Disliked by many who used it early on, and forgotten by most everyone else, the PanelView Component (PVc) was very much in danger of becoming the most unsuccessful Allen-Bradley HMI to bear the PanelView name.

However, two recent developments appear to be giving it a second chance.

Finding the Sweet Spot

On the hardware side, the PanelView Component released with a noticeable screen quality gap. The difference in screen size, features, and price between the 3″ and 6″ models was substantial. That coupled with the 6″ color display invoking bad memories of “dual scan” laptop screens showcased the hardware deficiencies in the middle of the product line.

Rockwell first addressed the lackluster 6″ color display by obsoleting it, and replacing it with a modern 6″ TFT display at the same price. While this was a much needed and good first step, it was the next release that seemed to find the perfect balance between price and functionality.

The PanelView Component 4″ touchscreen (2711C-T4T) released with a list price of $399, and came equipped with a bright TFT touchscreen and four function keys. More like it’s 6″ sibling than the 3″ model, it also included an Ethernet port, SD slot, and replaceable battery (used to maintain the internal clock.)

A Sound Strategy

New hardware alone wasn’t going to cure all the PanelView Component’s issues. Seemingly aware of this, Rockwell began enhancing the PanelView Component DesignStation with validation capabilities. They also continued integrating it into their Connected Component Workbench (CCW) programming package. This integration allowed users to quickly switch between Micro800 PLC programming and PanelView Component screen design. It also allowed for easy browsing of Micro800 tag addresses from the PVc’s tag definition list.

However, the Micro800 wasn’t reason enough to install CCW. It’s local adoption rate had been quite low as many preferred to stay with the popular MicroLogix line. So Rockwell needed some other reason for users to install CCW. Enter Rockwell’s new component level drive, the PowerFlex 525 (PF525.)

Executing on what now seems like a very sound strategy, Rockwell made their new PF525 programmable exclusively using CCW. And being that the PF525 was a great little VFD with available dual Ethernet ports, it was a quick success. So with every new PF525 customer also came another engineer installing and using CCW.

But the real clincher was, at the same time Rockwell integrated the programming of the PF525 into CCW, they also integrated the programming of the rest of their PowerFlex drives as well. This instantly made CCW the one stop for configuring PowerFlex drives, spurred on by the fact that Rockwell ended support for the previous tool, Drive Explorer.

Successfully finding a reason for users to install CCW wouldn’t mean much for the PanelView Component if the software still had large functionality gaps. Up to this point Rockwell had added validation, but the basic ability to download directly to the terminal was still missing.

With the launch of Rockwell’s newest VFD, the PowerFlex 523, they also released CCW 6.1. And this version finally brought the ability to perform downloads to PanelView Component terminals without needing to export the project first.

So, how well does the new CCW PanelView Component download feature work? Well, in fact quite well.

Connecting to, programming, and transferring files to the PanelView Component family has always been done either using Ethernet, or with an off the shelf USB cable. And even when using USB, the PanelView Component software driver assigns the terminal an IP address of 169.254.254.2.

So when you attempt to download to the PVc the first time there’s only one field to enter: the IP address of your PVc. And if you’re using a USB connection, you’re in luck as the default IP address is already preloaded for you.

If the terminal is connected when you attempt the download, the whole process takes a few seconds. However, if your terminal is disconnected (or you type in the wrong IP address) the software will take a minute or two to report back that it’s timed out.

Note: It should be pointed out that to use CCW 6.1 with your PanelView Component you’ll need to upgrade the HMI terminal to firmware 1.8. In my case, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get this to work over USB or Ethernet. However I did find flashing the unit using a USB memory stick was easy enough, and once updated the download worked as expected.

Well I hope this article about the updated usability of CCW with the PanelView Component is helpful. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions please don’t hesitate to share them by filling out the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

I'm a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, I worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before leaving to become a full time Industrial Automation instructor and mentor at TheAutomationSchool, as well as publishing industry interviews, news, and product how-to’s at TheAutomationBlog.com. If you're interested in my training, mentoring, or becoming a sponsor, please schedule a teams meeting with me via https://calendly.com/shawntierney/business-meeting

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When the PanelView Component (PVc) first launched back in 2008, it heralded many innovative features for an Allen-Bradley HMI.

First and foremost was cost. The product line was released at substantially lower prices than previous Rockwell HMI’s, and the development software was completely free.

In fact, you didn’t even need software. You could simply take a PanelView Component out of the box, plug it into your laptop’s USB port, and program it with nothing more than your web browser.

For those who needed to create their HMI design prior to receiving a physical unit, Rockwell also released a free “offline emulator.” It allowed the creation and validation of projects without the physical hardware present.

The development software also included streamlined communications configuration. It’s easy to use interface was a very welcome change from the un-intuitive communications setup used in Rockwell’s other HMI, the PanelView Plus. And, in addition to Allen-Bradley PLC communications, each PanelView Component also came pre-loaded with dozens of third party PLC drivers.

Hardware wise, all units had a DB9 RS-232 port as well as a terminal block connection for RS-422 and 485. They also came with USB ports for transferring programs using a standard USB cable or Flash Drive.

The 6″ and 10″ models were additionally equipped with an Ethernet port, an SD Card slot, and an easy to access battery used to maintain the unit’s internal clock.

Shortcomings quickly emerge

Shortly after beginning development on a project, shortcoming of the web based development software began cropping up. The speed of the in-browser designer, whether using the offline emulator or directly connected to the HMI, was typically very slow. A momentary pause would precede almost any action the user attempted to make.

If you could overlook the speed of project creation, there were still other issues. For one, the PanelView Component seemed to communicate to every major PLC except for Rockwell’s own CompactLogix and ControlLogix processors.

While similarly priced HMI’s didn’t have this restriction, the folks at Rockwell were adamant about the product being designed for use with the MicroLogix and Micro800 PLCs (and nearly all major third party PLCs) and never would add support for it’s Logix based programmable controllers.

Another issue was actual HMI runtime performance. The PanelView Component family was designed for small applications, and when used for larger applications they quickly bogged down.

I personally worked with a local company to troubleshoot a persistant three second delay experienced when trying to use any operation on a 10″ touchscreen.

After some investigation we found the design engineer, who typically worked with PC SCADA software, had nearly 100 animations on his main display. The recommendation limit for the PanelView Component was 25 animations per screen.

Too little to late?

Rockwell did attempt to address the main issue of development speed by releasing a free “offline editor.” Known as “PanelView Component DesignStation,” it was indeed much quicker than the web browser designer.

In fact, it was so much faster it effectively eliminated all the development lag. However, it still lacked two major features which kept it from being on par with other HMI design environments.

First, it initially couldn’t “validate” HMI projects. This meant you still needed to use the web browser based interface for that task. But even more of an oversight was the fact that the software didn’t contain the simple ability to “download” an HMI project to the physical terminal.

While saving a project from the Emulator to a USB flash drive for the purpose of loading it into a physical unit made some sort of sense, not having the ability to just download a project directly to the terminal from the development software seemed like a major oversight.

Quickly Forgotten

In the end, the above issues combined with poor experiences of early adopters relegated the PanelView Component to the “not worth the effort” category.

If not for some recent developments I’ll discuss in tomorrow’s blog, I believe it’s quite possible the PanelView Component would have languished in relative obscurity.

So, what do you think? Did you have a horrible first experience with the PanelView Component that you’d like to share?

Or, do you perhaps think this blog is being a little too harsh on the PanelView Component? Let us know your thoughts by submitting the “post a comment or question” link below!

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

I'm a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, I worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before leaving to become a full time Industrial Automation instructor and mentor at TheAutomationSchool, as well as publishing industry interviews, news, and product how-to’s at TheAutomationBlog.com. If you're interested in my training, mentoring, or becoming a sponsor, please schedule a teams meeting with me via https://calendly.com/shawntierney/business-meeting

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

• First Look: Siemens S7-1200 G2 – Unbox, Wire, Program (S2E13) - April 17, 2025
• MaintainX: Prevent Unplanned Downtime (P236) - April 9, 2025
• First Time Using Ignition: Tags and Views (P235) - March 24, 2025