Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0
RiLo73

Some Questions about Upgrade to M580

7 posts in this topic

Hey there,

we want to upgrade some of our old TSX87 PLCs to new Schneider M580. My boss gave me an order to make a plan.

My basic idea is to only use a M580 processor and some communication cards. For the I/O we want to use some Beckhoff bus couplers. So we got the possibility to convert our old Grafcet to new ones via software by Schneider. But if **** hits the fan we only have to change the processor and can use another system like Siemens or Beckhoff without changing the I/O devices.

My problem now is, that i don't know what bus i should use. I can't find many informations about the supported busses that the M580 is using or i can't find informations if a specific bus is working with it. I would prefer the Ethercat bus by Beckhoff. Can somebody say if it is working with the M580 processors or do i need to use some special communication card for it?

Maybe someone used it already in this combination.

 

Sorry for the bad english.

Greetings from Germany

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi,

You can't use Ethercat with Schneider Plcs. Today they use mainly EtherNet/IP or Modbus TCP/IP.

If you plan to use remote I/O that means you will have to remap all the locals I/O used in the TSX87.

In fact you have missed a step. You should had convert your TSX87 to TSX Premium Plc and so you could use the Premium rack and modules as remote I/O of the M580 processor.

My advice will be to swap everything to Siemens. Of course you will have to rewrite the program but it's a better long term solution.

To be honnest i'm even very surprised you consider Schneider today cause each time I had to work with german companies we had the obligation to use german hardware, whatever the price or if the hardware was good or not ;-)

Edited by acpi

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi acpi,

thank you for your answer.

We want to use Schneider, because they can transfer our old PLC-application with all the Graphcet to their new ControlExpert software.

We don't like the way Siemens wants us to work with S7-Graph. 

With "remap" you mean the addressing of the I/Os?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Morning,

Of course there's a migration tool to convert 7 series plcs programs but not directly to Control Expert. You have to convert to Pl7-Pro first and then from PL7-Pro to Control Expert.

It works but it's not a miracle tool and you have to adjust a lot of things including the adressing of the I/O. In addition you get an old fashion program that does not use at all the possiblities of a modern plc.
 
Grafcet can be translated in another language than SFC (graphic language), with Siemens I do Grafcets in ladder with steps words. This is the method we used in the past with old Telemecanique plcs cause there was a lot of limitation. You could not modify SFC in run mode and you had limited numbers of steps.

Of course if you have hundreds of Grafcet it could be a consuming time job but at least you have the hand on the program.

During my carreer I have made a lot of programs conversions and I've learned that each case is different and must be studied to find the right solution. Sometimes software migration is a good solution sometimes not, despite what Schneider always say.

JC

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks a lot for your explanation.

We think it is much harder to write in S7-Graph, because right now on the old TSX we have the Microsteps (i don't now if this is the correct translation) within the ladders. In those steps the program is written with some kind of Structured Text ("If ... then ... else ...") and at the end we write something like 2->W10. In the transition itself we only ask if W10=2 and the ladder will continue. I don't know if this kind of programming is possible with Siemens. But in my opinion it is much easier to see where the error is for our maintenance.

It really is a big step for us, so we are not quite sure what the best way is.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For sure S7-Graph is not good at all, Siemens has never implemented this graphic language properly in their plcs.

Anyway I don't see exactely how your program is done but it seems it's a mix between graphic SFC, ladder and ST.

If you can send me your XTEL project I could have a look on it and give you my opinion in PM. It's free and as I'm not a Schneider guy, it will be objective :-)

JC

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi acpi,

if your offer is still active, i would like to send the XTEL project to you and hear your opinion. Is it possible to send it in PM as an attachment or better with E-Mail?

I'm sorry for my late response but there were other important projects and i nearly forgot about this one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0