The End is Coming....

[noxcuses 0]

I saw a Rockwell powerpoint of the new Compactlogix controllers which was very exciting. It looks like RA is stepping up the horsepower and model selection in the Compact line. The bad news is the current controllers will not be included in versions of RsLogix 5k after version 20. You will be able to buy, but no more firmware updates. Has anyone heard when the processors will be available? I have several projects in the next couple months that I'd hate to use the current futureless processor on.

[Ken Roach 194]

Don't think of it as "futureless", think of it as "mature" ! RA is handling this pretty similarly to the way the L1 and L55 controllers stopped development; they got the last revision (v13 for L1's, v16 for L55's) and all the fixes to that major revision, but future releases were not back-ported to the old hardware. The difference on the low end is that we're looking at some new features (L7 CPU, SD cards, DLR built in, CIP motion, POINT backplane) even though we're using well established technologies (1769 and 1734) that already exist in various other CPUs and network adapters. The lust for a new controller is a very familiar feeling to me, but now I'm on the OEM side and get to experience that aspect of it ! I have two machines for which the 5370 series L1 or L3 controller would be ideal, but I have to build the panel in February and I can't risk not having the CPU available, so I'm using an ordinary 1769-L23 with 16/16 discrete and 1769 expansion I/O on one unit, and a 1756-L61 on another because we're going to use CIP Motion. The last I heard, RA was shooting for the end of this week for the 5370 L3x controllers, then later in February or March for the L2x and L1x. These things are always risky, and I would much rather use a controller with a known track record than save a few hundred dollars and risk my project on a production or testing or shipping delay. The last thing I want to do is give RA managers a reason to rush testing and production. The lesson of RSView Enterprise is not easily forgotten.