Favorite HMI

[vger32]

I'm getting tired of the increasing cost of our current standard HMI solution, so I'm researching other products. I wondered what other people were using and what they liked/disliked about them. We communicate to AB and Siemens PLCs (Ethernet/IP and Profibus), no ERP communications required, although it would be nice.

 

[djs]

KEP has a very nice inexpensive HMI/SCADA software

 

[ScottyUK]

Red Lion have some nice products.

http://www.redlion.net/products/humanmachineinterface.html

Advantech are another supplier although the specific example of their products which I encountered ran Win CE and was somewhat unstable. It suffered a lot of system crashes on a roughly monthly frequency which were fixable by the old faithful solution of 'switch off - switch on'. Perhaps a one-off problem, but it has slightly coloured my view of their products.


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[controlsdude]

AB panelview+
use of tag database interface
cost too much as compared to others
not as intergrated into the rockwell sw as other programs

Proface
Inexpensive
scripting is a dog or real slow
Nice selection of drivers for most plcs
A cute remote view/user program if offsite

wonderware
expensive
does everything
lics are an issue, its like a minefield

Ever tried using a OS based display then using a web based tag interface? Tried it with AB product with the EWEB card, seems to work ok if the tag count was below 1000.

 

[vger32]

Reply: Controlsdude -
No, I've never tried a web based approach before. But since not all my equipment is 1756 based, I couldn't standardize on this solution.

I've looked at the Proface, seems like a good fit for my applications, but not sure of it's weakness. What functions were you programming in scripts?

 

[DanStewart]

I'm running a trial of a RedLion G3 to replace obsolete ABB AOS panels currently.

Lot's of protocols available without the need to install extra drivers.

The choice fell between Panelview and RedLion. What sold me was the price. The RedLion configuration software is free.

So far, I've been impressed.

 

[controlsdude]

Proface
Scripting was used on remote racks to see status, of course if you had some area that is repeated over and over, this would also be a good app for scripting.

Typical scripting app
make a template display and write variables behind the display to change to a different part of system by the scripting behind it.

Just be aware that scripting is slow on proface, so stay away from it if you want to display data faster. slow display will just aggravate your customer.

AB app does it well
Wonderware does it well

 

[IRstuff]

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