Allan Bradley ControlLogix replacements

It would be helpful if you told us a little about your I/O and process. Also, if we knew where you are we could consider availability.

Well to tell the truth, I am looking for a distributorship for all components to interchange with Allen Bradley PLC controls in Ireland. Also VFD's etc. It will be for various processes in factory automation. My member ID gives a luttle clue as to my whereabouts (:-

http://www.hanleyautomation.ie/

Hi you read my request incorrectly. Hanley are AB distributors in Ireland. I am not looking for AB products but I know that there are units made that will interchange with AB. Thanks anyway

Talk to them about them, then.

Siemens maybe?

Omron, then.

Thanks

Try this one: http://www.beckhoff.com/

We were strictly Allen Bradley until a recent application proved to be too much for the casual PLC. We needed to talk to about 2000 I/O points every 250 Microseconds and most PLC's just can't do that, without special hardware, etc.

Beckhoff is very popular in Europe and Japan. There are not a lot of customers in the USA yet, but I think that will eventually change. The prices are very reasonable and the programming language offerings really made the decision easy. To give you an idea, an 8-channel EtherCAT output card costs about $45 to $50 depending on quantity.

I have one machine running a mixed language program (mostly ladder logic) running and talking to another PC based server running C++ and sharing data between the two. And it seems to be more user friendly than Allen Bradley software.

One of the features that I really like is the ScopeView program that lets me review the data as if it were a real time storage scope. That is a powerful tool for sorting out what is really going on. I think you will be doing yourself a favor to check it out.

Best wishes!

That is very helpful Sir. I am obliged.I will contact them.

You could try Moeller plc products, (Easy & XC)

I use Automation Direct products (KOYO). Their PLCs will do everything that AB can do at a fraction of their price. Very reliable and good support. www.automationdirect.com

I agree with gringogreg - the Automation Direct processors are actually Koyos and quite effective as a basic controller, if that is all you need. We recently bid on a government job where these were the specified controllers due to their robust nature. You can drop these 5 feet without damaging them. Note that the AB ControlLogix platform has PID functions that the cheaper controllers won't have. The Koyos are your basic programmable relays only. Any fancy curve fitting for analog control will have to be programmed by you. Also, you won't have the Integrated Architecture program to allow you to configure the rack and print out a fancy report on it to impress your boss.

The newer models DL06 and the DL205 with the 260 processor have every feature that you could ask for. Add on modules provide for analog I/O, high speed I/O for encoders , stepping motors etc., and Ethernet communication. The processors have built-in PID loops (16), floating point math, an many other features.

To all.

Many thanks for the information. It is very helpful and appreciated.

Reagrds.

D

You may also want to consider IDEC's PLCs. Very reliable and cost-effective!

http://www.idec.com/usen/products/Catalogs/PLCs/MicroSmartPentra/overview.html

We have started to use Delta PLC's. They are a lot cheaper than AB and so far have proved to be quite reliable