Which brand PLC's play best with Ignition?

OPC in independent of the underlying transport layer and the protocol, it could serial or tcp or web services or sockets etc. I believe TSN over Ethernet/ACL is evolving as a standard for industrial automation. These standards prevent monopolization by a single vendor, how ever good their designs may be.

1 Like

Nowadays all big player of PLC switch to built-in OPC-UA in thier cups.
For example Siemens update S7-1200 with new firmware for opcua.
Within 2years I believe all new plc with OPC-UA.

1 Like

Not only PLCs but also all devices will need to have OPC UA built into them. There is a German manufacturer organisation called VDMA that is standardising the opc information model for all manufacturing equipment . This will enable vertical and horizontal integration of automation systems in a seamless manner .

2 Likes

I love AutomationDirect controllers (and a lot of all the other great hardware control engineers need frequently) - I especially love the Productivity series.
Pros:

  • For ease of use and functionality, they are much cheaper than anything else I have come across on the market
  • Order what you want online (no dealing with middlemen), I usually get my stuff within 3 days.
  • Free programming software available for download straight from their website (no annoying licencing!)
  • Free tutorial videos

Cons:

  • Does not have OPC-UA built in so for a while now I have been manually adding (Modubus TCP) tags one by one but I am getting tired of this which has prompted me to create an Ignition widget such that you export your tags from the PLC to a .csv file then click a button on a Ignition app which will have you chose the .csv file which will show you all the tags available to you. You go through the list and select the ones you want and how you want them configured in Ignition then press another button which will generate the file needed to import into the Ignition Tag Browser. It can talk Ethernet/IP but I have never tried to connect Ignition to it in this way - if anyone has the time to guide me, I would love to have a go at developing a driver for it. I just have no idea where to start.
1 Like

The Ethernet/IP support in AutomationDirect’s Productivity series is for I/O aka “Class1”, not tag access. Suitable for my Ethernet/IP module (low latency/high speed traffic), but not browsing.

1 Like

Thanks Phil, that makes sense. Did you see their latest controller (ProductivityOpen) that makes an Arduino (Maker!) industrial? I would be interested in first implementing tag browse-able Ethernet/IP for the controller and then developing a driver for Ignition. I think Ignition Maker could pair perfectly with the ProductivityOpen with some community development.

If you implement tag-browsable Ethernet/IP per the Rockwell spec, you won’t need a new driver. That’s what the Logix v21 driver does.

1 Like