RSLinx OPC Data Logging, Trying to find a simple enough way to write .csv with RSLinx and OPC Options

[jamesfkelly]

Greetings all,

I am fairly new to the PLC world, having doing most of my work before hand using DCS's in massive projects. I am currently working with AB compactlogix for a small enough project, designing a test/simulation rig. I am trying to find a simple way to log streaming data into a flat file (i.e. a .csv file) at a rate of 100Hz. I know technically I can do so using trending, but that method will not really suit my needs. I have looked into OPC Data Logger, but cannot get it to connect to the RSLinx OPC server. (I am running RSLinx Classic Pro - Single node)

I have been banging my head against the wall now for a weeks and am getting almost nowhere, and basically I am looking for suggestions as to the best way to get data logging capabilities for roughly 200 points with out over doing it (i.e. having to by way more software then i need).

Thanks much,
James

[Skeet]

Greetings all,

I am fairly new to the PLC world, having doing most of my work before hand using DCS's in massive projects. I am currently working with AB compactlogix for a small enough project, designing a test/simulation rig. I am trying to find a simple way to log streaming data into a flat file (i.e. a .csv file) at a rate of 100Hz. I know technically I can do so using trending, but that method will not really suit my needs. I have looked into OPC Data Logger, but cannot get it to connect to the RSLinx OPC server. (I am running RSLinx Classic Pro - Single node)

I have been banging my head against the wall now for a weeks and am getting almost nowhere, and basically I am looking for suggestions as to the best way to get data logging capabilities for roughly 200 points with out over doing it (i.e. having to by way more software then i need).

Thanks much,
James

The simplest (and cheapest) solution I found this summer was from these guys:
http://www.opclogger.com/products.php

The non-Pro version is only 70 bucks or so and does .csv data recording. The next version up supports MySQL and MS-SQL as well.
Skeet

[Wassim]

Have you tried Matrikon Analytics? it's easy and connects to RSlinx perfectly... it won't hurt to try it. it's free for 30 days:

http://www.matrikonanalytics.com/products/excelreporter.aspx

Wassim Daoud
Global Solutions Architect
MatrikonOPC

Greetings all,

I am fairly new to the PLC world, having doing most of my work before hand using DCS's in massive projects. I am currently working with AB compactlogix for a small enough project, designing a test/simulation rig. I am trying to find a simple way to log streaming data into a flat file (i.e. a .csv file) at a rate of 100Hz. I know technically I can do so using trending, but that method will not really suit my needs. I have looked into OPC Data Logger, but cannot get it to connect to the RSLinx OPC server. (I am running RSLinx Classic Pro - Single node)

I have been banging my head against the wall now for a weeks and am getting almost nowhere, and basically I am looking for suggestions as to the best way to get data logging capabilities for roughly 200 points with out over doing it (i.e. having to by way more software then i need).

Thanks much,
James

[jamesfkelly]

Greetings all,

I am fairly new to the PLC world, having doing most of my work before hand using DCS's in massive projects. I am currently working with AB compactlogix for a small enough project, designing a test/simulation rig. I am trying to find a simple way to log streaming data into a flat file (i.e. a .csv file) at a rate of 100Hz. I know technically I can do so using trending, but that method will not really suit my needs. I have looked into OPC Data Logger, but cannot get it to connect to the RSLinx OPC server. (I am running RSLinx Classic Pro - Single node)

I have been banging my head against the wall now for a weeks and am getting almost nowhere, and basically I am looking for suggestions as to the best way to get data logging capabilities for roughly 200 points with out over doing it (i.e. having to by way more software then i need).

Thanks much,
James

Thanks lads, I am going to go ahead and try out both and see which works better for myself.

Cheers,
James

[BobLfoot]

Greetings all,

I am fairly new to the PLC world, having doing most of my work before hand using DCS's in massive projects. I am currently working with AB compactlogix for a small enough project, designing a test/simulation rig. I am trying to find a simple way to log streaming data into a flat file (i.e. a .csv file) at a rate of 100Hz. I know technically I can do so using trending, but that method will not really suit my needs. I have looked into OPC Data Logger, but cannot get it to connect to the RSLinx OPC server. (I am running RSLinx Classic Pro - Single node)

I have been banging my head against the wall now for a weeks and am getting almost nowhere, and basically I am looking for suggestions as to the best way to get data logging capabilities for roughly 200 points with out over doing it (i.e. having to by way more software then i need).

Thanks much,
James

James - have you looked in the downloads section at the RSlinx Excel DDE example I posted there. With RSlinx Pro and Excel VBA you should be able to gather the data you are looking for to an excel spreadsheet and the save as a csv file. I'l plan on packing 32 or 64 Ints of data at a time and transferring the packet rather than trying real time transfer. network latency will kill you otherwise.