My original message was blocked by the moderators, but after additional explanation, they are letting it through.

10 years ago, my company bought a Flocmaster Polystation from http://jfknauer.com/english/produkte/polystation_e.shtml

Today the system is having problems, but the company seems out of business. I want to look at the PLC program and see if we can fix it. Unfortunately we are not a Siemens programming shop, so we did not have any of the PLC programming software.

1. Tried to get info from the company Flocmaster directly in Germany, with no responsiveness and now their emails bounce so I am assuming that they are now dead.

2. Contacted my Siemens rep, who helped identify the models and vintages of the PLCs and he referred me to a Siemens integrator. That integrator declined to look at it, because he said the likelihood of success was so low.

3. I finally found an integrator who is a Siemens user and had them come over and try to download the program. We were thwarted at every turn. Here is what he found:

A. Communication established with S7-200 PLC using Simatic Microwin Software (works on 32 bit OS) and PPI-multimaster usb cable. But it is password protected.

B. C7-635 System is combination of S7-300 PLC and TP170 HMI panel: Communication established with S7-300 PLC using Step 7 V5.5 Software and MPI/DP usb PC adapter. But it is password protected too.
Communication established with HMI using Protocol software, but the HMI program is a compiled file and can't be uploaded.

4. It appears, but no actual confirmation, that a company named NALCO may have purchased the company or the product Flocmaster, or maybe they just used the name because it appeared to be a dead German company. I have contacted NALCO and as of yet, no one has heard of this product internally, but I am currently waiting for a response from them as they do more research.

All I wanted for Christmas are those FlocMaster Siemens' passwords. Does anyone know them? Or how to get into this system without corrupting the current running program.

Because of the nature of passwords, feel free to send a direct message to me.

G Brown, geoffry [.] brown [at] acwd [dot] com

 

Sorry, but agree with the Systems Integrator who guessed your difficulties.

The passwords you are seeking would have been created by software designers and would be unique to each project.
The few times I have done this it has been logged in the design file.

If you have managed to set up communications with each PLC and the HMI, then I would suggest taking in as much information as possible as how it functions now, then re-writing/coding software and with subsequent simulation/factory Test. Having many years experience in the water industry, flocculator dosing is a process easily picked up.

It's not the first time I've seen a complete re-write of software with existing hardware, and the positive outcome is that you can make improvements as you do so.