adccommunitymod (AutomationDirect) asked a question.
BRX to AB Flex IO 1794-AENT
Created Date: June 14,2017
Created By: a agnone
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Has anyone ever tried to connect an AB 1794-AENT flex IO to a BRX. I never seem to know what blocks to use in the BRX if possible and what goes in the fields. Just want to do it out of curiosity to see if the BRX can do it.
Created Date: June 14,2017
Created by: a agnone
Has anyone ever tried to connect an AB 1794-AENT flex IO to a BRX. I never seem to know what blocks to use in the BRX if possible and what goes in the fields. Just want to do it out of curiosity to see if the BRX can do it.
Created Date: June 15,2017
Created by: a agnone
Seems it will be very difficult to achieve. Even the AB die hards are abandoning AB add ons, lol. We have a few AB people here and are using AD products such as HMI's, external IO, etc. The only thing they use are the MicroLogix plcs then use AD products to support everything else. Amazing direction AD and Host are going.
Created Date: June 15,2017
Created by: franji1
Does their Flex I/O support EtherNet/IP? If it supports Explicit Messaging, then you should be able to hook up any Ethernet based Do-more PLC to it using the EIPMSG instruction, but you have to know all of the Class/Instance details of your slave device (i.e. the Flex I/O).
Created Date: June 19,2017
Created by: Do-more PE
That is the issue Franj1. Finding that documentation at AB is a daunting task. It doesn't seem to exist or if it does, it is buried deep.
Created Date: June 19,2017
Created by: Ridgeline Mach
That is the issue Franj1. Finding that documentation at AB is a daunting task. It doesn't seem to exist or if it does, it is buried deep. Or for a tech connect contract, that includes actually being able to talk to someone on the phone, you might be able to get that information. "Free " support went the way of the SLC 150.
Created Date: June 19,2017
Created by: kewakl
That is the issue Franj1. Finding that documentation at AB is a daunting task. It doesn't seem to exist or if it does, it is buried deep .
And requires a money contract to access useful documentation.
Created Date: June 27,2017
Created by: jwbaker3
We have tech connect contracts ($$thousands per year$$ to keep our software up to date) but they will not give you that information. They will tell you the flex I/O will work with the compactlogix or controllogix platforms without a problem. It cost a lot to maintain the software and for the required training per year, but we charge our customers more for AB work to cover the cost. In the end it is the customer that make the call on which platform we use, given the choice we prefer AD DoMore for small to mid size projects.
JW
Created Date: June 28,2017
Created by: a agnone
jwbaker3, just curious why you placed using Do-More in small to mid size projects? I have used AD products in very complex "large projects " that are doing quite well. Much "easier " to implement than the AB platform. And at a very impressive cost savings. They integrated very nicely with the servo packages we presently use that went very smoothly. AB motion packages are outrages not counting the software you need.
Created Date: June 29,2017
Created by: jwbaker3
I have no problem using the DoMore or Productivity PLC on any project however, normally the larger projects we do are in plants that already have AB, Siemens or GE and the systems need to talk (messaging) to pass information and data. In these cases the customer wants AB, Siemens or GE. They already have the spares on the shelf, own the software and the plant maintenance is able to troubleshoot it. A big push from a lot of our customers in the last 5 years is to network the entire plant and use a SCADA system to track production, and machine downtime traceable to each machine. I have made good headway in replacing the Panelview's with C-more and the power-flex drives with Yaskawa. The PLC is another story even with the cost savings the larger customers will not talk about another PLC platform. When ever I bring it up the normal response is cost is not the issue (until they get my invoice), so I bring it up and present it as an option. For smaller plants we have used AD, I did an entire plant with AD about 10 years ago and it is still running without a problem. It would be much easier to do now with the DoMore, I find it much faster to program.