# Velocio in industry



## Flyingsod (Jul 11, 2013)

I am wondering if any of you has had one of these budget PLC's in an industrial setting. I'd like to know how they stand up to rough service such as vibration, temp, dust, and the like. Its hard to tell how they act in real world service from just a website. Also if you've had one in service what kind of uptime did it have?


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## MikeFL (Apr 16, 2016)

Flyingsod said:


> I am wondering if any of you has had *one of these budget PLC's* in an industrial setting. I'd like to know how they stand up to rough service such as vibration, temp, dust, and the like. Its hard to tell how they act in real world service from just a website. Also if you've had one in service what kind of uptime did it have?


Can you elaborate? 
I don't think it's against the rules to name a brand and part #.


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## Flyingsod (Jul 11, 2013)

Sure the brand is Velocio and the model is the Ace. I'm liking the tiny form factor for small projects. Small enough to be installed with adhesive tape!

http://velocio.net/ace/

Plus the cost means I can buy one to play with just for fun since all the software involved is free.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Flyingsod said:


> Plus the cost means I can buy one to play with just for fun since all the software involved is free.


First clue to a generic throw away product.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

I looked at them but didn't go any further. They don't have ethernet and maybe not even a RTC. 

There are fairly cheap ones available from Rockwell, the micro820 for example, I don't remember if there's free software available. There are cheap ones available from Schneider for sure, with cheap software. For any sort of practical application I'd stick to these, they are very affordable and industrial grade. 

If you want the cheapest possible lab / learning tool, it's probably codesys for the raspberry pi.


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## NC Plc (Mar 24, 2014)

What sort of project are you looking to use it for? Are you looking to learn PLC programming or are you more comfortable with computer programming?

If you're decided on a PLC you can get a CLICK plc for $69 that appears to be better than what you posted and automation direct's programming software is also free.

Raspberry PI is good if you just want a budget computer that runs a form of Linux. They're not the only ones though, there is a MASSIVE market for those things now and I can think of at least 10-20 different PI clones.

You can go into the Arduino side of things if you want to execute code without an OS.

So really it depends on what your project is and what you want to accomplish. For $50 you have an unbelievable amount of variety when it comes to micro controllers. For PLCs, industrial grade computers basically, less so.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

But you don't have to load linux on the Pi, there are PLC operating systems for it.


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## NC Plc (Mar 24, 2014)

Didn't know that. All I know about Pi is the little I've read cause I'm more of an Arduino man myself.

Still, the OP mentioned wanting something for an industrial setting and idk if I would trust a Pi for that. 

For $70 you can get an industrially hardened PLC that can handle vibration and noise.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

No I agree I wouldn't even consdier the Pi for real work, just learning, hobby stuff, etc., it doesn't even have real IO.


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## psgama (Oct 26, 2015)

Get a micro. The software is connected component workbench and yes it is free. Otherwise, get a micrologix 1100 or 1400 off eBay to play with. You can get dumbed down rslogix 500 software to play with. Or you can just use the 7 day trial and reset it. At least with rslogix500 your using software that's an industry standard.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Flyingsod said:


> I am wondering if any of you has had one of these budget PLC's in an industrial setting. I'd like to know how they stand up to rough service such as vibration, temp, dust, and the like. Its hard to tell how they act in real world service from just a website. Also if you've had one in service what kind of uptime did it have?


I can't even count how many times I've been called out to work on a machine where someone put on a "latest and greatest cheapest and fastest" little controller from some no-name company that is LONG GONE by the time I get there. I've even had that happen with big name companies that briefly dabbled in PLCs, then abandon them because it cost too much to support them (Cutler Hammer, Klockner-Moeller, Honeywell, Westinghouse, Panasonic, even Texas Instruments). So no support, no documentation, no luck. I ALWAYS ended up ripping and replacing with a new system, which meant billing the user for my time to completely redesign a control system by second-guessing what the first guy might have been trying to do. 

Whatever was saved in the initial design-built was lost 100 fold or more in the repair. The anger level at what that means to someone down the road has been, at times, difficult to deal with, especially when they want to "shoot the messenger" (me).

On the flip side, I have gone out to work on a 20 year old machine with an old A-B PLC on it that, although also no longer made, I can get parts for, software to look inside and tech support over the phone to troubleshoot it. And if it has to be replaced, there is always a migration path available. "Free software" can't support that long view of the product lifespan.


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## Flyingsod (Jul 11, 2013)

*Thankyou all.*

Thanks for all the replies and insight.

My interest in this unit was for those favor like projects customers sometimes through in when you are about to get ready to leave. " Oh btw, can I get some kind of signal light by the door here to tell me which bin is full of widgets" or something like that. Something we could do easily enough with a few icecube relays. Mostly I liked the fact that the ACE can easily fit in a 4square.

I agree with the sentiment that this isn't on the level of an AB. I wouldn't even think of using it in a critical situation. As a service tech though I get a lot of requests to do something convenient but ultimately unimportant to the process. I feel like a cheap solution is warranted in some of these situations. ( depending on the specific customer of course).

Thanks for all the other cheap options that are out there. I didn't know of some of them and didn't realize how cheap some of the others were. The micro logic price kinda stunned me.

The Raspberry PI and Arduino suggestions would be cool for learning some theory of operation but you're right they are not something id trust in the kind of setting im thinking about. I would def like to learn more about PLC's since I am pretty new to them.

I think Ill buy one and install it for free in one of the nasty places I work in. Ill do some kind of uptime monitoring on it and go back and check it every couple months to see how long it lasts in hard service,

Thanks again all.


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## Jhellwig (Jun 18, 2014)

There are also programmable relays out there that are a very simple Plc. They work good if you are needing to do some basic logic with timers and such. Most of them can be programmed from their display or the software is free even on the Allen Bradley ones. Yes it is stuff that can be done with relay logic but in a cleaner compact form.

We have an Allen Bradley one at work and it has been going for several years.


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## PS Donald (8 mo ago)

Is anybody still interested in this thread. I just bought one for a specific application and though I would share.


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## Wardenclyffe (Jan 11, 2019)

How expensive is your downtime, does one thing take the line down?


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

PS Donald said:


> Is anybody still interested in this thread. I just bought one for a specific application and though I would share.


Wow, two very general questions about Velocio in two days from new posters, that's quite a coincidence.

velocio

It might be a great product but please, don't shill.


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## capkbarone (7 mo ago)

splatz said:


> Wow, two very general questions about Velocio in two days from new posters, that's quite a coincidence. velocio It might be a great product but please, don't shill.


 Greetings! I just ordered an ACE 11. I wanted a small introductory PLC. They have been around for a while and happily answered my -many- questions. I sell pneumatics (Valves, cylinders, fittings, etc, to end users. Please feel free to give me a shout if anyone has a question about pneumatics, or needs help locating parts). I'll post again after I get it. Thanks! Ken


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## Wardenclyffe (Jan 11, 2019)




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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

I had never seen one of these so I went looking. First thing I noted was the communications
RS 232 and RS485 this is old school. Do you have a laptop that has serial ports on it? Does your customer.

Next was the voltage 5 to 5.5 v DC. That means a regulated power supply, $$

out puts are "sinking transistor" 300 ma MAX. 

Looking briefly it appears you pay for everything al cart to make it work for your application.
Not a bad idea, just not the way I like people to go to market
Might be fun to play with not something I would hang my name on for a customer.


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