NE1A Safety PLC

[kku 1]

Just curious if anyone is using or have used the NE1A safety PLC from Omron / STI. If so what are your comments?

[Michael Walsh 268]

I like it. It is pretty straight forward and powerful. For smaller applications, the G9SP is a better fit.

[kku 1]

I hear the G9SP safety PLC uses different software than the NE1A. Is this true? If so, why doesn't Omron standardize on one software?

[Michael Walsh 268]

Yes it is true. I am not sure why they don't standardize.

[kku 1]

That's not good. Also for the NE1A, it seems I have to use a DeviceNet card to get status signals back to the PLC. There's a EIP version of the NE1A but I checked with our distributor and there's a 4 week lead time on this unit. I guess not that people are using this version? I also had some issues with the software. I now have version 3 of the safety software. I think this is the version compatible with Windows 7. When I use this software to edit files made on version 2, then the software crashes when I try to save. I had to convert the files to version 3 to work on them. Edited 11 Jun 2013 by kku

[Michael Walsh 268]

My thought on the software is that these 2 Devices (while similar) are fundamentally different (DeviceNet functionality on NE1A, amongst other differences), so the software platforms were not merged. Just my thought. No evidence to support that thought. Just an FYI, the G9SP can easily be added to an EtherNet/IP network by adding the CM-EIP-1 adapter module and is probably more readily available.

[Webbs 2]

We have both NE1A's with Devicenet expansions and the G9SP's. Value for money the G9SP win hands down. The NE1A does have the advantage of expansion safety I/O (that are very expensive) as the G9SPs expansions are standard I/O which is OK for indication lamps etc. We have found it is a case of number of safety I/O required. Our latest project we used 3 G9SPs linking 2 outputs from one unit into second unit, i.e. all the E-Stops into the first unit.. We have also used the Sick Flexisoft controller as you can add I/O as required. They all program a very similar way (including the Sick) so for us it comes down to the best value for each job. We have all 3 types onsite so not limited by a site standard.

[VineyPapie 0]

I think this is the version compatible with Windows 7.