kewakl (Customer) asked a question.
At one time, the P3 was my 'go-to' for my larger projects. Large I/O footprint, super-sized memory, decent communications option. Now, that is fading... and fading quickly.
How can I maintain confidence that AD will support any new, larger-scale projects when I am met with yet another obsoleted piece of hardware?
I use a lot of [ https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/shopping/catalog/retired_products/programmable_controllers/p3-rs ] -- these were obsoleted in May 2021 -- but I had a replacement path with this [ https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/shopping/catalog/retired_products/programmable_controllers/p3-rx ]
This replacement path no longer exists.
This product was obsoleted in June 2026, making all of my projects that use either item obsolete when these items fail.
I do not know if I can replicate these projects in a P1 footprint in the same enclosure space.
I cannot replicate these projects with a max of 4 P1-RX expansions and the 4-channel analog input cards (16-bit)
I have not worked out if I can do a multi-CPU platform to support 200 analog in and +100 discrete outputs.
I do not have confidence that any replicated projects will not be subject to the same obsolescence.
I will not replicate these projects in a P2 footprint as the P2 cards seem so sloppy/floppy in the P2 bases.
Watching this as well as I am also a big fan of the productivity 3000. Like you I also skipped over the productivity 2000 line but not for reliability concerns. I skipped over the productivity 2000 line because the productivity 1000 is so good. If I cant get it done with a productivity 1000 the project more than justifies jumping up to the productivity 3000.
I am hoping this phase out means we are on the cusp of something new. What i am hoping for is a productivity 4000 line that uses the 3000 rack and IO but uses something like EtherCAT for communication between the racks. to maintain backwards compatibility a productivity remote IO port would be nice for GS drives and such.
Hopefully with reliable plastic used in all of the retention clips, and the newer core of the Px-6xx CPUs
There is ONE thing that I like about the P2 family -- P2-SCM
I am hoping for a more modern CPU with a few cores dedicated for communications.
Plus some hardware based interrupts and faster CPU core speed for faster general scan time.
I've used P2Ks, housed in cabinets attached to packaging machines that expericne some vibration, and had no issues. Admittedly, the P1K has been my go to for the past 8 years due to their physical size, price point, and they sit rock solid on DIN rail.
We appreciate your feedback and are sorry for the inconvenience of the P3-RX going obsolete without an immediate replacement. We do have a replacement that is currently in development - P3-RX1.
While we cannot commit to a date of availability, we are optimistic that we will be able to meet the timeframe that was estimated in the product advisory that was sent out a few months ago.