I need to be able to communicate via RS-485 to about 16 serial devices in a flour mill. In the past we did the interface to these Buhler devices with Omniserver to the HMI application. We would then pass any information needed to the PLC. This made the system operation dependent on the HMI application operating 100% of the time (like that is going to happen with Windows).
I would like to move this information directly into the PLC so I don't have to depend on the HMI. I have never used one of these modules.
Are there any pitfalls?
Can the programming contained in the module be accessed through the backplane or does there need to be a physical connection to the module (I want to be able to support this remotely).
We will be polling the devices at interval for status and other information.
Whenever the is a change in the setpoints we need to write these to the devices.
Pros?
Con?
Thanks in advance