Data Trender/Historian/Web access

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Thread Starter

Bob Gantt

I want to concentrate, log and trend data from our network of AB ControlLogix PLCs. We have a bunch of Citect HMI systems connecting to their specific PLC or PLCs, but they're an old version that cannot connect directly to the CLgx via Ethernet/IP (we connect to the Clx via a DH/RIO card on the ControlLogix). Besides, they're already up their limit in IO points, so using Citect is not an option.

Unfortunately, my budget just barely allows me to get for example a Kepware OPC server with AB ethernet comms, but I would still need the logging/trending and (ideally) web access functionality.

If somebody could give me just a few names of low cost trenders/logger, I will appreciate it very much. Or, if there's something that already includes the comm drivers for AB, much better.

Thanks and best regards,

Bob
 
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Kelvin Proctor

Bob,

Citect have just released a native driver that lets you talk to ControlLogix PLCs in an extremely optimised manner, without the need for RSLinks or any additional software.

Go to the Citect web site (www.citect.com), sign up for a free MyCitect account (so you can access downloads) and then go to the DriverWeb at http://www.citect.com/products/driverweb. From here search for the ABCLX driver and it should give you all the information you need.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Kelvin

Disclaimer: I am an employee of Citect. This is a personal communication and is not officially endorsed by Citect in any way.
 
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Michael R. Batchelor

Well, many people think that rolling your own is cheap. It
depends on how you value your time, or your engineer's time. If you can get a KEPware OPC server, then what you want to do is not terribly hard in VB. But "web displays" and all the rest can consume a LOT of time to get right.

If you want to do your own labor, then dive in and post
questions when your stuck. Everybody here will help.

--
Michael R. Batchelor - Industrial Informatics, Inc.
Contribute to society: http://www.distributed.net/ogr/
 
Thanks for your comments, however, we really don't want to do it ourselves, we simply want to evaluate the lower cost options. Not only are we low on budget, but also don't have the time or expertise to do that sort of stuff ourselves.

Thanks again for any further comments.
 
Thanks Kelvin, we actually do have a couple of new Citect licenses that communicate directly to the Clx through Ethernet without RSLinx, and work really good. However, we are already up to the limit on IO count. That is basically why we want to look at alternatives for cheap data logging, although there are another reasons that would take a bit too much space to enumerate here. I would really like to get another Citect license just to do the datalogging and trending, but it is simply not possible at this time. Thanks for your comments anyway.

Bob
 
Thanks for your help, Paul, I´ll certainly look into AutomationX. And yes, technically speaking we could do it with one of our Citects, but for other reasons (physical location, accessibility, politics, etc.) we want to do it separately.

Again, any other suggestion will be very welcome; you see, I´m one of those guys whose horizon doesn´t go much beyond what is installed in our plant (AB plcs and panelviews plus CItect HMI). Unfortunately I´m not a regular reador of all those control mags, in fact I´m currently not receiving any, so any help will be very welcome in my quest.

Thanks again...
 
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Tim Donaldson

You should take a look at GENESIS32 from ICONICS. This HMI package is a robust OPC client and Trending can be purchased stand alone. You can also download a free demo version.
 
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The proper answer to your question depends mostly on WHY you want to gather and review this data. It seems most of it is gathered already locally. Why do you have the need to view it outside of the local HMIs? If it is purely for examining the alarms, there is software from TiPS, Inc. that logs alarms (called Logmate). It's been around since about 1988, and includes interfaces to all the devices you've mentioned. If you actually need to review the data in trend format, then the best product on the market is from OSI, and it's called PI. They've been in the business since about the same timeframe. Neither of these solutions is free- both have specific tasks they perform. You must first ask yourself what is the problem you are trying to solve before trying to find a solution. If you will answer that question, there are many more on this forum that can assist you in your search for a solution.

Steve
 
I have used Canary Labs. a lower cost trend/logger system using OPC as a driver.

Works well, low cost.

S. Landau
SPEC
 
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