Rockwell Automation just announced its new line of ControlLogix 5580 Controllers.

Timed to coincide with Automation Fair next week, Rockwell states its new controllers provide faster performance, reduced complexity, and enhanced security.

Rockwell states this new line of controllers provides up to 45 percent more capacity, including a 1-gigabyte Ethernet port supporting up to 300 nodes, as well as up to 256 axes of motion.
In additional to extra capacity, Rockwell’s website claims a 5 to 20 times increase in performance over the existing L7 (5570) series.

On the security side, these new processors support digitally signed and encrypted firmware, change detection, and audit logging.

According to Rockwell’s documents, initially two 5580 processors will be available: 1756-L83E and 1756-L85E.

These processors appear to only differ in memory (10mb versus 40mb) and max supported Ethernet nodes (100 vs 300.)
Both processors also come with a 2GB secure digital memory card, and require version 28 of Studio 5000 Logix Designer.

For more information about this new line of ControlLogix processors visit Rockwell’s new ControlLogix 5580 webpage, or check out Rockwell’s updated literature below:


So, what do you think? Will you be spec’ing in an  L83E or L85E on your next project?

Let us know what you think by using the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Have a question? Join my community of automation professionals and take part in the discussion! You'll also find my PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

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Shawn Tierney

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1 COMMENT

  1. Hello Shawn,
    I see that this will have TCP messaging built into the Ethernet communication. Last year we installed an L71. The L61 with serial is no longer available. Instead, all serial printing was converted to TCP using an EWEB communications module. We are steering away from serial and avoided the ASCII module. The EWEB is not an inexpensive module. This new L83E will be perfect for the next Control Logix project.
    For Kiosk printers, we add a simple device server to switch from Ethernet to serial. I have yet to find a small panel mounted printer that uses Telnet 9100 protocol.
    Thanks for the update.

  2. Wow, 5-20 times faster? is that what that says? That would make a big difference in the applications I work on where we break the system up into 10 PLCs because of the amount of logic and the scan time requirements. I’d love to see some more info on what is faster.
    I hope they come out with a redundant firmware soon. There hasn’t been much love for redundancy in the last year or 2. V20 is still the latest redundant firmware. Anyone hear rumours about when we might see redundant L8X PLCs?

    • Good afternoon Ben,
      I heard beta testers were surprised how much faster it was, and now Rockwell is indeed listing it as 5-20 times faster, so it sounds quite impressive. Hopefully we’ll know more after Automation Fair this week.
      I also heard v24 redundancy was close, but just checked AB.com and it’s not list yet.
      If I hear anything on either topic I’ll post an updated blog or comment,
      Sincerely,
      Shawn Tierney

  3. These two new processors do not support the ALMA or ALMD commands with the version 28 software release. This can be problematic for migrating a legacy program.

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