# Allen Bradley PLCs...



## tates1882 (Sep 3, 2010)

qckrun said:


> Can anyone give me any information in regards to AB PLCs? A new job I may take runs AB PLCs and I am very familiar with Siemens PLCs. I have never done any programming just installation, troubleshooting and maintenance.
> 
> Is programming AB easy? (Is it all code base or so they offer a click & input function type programming?) Is it easy to learn from someone not familiar on the programming side but the installation side of PLCs?
> 
> Anything useful is appreciated.


theres tons and tons of ab plc video on utube


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## DesignerMan (Jun 13, 2008)

qckrun said:


> Can anyone give me any information in regards to AB PLCs? A new job I may take runs AB PLCs and I am very familiar with Siemens PLCs. I have never done any programming just installation, troubleshooting and maintenance.
> 
> Is programming AB easy? (Is it all code base or so they offer a click & input function type programming?) Is it easy to learn from someone not familiar on the programming side but the installation side of PLCs?
> 
> Anything useful is appreciated.


I've been told by several AB programmers that Siemens is more difficult. I have never used Siemens PLCs, but feel very comfortable with AB. You'll pick it up no problem...:thumbsup:


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## oliquir (Jan 13, 2011)

a lot easier than siemens to program, siemens is one of the worst i worked with. i worked with koyo, omron, ab, horner, ge, schneider ...


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## mpetro (Jan 6, 2016)

qckrun said:


> Can anyone give me any information in regards to AB PLCs? A new job I may take runs AB PLCs and I am very familiar with Siemens PLCs. I have never done any programming just installation, troubleshooting and maintenance.
> 
> Is programming AB easy? (Is it all code base or so they offer a click & input function type programming?) Is it easy to learn from someone not familiar on the programming side but the installation side of PLCs?
> 
> Anything useful is appreciated.


As a pretty inexperienced user of PLCs in general (school and 1.5 months of field work are my only experience), AB PLCs are pretty easy to get the hang of. The programming is pretty simple, I use ladder logic because most of my programming is pretty basic, but higher versions of RSLogix5000 support function block programming and probably more, I haven't really looked into others. From what I hear about Siemens, their software is less intuitive (even though some AB conventions can also be pretty obtuse), so you should have no problem in my opinion.


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## Jabberwoky (Sep 2, 2012)

I took one basic RSLogix5000 course through McNaughton-McKay about a year ago focused on troubleshooting/repair. The program was very easy to learn and the support material provided is quite good. There are some issues monitoring/editing function blocks in our old ver. 21 but everything else seems to work well and is easy to follow. The servo integration is very good but the hardware side of AB is really going downhill. We had a Kinetix 7000 drive that was bad right out of the box a couple weeks ago. I think we replaced our 24th or 25th servo motor in two years this week. Although the motor issues might be related to improper application or exceeding rated use.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Having worked for both, if you are already versed in Siemens, you will find AB easier. Siemens REQUIRES you to organize your project before you start. With AB you can do that, or you can start writing code and reference it afterward. I find that easier to deal with in my programming style.


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## LuckyLuke (Jun 1, 2015)

You have worked with the harder one first so it should be no problem at all


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## Skeet (Nov 6, 2009)

qckrun said:


> Can anyone give me any information in regards to AB PLCs? A new job I may take runs AB PLCs and I am very familiar with Siemens PLCs. I have never done any programming just installation, troubleshooting and maintenance.
> 
> Is programming AB easy? Yes. No. Sometimes.(Is it all code base or so they offer a click & input function type programming?) Is it easy to learn from someone not familiar on the programming side but the installation side of PLCs?
> 
> Anything useful is appreciated.


Make this forum and website your friend. http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/forumdisplay.php?f=1


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## NC Plc (Mar 24, 2014)

I didn't have tooo much trouble switching between Siemens and AB but I like AB a lot more than Siemens.


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## NC Plc (Mar 24, 2014)

You should buy and play around with this. Extremely cheap for how close it is to AB.

http://thelearningpit.com/lp/logixpro.html


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## psgama (Oct 26, 2015)

The learning pit Logix pro was a good tool. It doesn't really help with the newer Rslogix5000 or studio 5000 though. Controller Tags and a lot of functionality has changed. If you're introducing yourself to PLC programming, it's great though.


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## NC Plc (Mar 24, 2014)

psgama said:


> The learning pit Logix pro was a good tool. It doesn't really help with the newer Rslogix5000 or studio 5000 though. Controller Tags and a lot of functionality has changed. If you're introducing yourself to PLC programming, it's great though.


Yea fair point, I don't have any experience with the newer stuff. At work all I touch is directsoft.


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## psgama (Oct 26, 2015)

Rslogix Emulate 500 is free from Rockwell, and works well for getting the hang of using rslogix 500. 

For the 5000 series, there used to be emulate 5000, it may still be around but softlogix 5800 is what we've been using more recently. Softlogix 5800 is not free, but a crafty person can find archives on the Internet and take advantage of the trial period, or other options which I won't discuss here.

You can load up all kinds of examples, or even the program you actually build within these platforms for testing.


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## mpetro (Jan 6, 2016)

psgama said:


> Rslogix Emulate 500 is free from Rockwell, and works well for getting the hang of using rslogix 500.
> 
> For the 5000 series, there used to be emulate 5000, it may still be around but softlogix 5800 is what we've been using more recently. Softlogix 5800 is not free, but a crafty person can find archives on the Internet and take advantage of the trial period, or other options which I won't discuss here.
> 
> You can load up all kinds of examples, or even the program you actually build within these platforms for testing.


I've tried for literally _DOZENS_ of minutes to find Emulate 5000. The AB software download website is so convoluted it hurts my head


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## psgama (Oct 26, 2015)

Here's how you get there. I believe You'll need licensing for RS Emulate 5000, but Emulate 500 is free I believe.


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## mpetro (Jan 6, 2016)

psgama said:


> Here's how you get there. I believe You'll need licensing for RS Emulate 5000, but Emulate 500 is free I believe.
> 
> https://youtu.be/MYO_rOWnnL8


Yeah I have Emulate 500, but I'm currently working in RSLogix 5000 and I can't get Emulate 5000


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## ScooterMcGavin (Jan 24, 2011)

mpetro said:


> I've tried for literally _DOZENS_ of minutes to find Emulate 5000. The AB software download website is so convoluted it hurts my head



You have to have a licensed version of controllogix and a tech connect contract also I believe to get emulate. You also still have to have controllogix itself(Studio 5000) to use it. Emulate just acts like a PLC. 

Getting started on controllogix is not for the faint of heart. It's pretty $$


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## mpetro (Jan 6, 2016)

scameron81 said:


> You have to have a licensed version of controllogix and a tech connect contract also I believe to get emulate. You also still have to have controllogix itself(Studio 5000) to use it. Emulate just acts like a PLC.
> 
> Getting started on controllogix is not for the faint of heart. It's pretty $$


Yeah, luckily I didn't have to pay for it. I think it'd be reasonable to have Emulate 5000 packaged with RSLogix 5000. What do I know though


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## qckrun (May 18, 2009)

Thank you everyone for the replies. I've been away for a while and will read through everything. 


How hard is it to update the firmware on on AB PLCs? Having never worked with AB, I assume it might be fairly simple? Is it a matter of just having the right downloaded version and firm version and downloading it via an Ethernet cable?

Thanks


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