Omron Scada And Opc

[BobB 58]

I am at present looking at a job for quotation purposes where I would need to communicate with 4 Omron CJ1 PLCs controlling a generator system and a multitude of power monitors on Modbus RTU. The thinking is to use Omron CJ1 PLCs with just serial ports on board to collect the data from the power monitors and connect all the PLCs to a SCADA system via Ethernet. There is no peer to peer involved that is critical so Ethernet will be OK. I prefer to use Citect which has all the Omron native drivers (FINS Gateway) free of charge. I have used it before and it works at a million miles an hour and is extremly reliable. Citect have, IMHO, the best trend screens and trending system of any SCADA system on the market. This will be of prime importance for the job. However, $$$$ will probably win the day. I am looking at Adroit SCADA from South Africa. The connection to the PLCs would have to be by OPC and Ethernet. I am having a good look at the Kepware OPC driver for Omron. Has anyone used this combination (probably not) and how were the results? If not, has anyone used a Kepware OPC driver with Omron (or another brand) PLCs and another SCADA system and how were the results? I normally use Omron Controller Link for my peer to peer and also usually into the SCADA system. Citect generally reports about 15000 digital reads per second and about 300 word reads per second on Controller Link running at only 2 megs. It is quite outstanding. Generally about 8 or 9 PLCs. I have only ever used OPC once before and that was BACnet over Ethernet and I fear my view of OPC is certainly a bit "coloured" due the the extremly poor response times and many problems with drivers and hardware compatabilities, drivers dropping out etc etc. I would be extremly interested in any comments, good or bad, that anyone can offer re OPC.

[banker 2]

Hi BobB Dont now any thing about this scada system, but what about CX-supervisor, can't you use this? Regard Banker

[BobB 58]

Have used it before but trending is not it's strong point and trending is crucial to the project. Citect is the best I have seen for handling trends and is one of the first things I will look at when I review Adroit.

[Nibroc 4]

BobB, Some thoughts... If you use the Kepware driver, be careful that is is fully up to date and can access all the CS/CJ memory areas. The last time one of our customers used this, we were restricted to which memory areas we could use. Don't forget that CX-Supervisor can log directly into a third party database (such as MS-Access) - are there any good generic trend display packages out there? Also there is now the CJ1W-SPUxx units, which can log data directly onto a cF card. However you would once again need a good trend display package to display any trends!! Nibroc

[BobB 58]

Thanks Nibroc. I am still thinking Citect quite frankly and may offer both with reasons for the more expensive option (Citect). However, by the time one buys the OPC driver and the SCADA, Citect will not be that far away.

[PdL 71]

Hi Bob, I am using the Kepware Kepserver OPC server with Modbus Ethernet in combination with CX-Supervisor for a about 4 projects now. There were some startup issues but both Omron and Kepware support was outstanding. The Kepware item "builder" is sooooo easy to use especially if you keep item names the same but just put them in different group names. That way you can copy untill you drop The only disadvantage of Kepware is they use software licenses. Meaning the license is unique for the specific PC. First you get a license from Kepware which you can install, then you generate a computer ID which you pass on to Kepware, then they give you a license with which you can unlock the server permanently. When the PC crashes you can re-install and have a 10 day license through your original license number but you will need to get a new ID at Kepware. Be glad to answer any further questions you have.

[infoplc.net 0]

Hello! In this web you can see a example to conect TSX Micro (Schneider PLC) to a Cx-Supervisor (Omron SCADA) using a Kepware OPC. http://www.infoplc.net/Ejemplos/Ejem_Omron...ervisor_OPC.htm