What PanelMount PLC?

[itsmoked]

I'm looking for a panelmount HMI/plc. The type where the HMI is the front of the PLC and the back is the PLC. You cut a hole in your enclosure door slide in this panel PLC and you have your user interface. On the inside of the enclosure you have your PLC connections.


Have you used one of these?
Do you have a favorite?
A run-away mention?

Had any issues?

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[badservo]

This may work, never used one but looks good

http://flash.ezautomation.net/eztouchplc/eztouchplc_overview.htm

I have used the HMI only version before with no problems.

 

[danw2]

Unitronics: PLC + HMI in one unit

http://www.unitronics.com/Content.aspx?page=ProductOverview1

 

[eeprom]

Maple systems makes some very good HMI/PLC combos. They are reasonably priced and the software is very easy to use. One software for ladder and hmi screens.

 

[itsmoked]

Thanks gents. Great stuff!

eeprom: I couldn't find any mention of a PLC.

danw2: That looked nice. Kinda hate to have to go thru some rep... I'll have to call them.


badservo: Seems really well thought out and reasonably priced. I'll definitely be digging in here.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[catserveng]

Keith,

I did a pump unit control project last year using the EZ Automation EZ-S6W-RS-PLC. The pump units were engine driven portable units that take a fair amount of abuse, to date only one has failed right after transport (they dump these off the truck pretty hard).

The operators liked them, the regulatory people liked the information they provided, and the onwer is happy with the price and performance.

I hadn't used their combined products before, have used their touch panels for some time, was happy with the results and if I had a smaller project like this would definately use them again.

Mike L.

 

[itsmoked]

cat; That's exactly what I needed to hear. This is for a complex pumped filtration system. Skid type deal.

Thanks much.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[Logicon]

I've had some decent results with PROFACE units. It has been a couple years now so it is hard to recall, but one thing i seem to remember was they may have been slightly limited in their I/O count. I'm sure with some distributed networking you could remedy that.

http://www.profaceamerica.com

Marc Whitney

http://www.thelogicongroup.com

 

[IRstuff]

Maple Systems:

http://www.maplesystems.com/1036/10360146.pdf

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[itsmoked]

After a day of studying I'm going to jump ship to a PLC and an HMI. Automation Direct.

Specifically the micro PLC Click series, that allows up to about thousand channels. The CPU comes with typically 8 inputs and six outputs for about $80.

Also 3 comm channels. It's about the cost of the Teco but is eminently more expandable. About 10 different expanders are available. They're about $30 an expansion and they have mixed ones so you don't end up having to buy 16 channels for another input or something.

And to cover the HMI they have a $300 4" color touch unit with 5 buttons with independent LEDs.

Click Series PLC

http://www.automationdirect.com/adc...Series_PLCs_(Stackable_Micro_Brick)/PLC_Units

The really big seller for me is the programming package for the CLick:

http://ftp.automationdirect.com/pub/clicksoftware.zip

After installing it I was pretty amazed at how nice it was. I was being very frustrated with the abysmal crap you get with a Teco and the manual too. Horrid stuff.

This Click manual is very clear and solid dare I say intelligent?


My panel PLC scheme left me feeling like I was going to put a lot into learning the system yet a slightly larger job would force me to something else. With this, I can expand up to any job I'd normally do and have the software already figured out.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[jraef]

Eh... I think you would have liked the Unitronics unit. If you're still interested I have an OEM friend in Benicia who buys them by the boatload for his pump control systems and gets better pricing than the local distributors. When I worked for Siemens I could never touch the price point he was getting. Great graphics, functionality, scalability and he absolutely loved the free software (something the Siemens would NEVER consider). If you're still interested let me know, I can hook you up with him.

 

[itsmoked]

Thanks a bunch for the offer Jeff. If this turns into a product I'll definitely take you up on it. Since most the stuff I do (like this) are one-offs I'd rather grab and learn a more general product. One I can apply to any PLC job

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com