. The ability to log data,and view it at the main building would be something I'm guessing the administration folks might be interested in.
Created Date: April 24,2012
Created by: Bob S BN
As far as remote access, everyone is a bit frightened of having even this small segment of the system exposed to the web. Getting the bosses to agree to even the ability to send an e-mail alert will be a battle.
I think that's where the VPN router come into play, although I haven't used anything like that here. I think it will hide your system from all but those few users allowed access info to it. There's lots of topics about how to do it safely on this forum.
Created Date: April 23,2012
Created by: Dean
I have done a couple projects on the Micros. I am looking at a project where we have always wanted to do some notifications of certain events during times when no one is in the plant. We even set up dry contacts for the local alarm company to trigger phone calls, but the bosses didn't want to spend the money to have a another system installed, plus the monthly fee. The built in Ethernet seems like a perfect solution to this, if I can convince the boss to spend the additional $ that is. I figure between the HMI, and software we are looking at an additional $700. Not bad for a a basic warning system should things go bad on a Saturday night. My question is what is the learning curve for the setup software? Are the two similar?