Automationguy93 (Customer) asked a question.
Hello,
I've just started a new job as a controls engineer (new company, not title), they happen to use "Direct Logic 205 PLC's. This is a new platform for me and I'd just like to know the proper way to upload a program from the PLC. We do not have copies of these programs and I need to pull the program from the PLC for maintenance and editing purposes. I should mention I am the only controls engineer here and I want to verify I need Direct soft to upload the program? Also, is there any issues uploading these programs seeing how most of these PLC's haven't had any updates in at least 6 years. Will updating firmware (applicable?) impact these processes since they are so out of date? Please advice on anything I need to careful of.
Thank you,
Ryan
If you can find the original DISK projects, they have all the documentation (Ladder Rung Comments, Element Nicknames). These are NOT stored in DL CPUs, so when you read them up using DirectSOFT, they will have no documentation.
Finding the disk project files would definitely help you.
I doubt there are firmware updates if the last update to the program was around 6 years ago. Direct Logic and DirectSoft program are VERY old and basically obsolete. The software only gets maintenance updates now as far as I am aware to make it compatible with a new Windows OS. And unless a significant bug is found or a new CPU is released simply because the chips in the old one isn't made anymore then I doubt a new firmware will happen.
Since you don't have the original program on a disk, you are going to have a very rough first month or two inputting all the documentation as you basically reverse engineer each program pulled from the PLC since they will not have any element names or documentation when you pull them. You could just leave it of course and do that work when a problem arises, but you will sure look a lot better to your boss if you don't take a week to troubleshoot a problem when a problem has already happened.
Best thing to do is go to your new boss, tell him the PLC programs have no documentation of any kind, and ask him if he or she knows anything about the original saved disk programs or if the old engineer took them with him. If nothing is known about the original disk stuff, then explain that to make your job doable you will start going through them all and creating the necessary documentation. This will probably make you look more competent in their eyes and let your boss know what the hell you are doing for the next two months. lol