are the emulation packages for RSLogix 5 or 500 worth the dough. I'd like to keep some programming jobs moving while on the road and thought these emulation packages would allow me to simulate applications without having the processor or I/O.

Any thoughts.

 

Certainly there are emulation software for the SLC500 and PLC5 processors.
They are called "Emulate 500" 9310-WE0200E and "Emulate 5" 9310-WE5200E.

They do work, you can even let RSView connect to them via RSLinx and in that way simulate your program and your HMI (if you use RSView !).

One major draw-back:
There is NO ONLINE PROGRAMMING !
Only offline programming and then downloading the new program to the emulator.

Cheers,
Jesper

 

Dave:
In fact, there is an emulator for Logix 500 and other version for Logix 5.

checkout http://www.software.rockwell.com/rslogixemulate/

Hope this helps.

 

Have been using both emulator packages for several years under "road trip" conditions.
Well worth the money.

 

I would recommend them. They are not bullet proof and seem to a bit 'odd' in their execution sometimes. But for general code fragment testing its good.

Just be aware that it may in certain instances not operate as advertised.

Cheers from: Jeremy Pollard, CET The Crazy Canuckian!
Integration and Automation Training, Consulting, and Software

On The Web - http://www.tsuonline.com

PLCopen North America - [email protected]
www.PLCopen.org

 

SoftLogix 5 is about half the cost of Emulate 5. Go figgure. Of course with SoftLogix5 you will have to redirect real IO to a bit file but you gain online programming.

 

I am a fan. Much nicer to be able to test at your desk than out on the floor. And its easy to use RSView applications to talk with the emulated
PLc. I don't know about other SCADA stuff. I have not tried the serial port emulation stuff.

Bob Peterson

 

Hey, thats interesting!

Can you tell a bit more about that IO redirectioning?

 

We use both Emulates (5, 500) all the time to proof check our programs. Well worth the bucks.

Note some drawbacks, PID does not compute, it only simulates the enable and done bits. BTR, BTW and MSG only simulate enable and done bits also.

On the other hand we use Debug files extensively, they allow you to reverse map I/Os. In other words you can OTE an input! You can then set up a workable I/O simulation, but be careful you can easily spend as much time coding the simulation as you do coding the main program.
The serial port emulation very good (it simulates the Channel 0 on the processor). And you can have as many programms running as you want. We regularly check 4 or 5 programs simultaneously, a bonus when using RSView on a multi-processor system.

 

Thanks to all that have taken the time to reply.
It sure sounds like the RSlogix Emulator packages for the PLC5 And SLC families very productive developers tools and worth the $$$$.

-Dave M

 

Jeremy Pollard wrote:
> I would recommend them. They are not bullet proof and seem to a bit
> 'odd' in their execution sometimes. But for general code fragment
> testing its good.
>
> Just be aware that it may in certain instances not operate as
> advertised.

Other than the obvious things that either can't work, or they tell you don't work, what "odd" things have you noted. I have yet to find a single instance of something that did not operate the way I expected, except for the few things they explicity warn you about (the most annoying to me being that the PID instruction is not solved at all).

Incidentally, has anyone found the beakpoint function to be of any use. In the year or so (maybe a bit longer) I have been using the emulators I have yet to find any use for them whatsoever. It seems like one of those features
that just does not get used much.

I have not tried the channel 0 emulation feature so cannot comment on whether that works or how well it works.

Bob Peterson

 

Hi Bob - PID instruction was one issue and there was a simple routine that I had written for testing which looped with an index.

The looping didnt occur and the index was not incremented execpt for the first one.

I think I was using a lbl and a jump to go backwards but I cant really remember. I have also found that the data typing conversion may not be accurate. Just bugs I'm sure but I guess that what I'm suggesting is that you need to know what the code is supposed to do first so you can prove the operation properly. Being aware is a good thing.

Cheers from: Jeremy Pollard, CET The Crazy Canuckian! Integration and Automation Training, Consulting, and Software

On The Web - http://www.tsuonline.com

PLCopen North America - [email protected] www.PLCopen.org

 

I don't know about the SoftPLC5 stuff, but in a PLC5 you don't have to. You can actually write to input addresses (e.g.-I:05/6). Very handy for
simulation. Just turn off the rack enable bits for the racks you want to simulate.

Bob Peterson