Allen Bradley PanelView Component? Yeah or Nay?

[doehl1]

I have a small automation project we're working on which will use an AB Micrologix1200 processor. I need a low cost HMI and am considering the AB PanelView Component family, which I have never used before. I know there were some serious issues with programming speed/latency, validation, etc. in the past. Not sure if these have been rectified.

I'm looking at the 6" or 10" color flavors over ethernet.

Any general comments on this product would be appreciated. Also, any recommended 3rd party HMI's that would work nicely w/ this Micrologix 1200 w/o too much handshaking effort?

David

http://www.mavenpower.com

 

[catserveng]

I usually use them in conjunction with MicroLogix PLC's for small engine/generator projects, I just finished a project with an ML1400 and a 6" color panel on Ethernet. For the price of the panel, it did the job, not very sexy, but it was reasonably easy to setup, get comms working and get a 5 screen basic system up and going rather quickly.

My experience with them to date has been ok, not great, earlier panels seemed to have a lot of issues with validating a project, this last time round it went much better. Not much in the way of a graphics library, but it does the job in my case.

Hope that helps, Mike L.

 

[eeprom]

I've used these a lot. They are far less expensive than Panel View Plus. And you don't have to buy software to program them. For a stand alone single project, they are far more cost effective than a panel view plus. Having said that, there are many operator interface panels which are less expensive and better than AB.
EE