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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
Yesterday we showed you the simple steps to take in order to quickly create programmable controller bill of materials using Rockwell Automation’s free Integrated Architecture Builder (IAB.) In today’s article we’re highlighting a series of free Rockwell web videos which demonstrate the ins and outs of using IAB: High level overview of IAB (~4 minutes) On Machine … Read More »
I often get calls from clients who are looking for sample code, and most of the time I end up directing them to Rockwell’s Sample Code Library Website. This Rockwell website contains a library of hundreds of pieces of code for programmable controllers and HMI’s. And it’s a totally “free of charge” code … Read More »
On November 25th, Rockwell released a new YouTube video promoting it’s ”Micro800 Solution for Intermittent VFFS” (Vertical Form, Fill and Seal.) For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, I’ll include it below: While the video does a good job explaining the unique “touch probe” feature of the Micro850, it unfortunately … Read More »
Rockwell’s FactoryTalk Activation (FTA) can be a little intimidating and frustrating for new users. However, since FTA was released Rockwell has published nine FactoryTalk Activation Quick Start Videos on their Allen-Bradley website at http://www.AB.com, and in today’s article I’ll list all of these videos, and provide a direct link to view each: FactoryTalk Activation Quick Start Videos by Allen-Bradley (A-B): Video … Read More »
Today in the final part of our three part series, we’ll list the beginner Micro800 Family “How To” Videos Rockwell has posted to YouTube.com. I have divided these videos into two sections below: Product Introduction and Programming Basics Using Advanced Instructions In Ladder Logic / Ladder Diagram Micro800 Programming – Use LOG Instruction in Ladder … Read More »
Today in part two of our three part series we’ll list the beginner Micro800 Family “How To” Videos Rockwell has posted to YouTube.com. I have divided these videos into two sections below: Product Introduction and Programming Basics Introductions to the Micro800 Family Allen-Bradley Micro810 Introductory Video by ROKAutomation Thomas Sugimoto, Global Marketing Manager of … Read More »
When Rockwell released it’s new Micro800 PLC and the Connected Component Workbench (CCW) programming software, it knew that new users were going to need some help getting to know how to program this new product. With that in mind Rockwell created dozens of “How To” videos for the Micro800, and … Read More »
Rockwell’s FactoryTalk View Studio Machine Edition (ViewME) and PanelView Plus (PVPlus) can be a little challenging for new users to learn. I still remember my own frustration trying to setup RSLinx Enterprise for the first time when I received my beta copy of FactoryTalk View Studio 3.0 back in late 2003. Since then, Rockwell has released … Read More »
Rockwell’s RSLogix 5000 includes over fifty “How To” getting started videos designed to aid new users, or to introduce new features to existing users. These video “media files” which are found in the RSLogix 5000 “Start Page” often go unnoticed, as does the fact that Rockwell also makes these videos available free of charge on their Allen-Bradley … Read More »
It’s mid-week and we’re taking a walk on the lighter side with a not-so-serious promotional video for Rockwell Automation’s Retro Encabulator (retroencabulator) I came across this video back in the nineties and became an instant fan. Since then I’ve used it as an “ice breaker” to open many of my classes and seminar’s. Over the years it has … Read More »
It’s mid-week and we’re taking a walk on the lighter side with a look at an old Rockwell International not-so-serious promotional video, the Turbo Encabulator (turboencabulator) This version features two take’s, and also includes the old Rockwell logo that was so well known in days past. While interesting, I’m not sure … Read More »
It’s mid-week and we’re taking a walk on the lighter side with a look at what appears to be the “original” Turbo Encabulator (turboencabulator,) a not-so-serious promotional video. This version has nothing to do with Rockwell or Allen-Bradley, but does have some interesting YouTube comments about the featured actor. While … Read More »
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.
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.
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
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.
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
Most of the modern HMI projects I’ve seen look as if they escaped from the 70’s. I mean, why spend hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on a modern HMI if your screens are going to consist of large square buttons and numeric displays?
To be fair, there’s often not enough time in the design schedule for polishing up graphical displays with fancy images and animations. In most cases, if the system is up and running on time you’d consider yourself lucky.
So in an effort to help designers add some more “graphics” to their “graphic terminals,” today I’ll share a few “free” options for spicing up your PanelView Plus or FactoryTalk ViewSE projects.
1) The definition of HMI development insanity is drawing the same thing over and over again
Remember that project you did ten years ago that you were so proud of? You worked nights and weekends to create your own personal HMI masterpiece. Or, maybe you just work a few minutes into your lunch break to add a little color to a rather dull screen.
Whatever the case, why not import those old ViewStudioME or PanelBuilder projects you’ve previously done. Then, copy those graphics worthy of re-use into your very own ViewStudio library.
And for those of you also using ViewSE, once you’ve imported your old HMI project’s into ViewME you’re only a couple of clicks away from having that same library imported into SE. ViewSE users can also import their old RSView32 masterpieces.
2) The Legacy Library
Honestly, it’s not the end all and be all of graphic libraries. But it’s only a click away and completely free.
While you’re not very likely to need the image of a “Space Shuttle,” “Boeing 747,” or a sexy wedge shaped “Pontiac Trans Sport” minivan in your next HIM project, the pipes, tanks, and other objects definitely have more value than plain square boxes.
3) New and improved: Symbol Factory
Being last doesn’t usually have a lot of advantages. But in Rockwell’s case, being the last HMI company to add Symbol Factory allowed them to embed the newest version with 20% more objects.
With this addition, you’re just a couple of clicks away from adding anyone of the 5000 professionally drawn graphics to your HMI project. It’s so easy in fact, by not using them in your next ViewStudio project you risk being labeled as a “Retro” HMI designer.
4) Imitation (and down right copying) is the highest form of flattery
Now I wouldn’t suggest you download all your competitor’s HMI screens and start using them in your systems. But I know one company that would be more than happy for you to copy their work: Rockwell!
With all the samples and demos Rockwell makes, I’m absolutely surprised I don’t see more people dressing up their HMI’s with this additional source of graphics and animations.
5) The SampleCode is there waiting to be used.
Rockwell’s free online codebase, also known as their Sample Code library, is full of HMI projects and faceplates. And it’s all been uploaded for the sole purpose of sharing it with you.
So next time you’re browsing the net, take a moment and point your browser to http://samplecode.rockwellautomation.com and check out all the free stuff available for your next HMI project.
6) PlantPAx Process Objects: It’s completely free! Sort of…
Rockwell’s PlantPAx library of Process Objects contains dozens of meticulously designed ViewStudio Faceplates and RSLogix 5000 add-on instructions. Each is designed to work out of the box without any of the more advanced features enabled. And all have been fully documented to make integrating them into your project easier.
The only down side is, you’ll need a support contract to access the Rockwell Knowledgebase Tech Note which host’s the download links:
I hope this article will provide some inspiration to ViewStudio users out there, and hopefully raise the bar a little in the HMI graphics area as most systems today look like they were design by someone who’s been playing way too much Minecraft.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
Using a legacy PanelView Enhanced (PVe) terminal on Remote I/O (RIO) for the first time can be challenging due to the way the tags are addressed.
So to help those who may have to troubleshoot or migrate one of these legacy systems, I’ll explain how the tag addressing works in today’s article.
When using PVe terminals, the most common communication options are Data Highway Plus (DHP or DH+) and Remote I/O (RIO.)
In my opinion, using DH+ is a breeze. Just give your enhanced PanelView a unique Data Highway Plus address, and the same baud rate as your PLC. Then create your Tags in the PanelBuilder 1400E software, directly addressing your PLC’s data table.
However, when using Remote I/O it’s quite a bit trickier. With RIO, your PVe emulates a remote rack of I/O. Therefore, you first must assign it a Rack number, Starting Group, and an overall Rack Size.
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To keep things simple, we’ll just say that a full logical Rack on Remote I/O consists of 8 I/O groups, with each group consisting of 16 input bits and 16 output bits. Or put another way, each of the 8 I/O Groups in a Rack contains 2 input bytes and 2 output bytes (a byte is 8 bits.)
Note: Groups may also be referred to as Module Groups or Words. A “Word” is defined as a group of 16 bits.)
These “groups” of sixteen bits (two bytes) can either be addressed directly as I or O, or they can be used a byte at a time to transfer several words of data (know as a Block Transfer or BT) to or from internal memory.
To identify which Byte in a Group is being used for a “Block Transfer,” they are labeled as follows: the first 8 bits (low byte) is referred to as “slot 0,” and the second 8 bits (high byte) is referred to as “slot 1.”
Note: The “slot 0” and “slot 1” terminology dates back to when Allen-Bradley only made 8 Point I/O modules, and at that time each Group represented two physical slots (and potentially two 8 Point I/O modules) in the I/O chassis.
To begin, I’ll open a PanelView Enhanced project which is already setup for Remote I/O. To see if a project is setup for RIO, launch PanelBuilder 1400E software, open a “.PVC” PVe project file, and then under “PLC Communications” open “Communications Setup.” As you can see below, the project I opened is indeed set for RIO:
Next, we need to open the “RIO Racks” editor to see which Rack number was assigned to the PVe, and how many groups in length it is. In the below picture you can see the project I’m using is set to Rack 3, and is also set as a full rack of 8 groups (groups 0-7:)
Next, lets take a look at our tag database. Below you can see I’ve listed several Tags addressed directly with I/O addresses (remember, a PVe on RIO is emulating a rack of I/O.)
If I was creating a Push Button on my screen which needed to turn on an Input in the PLC’s data table, I would first create a Digital Tag in the Tag database with an address like I:034/02, and then assign it to the Push Button. This address represents an Input from Rack 03, Group 4, Bit 02.
Note: RIO is Octal based, so the I/O bit addresses range from 00 to 07, and then from 10 to 17.
I could also use a full Group, or 16 bits, to represent a single integer value. But with only 8 I/O Groups total in Rack 3, there just aren’t enough direct addresses to represent all the integers I’ll need in this project (I need to display more than 8.)
In my example, on one specific page I need to display 18 integer variables to the operator. In order to get that much data into the PVe via RIO and still only use a single rack, I have to turn to Block Transfers.
To do this, I need to add a “block transfer write instruction” to my PLC logic. Then in the PanelBuilder 1400E software I configure the project to receive the data by adding an entry for it in the “Block Transfer – Block Editor.”
In the picture below, you can see several block transfers are configure in my PanelBuilder 1400E project. Each line in the table reserves a byte of data in Rack 3 for the corresponding block transfer:
In the above picture I’ve highlighted Block Transfer 7, or B7. It’s currently set for a length of 18 words, and is set as a Write BT which uses the Low Byte of Group 0 of Rack 03.
With the block transfer entry created, I can now create my 18 integer tags that address them. To do this I use B7 as my address, and all sixteen bits of each of my 18 words as can be seen below:
At this point a common question is, “where in the PLC is the data coming from?” To find the answer we would need to open up the PLC program and find the BTW (block transfer write) instruction that is writing to (in this case) Rack 03, Group 0, Low Byte (aka Slot 0.) Once we found that instruction, it would also show us which data table address it’s using as the source of the data it’s writing.
One final note. Questions often arise as to what “data types” are available in the enhanced PanelView. To answer this, below I’ve pasted in a screen shot from the PanelBuilder 1400E software’s help file which explains each data type in detail:
I hope this article explaining the PanelView Enhanced Remote I/O tag addresses was helpful. If you have any comments, questions, or corrections please don’t hesitate to share them with us by using the “post a comment or question” form at the bottom of this page.
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.
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.
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
I often get calls from clients who are looking for sample code, and most of the time I end up directing them to Rockwell’s Sample Code Library Website. This Rockwell website contains a library of hundreds of pieces of code for programmable controllers and HMI’s. And it’s a totally “free of charge” code … Read More »
In today’s pre-Thanksgiving Day article, I’m sharing the seven Allen-Bradley and Rockwell website links I use the most. #1: The Allen-Bradley Literature Library http://www.ab.com/literature It’s in there! The manual, that is. Most every product question can be quickly answered by cracking open the user’s manual. And since I’m a road warrior, … Read More »
Is my Allen-Bradley PLC, HMI, or VFD obsolete? This is a common question when clients are planning for the future or looking to upgrade a system. Fortunately Rockwell provides a dedicated webpage for just these queries, and in today’s article we’ll walk you through using it: Step 1: Start by … Read More »
It’s Friday and in this TGIF edition of “The Automation Blog” we’re going to share a simple tip on how to find budgetary prices and AutoCAD drawing for Rockwell Allen-Bradley products. The Rockwell Automation and Allen-Bradley (A-B) Online Product Catalog is a simple website dedicated to providing an easy way to lookup … Read More »
Yesterday we discussed how to check if your software was Windows 7 compatible. Today we’ll use the same site to find and download Rockwell Software (RS) and Allen-Bradley (A-B) software updates Note: You can watch a video on using Rockwell’s software downloads website on our companion video blog HERE. In many cases, when … Read More »
Almost daily I’m asked about Rockwell Software (RS) and Allen-Bradley (A-B) software support for Windows 7. While I haven’t memorized the list, the good news is Rockwell has put together an easy to use compatibility website which makes finding operating system support for it’s software a breeze. Note: You can watch a video on … Read More »
Rockwell Automation (RA) holds several commercial events and trade shows each year, and most of them include hands-on labs, technical sessions, and demonstration workshops. Below you’ll find links to detailed instructions on how to find and download these materials. 1) For details on how to find and download Automation Fair hands-on lab, technical session, and … Read More »
Today we continue this week’s theme of how and where to download session materials from Rockwell’s commercial events by discussing Rockwell’s … RSTechED Rockwell’s RSTechED is a weeklong training event for customers, integrators, distributors, and Rockwell personnel. It is by far my favorite event, well when it’s on the East … Read More »
Today we continue this week’s theme of how and where to download session materials from Rockwell’s commercial events by discussing Rockwell’s RAOTM event. Rockwell Automation On The Move Rockwell’s “Rockwell Automation On The Move” (aka RAOTM) is a two day event which can be described as a smaller local version of Automation Fair. … Read More »
As we discussed yesterday, Rockwell Automation (RA) holds several commercial events and trade shows each year, and most of them include hands-on labs, technical sessions, and demonstrations. And this week I’m posting how to find the session downloads for these. Today it’s… Rockwell Automation’s “Process Solutions User Group” Rockwell’s “Process Solutions User Group” (aka … Read More »
Rockwell Automation (RA) holds several commercial events and trade shows each year, and most of them include hands-on labs, technical sessions, and product demonstrations. Following each event, I usually get a few calls or emails from clients asking where they can go online to download the presentations and lab files for the sessions they attended. To preemptively answer … Read More »
Where to get free software for Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Automation (RA) products, part two: Click here for part one of this article In yesterday’s article we discussed getting free software for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Automation from the RA Downloads page, the MicroLogix downloads page, the Drives Explorer page, and from the Knowledgebase. Today … Read More »
Rockwell Automation has a reputation of charging for their PLC programming software, and that’s true for most of the packages that program their Programmable Controllers. However, RA does make several software packages available free of charge, and I’ll detail those over the next two days. Click here for the second part of this article We’ll start at the Rockwell … Read More »
When using new products from Allen-Bradley or Rockwell Software, you’ll likely need to refer to the product documentation and manuals for product details. And if you still have the box the product came in, you’ll often find an installation manual or guide inside. While these short documents do contain helpful … Read More »
Occasionally a Contractor, System Integrator (SI,) or Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) will provide programming software to their end customer, but forget to register it to them. When this happens the end user doesn’t get any product notices sent to owners of that package. They also don’t get activation or technical support since they aren’t registered with Rockwell … Read More »
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.
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.
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
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.
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
Update 02/20/20:Rockwell is no longer making the below videos available to view online, however the below links to download the videos still work.
Yesterday we showed you the simple steps to take in order to quickly create programmable controller bill of materials using Rockwell Automation’s free Integrated Architecture Builder (IAB.)
In today’s article we’re highlighting a series of free Rockwell web videos which demonstrate the ins and outs of using IAB:
I hope you’ve found the above IAB videos helpful. If you have any comments of questions on the above videos, or on IAB, please feel free to share them with us by using 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.
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.
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
I receive many requests for Programmable Controller system BOM’s (bill of materials.) To work these up quickly and easily I use a free utility from Rockwell Automation called Integrated Architecture Builder, or IAB for short.
This utility has so many features and options that I don’t even pretend to know half of what it does. But I can show you a few simple steps you can take to easily crank out your own IAB BOMs.
First, you’ll need to get a copy of IAB before you can use it. Today IAB is distributed as part of Rockwell’s “Product Selection Toolbox,” which you can download from the below link:
Once you download and install IAB, go ahead and launch it. And since you’ve just downloaded it, answer “no” to the request to check for updates:
Once it starts, close the “Quick Start” popup:
Then from the IAB program menu choose “File” and “New.” Now in the popup choose a “Blank” workspace, give your project a name, and click “OK” as shown below:
Now from the IAB menu choose “Action” and “Add New Hardware.” Then from the popup choose a programmable controller and click on “OK”:
Note: If your system does not default with enough I/O module slots, just right click on the chassis and select “Configure Chassis” like I did below:
Now from the “Device List” at bottom of the window choose your processor and I/O modules, and drag them into an empty slot:
Once done you can right click on any empty slots to remove then. Then click on the “dollar sign” button on the IAB Toolbar to launch the BOM popup:
From the BOM popup shown below you can save your system BOM to MS Excel (.xls:)
Well that’s how I quickly create a programmable controller BOM. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to use 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.
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.
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
UPDATE: Rockwell has release a new version of this tool with additional features. To get the latest version, search the below website for “RSLogix Project Migrator (it also comes with RSLogix/Studio 5000 v19 and up)”
Having used Rockwell’s Translate PLC-5 SLC utility on multiple occasions, and having discussed it’s practical use with other programmers time and again, I recently sent the following recommendations to Rockwell:
INTs vs. DINTs
One of easier things I would like to see changed in the “Translate PLC-5 SLC 2.0 utility” is the automatic conversion of PLC-5 and SLC-500 INTs (integer data) to DINT’s (double integers.)
On first past, it would seem like a good idea to convert INT’s to DINTs. But in certain applications the converted program won’t work if the former INT data files are converted to DINT’s. So my recommendation is to give the user the option whether INT’s should be converted to DINT’s when they run the utility.
SCP Conversion
While it’s helpful to have SCP instructions converted, the resulting code gives most users a migraine.
The SLC-500 SCP instruction not only scales values, but also acts as a good visual aide displaying what the raw value is being scaled to. The converted code, while functionally accurate, is nowhere near as easy to decipher.
In fact, it’s quite odd that after 14 years there’s still no native SCP instruction for ladder logic in RSLogix 5000. That aside, since there has been an SCP add-on instruction available since the dawn of AOI’s, why not allow the option to convert SLC-500 SCP’s to the Rockwell sample code version of the SCP AOI?
Long symbol names
The ability to import text and symbols from the PLC-5 and SLC-500 is valuable, but why is the utility limited with reguards to Symbol length? From a coding standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to “truncate” long Symbol names since the Logix platform supports tag names much longer than any Symbol supported in APS, Ai, or RSLogix 500.
In large projects, when you truncate these names you end up with multiple tags with the same name. This is because most tag’s unique characters are often at the end of the tag name as opposed to the beginning (i.e. Plant1_Building1_Line1_Tank1 and Plant1_Building1_Line1_Tank2 both currently get truncated to the same name.)
Well those are my three recommendations for updating the Translate PLC-5 SLC 2.0 utility. If you’ve used it and have your own thoughts on how it could be made better, please share them with us here by leaving your comment in 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.
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.
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
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.
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
Over the years I’ve received many request for information about ControlLogix redundancy. During that time I’ve developed the following ten tips for new redundancy users:
At a minimum you will need two processors, two communication modules, two redundancy modules, a redundancy module interconnect cable, two chassis, two power supplies, and at least one rack of whatever distributed I/O platform you plan to use (1756, 1794, etc.)
The primary and secondary chassis detailed above should be identical, and should not contain any I/O modules.
The features and hardware supported is highly dependent on the version of RSLogix / Studio 5000 and redundancy firmware you choose.
Not all versions of RSLogix / Studio 5000 support redundancy. Therefore, be sure to choose one which does support it BEFORE you begin writing your redundancy program.
Not all processor firmware versions support redundancy. Versions which do end in “.5” or higher (i.e. firmware version 20.54 does support redundancy.)
In some cases, redundancy and network module firmware will need to be flashed to a particular revision in order to be compatible with the version of redundancy you have chosen to implement.
When sizing a processor for a redundancy system, the rule of thumb is you need double the processor memory for a redundant system versus a non-redundant system.
When setting up the primary and secondary network modules, be sure to set both modules to the same network address (the redundancy module adds “1” to the secondary’s network address automatically.)
To enable redundancy in your RSLogix 5000 program, check the “Redundancy” checkbox in “Controller Properties.”
And my final and most important tip is to first read the below ControlLogix redundancy manual:
I hope the above tips about using Rockwell’s ControlLogix redundancy, and the links to the product manuals is helpful. If you have any comments, questions, or corrections please leave them with us by using 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.
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.
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
In The Automation Minute: Episode 15, I walk you through how to use Rockwell Automation’s Product Compatibility website to compare compatibility of multiple products.
Note: You can read more about using the Rockwell Compatibility website in our companion blog article HERE.
Check out our Video Collection #1here, which includes the first five seasons of our shows (over 280 episodes and 29 hours!) for just $30!
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.
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.
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
If you’re using FactoryTalk ViewStudio (aka RSViewStudio) or RSView32 with a PLC-5, SLC-500, or MicroLogix, it often makes sense to import your tags and descriptions from the comments and symbols in your PLC program.
There are actually two means of import tags into View. In today’s article we’ll cover how to import your tags using the “Tag Import And Export Wizard.” For how to import tags using the Database Browser, see this article HERE.
Note: While the below procedure is for FactoryTalk ViewStudio (ME or SE,) it is nearly identical to RSView32.
Tag Import And Export Wizard
Step 1: Launch Rockwell’s “Tag Import And Export Wizard” and select what type of files you would like to import or export. In our example we’ll choose to import RSLogix 5 or 500 address comments and symbols from ASCII export files:
Step 2: Now choose if you will be importing the comments and symbols into Tags in either Machine Edition (ViewME) or Site Edition (ViewSE):
Step 3: Before you continue with the “Tag Import And Export Wizard,” be sure you’ve saved your PLC-5 or SLC-500 with the “External Database” option selected, as shown below:
Step 4: Next, browse to your PLC or SLC external database file (.EAS) and select it. Then press next:
Step 5: Choose the import options you prefer, and select next:
Step 6: Click the “finish” button to begin the import process”
Step 7: Provide a “Topic” (aka “shortcut”) name for your tags.
NOTE: Take care when typing in the “Topic” name as it will become part of every imported tag’s addresses, and there is no easy way to change it afterwards.
Step 8: Wait as the utility imports your comments and symbols into your View tag database:
Step 9: At the end of the import process, you will be prompted with a import summary showing how many of your tags successfully imported. In our example, we had 303 successful tag creations:
Step 10: Now open your tag database and you should find the comments and symbols from your PLC or SLC program have now been imported into your tag database, as show below:
I hope you’ve found the above “step by step” helpful. If you did, please take a moment and visit our Support page for several ideas on how you can support our site.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
If you’re using FactoryTalk ViewStudio (aka RSViewStudio) or RSView32 with a PLC-5, SLC-500, or MicroLogix, it often makes sense to import your tags and descriptions from the comments and symbols in your PLC program.
There are actually two means of import tags into View. In today’s article, we’ll cover how to import your tags directly into the HMI Tag database. For how to import tags using the Tag Import Export Wizard, see this article HERE.
NOTE: While the below procedure is for FactoryTalk ViewStudio (ME or SE,) it is nearly identical to RSView32.
Using the DB Browser
Step 1: Open FactoryTalk ViewStudio ME, Enterprise (SE and ME,) or RSView32. Once open, double click on “Tags” in the project tree to open the HMI Tag Database.
Step 2: From the toolbar above the Tag Database window, select the “Browser” icon, sometimes called the “Other DB Browser.” This icon looks like a cylinder and can be seen depressed below:
Step 3: In the “Import PLC Tags” popup window shown below, fill in the “tag folder” where you want the tags imported to. Then fill in your RSLinx shortcut (or topic) name.
NOTE:Be careful to provide the correct, existing, and already working shortcut name, as it becomes part of all the Tag’s addresses and is not easily changed.
Step 4: Select the browse button, and browse to your PLC file as shown below. Formats currently supported include the PLC-5’s .RSP, the SLC-500’s .RSS, external database .CTD files, and legacy PLC .DSC database files.
Step 5: From the returned list of tags, select the ones you would like imported. You can use the “shift key” to select a range of tags, and the “control key” to select individual tags.
Step 6: When you’re done selecting tags in the above window, press OK. Your tags will now begin to be imported. Afterwards, you should find the tags you selected in your View Tag database as shown below.
I hope you’ve found this “step by step” helpful. If you did, please consider visiting our Support page for several ideas on how you could help us.
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.
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.
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
UPDATE – November 2021 by SMT: Rockwell no longer makers the Translation Tool or Project Migrator available as a download, so if you don’t have either in your RSLogix/Studio 5000 installation files or discs, you can try the “new” feature in RSLogix500 v12 and RSLogix5 v10 which allows you to save your program as a Logix file by using the “save as type” menu option, and choosing “Logix Designer Files (*.ACD)” For more information see the free tech note below:
If you have a PLC-5 or SLC-500 program you would like to import into RSLogix 5000, look no further than Rockwell’s free “Translate PLC-5 SLC 2.0 utility.” This utility can save you hundreds of hours of manually re-entering code, and is available free of charge from the public Rockwell Tech Note #69790.
Rockwell has also written an entire manual around converting PLC-5 and SLC-500 programs to CompactLogix and ControlLogix. If fact, if you’re going to use the “Translate PLC-5 SLC 2.0” utility, I highly recommend you read this manual in full. You can find Rockwell’s “Converting PLC-5 or SLC-500 Logic to Logix5550 Logic Reference Manual” using this link (right click on link to save pdf.)
Now with introductions behind us, below we’ll walk you through converting a SLC-500 file to a CompactLogix step-by-step.
Step 1: Assuming you’ve used the above link to download and install the “Translate PLC-5 SLC 2.0” utility, launch it.
Step 2: When the program opens you’ll see the window pictured below. In this example we are going to convert a SLC-500 / RSLogix 500 program, so we’ll start by choosing the radio button for the SLC-500.
Step 3: Click on the handy link on the right to launch RSLogix 500. Then in RSLogix 500, open the program you wish to convert and preform a “Save As.” Save you program as a .SLC file and then close RSLogix 500.
Step 4: Now back in the utility use the browse button to select your newly saved .SLC file, and then select Next.
Step 5: On step two of the wizard, choose the type of CompactLogix or ControlLogix you would like to convert the program too, as well as the version. Then press next.
NOTE: Don’t worry if the exact processor or version doesn’t show up in the list. Once the program is converted, you can change it again inside of RSLogix 5000.
Step 6: Chose your alias options and press next.
Step 7: During step 4 of the wizard, you may receive a popup “syntax error” window as we did and is shown below. If you don’t get this popup, skip ahead to Step 10.
Step 8: To address the “syntax error” above, we will select the offending I/O lines in this window and delete them, as shown below:
Step 9: Now with the offending lines deleted, to continue the conversion select the “Save and Retry” button.
Step 10: Now the “.SLC” to “.L5K” translation is complete, as noted in the status log below. To continue the process click on “launch RSLogix 5000.”
Step 11: You’ll now see this final window appear as the “Translate PLC-5 SLC 2.0” utility completes and launches RSLogix 5000 to import your newly translated code.
Step 12: When RSLogix 5000 opens, you’ll be prompted for a save location and name for your “soon to be imported” project.
Step 13: When the code is done importing, you’ll see your new RSLogix 5000 project. At this point, it’s time to hit the book mentioned at the beginning of this article to learn how to reassign I/O, and clean up any Program Conversion Errors (PCE.)
I hope you’ve found this “step by step” helpful. If you did, please take a moment and visit our Support page for several ideas on how you can help us.
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.
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.
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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