800xA says it integrated system but still independent interns data exchange beween connectivity servers
800XA we have so many different connectivity server , but we don't have a solution where data can be tranfered between different connectivity servers.
Property transfer already faced many issue and not recommded to use for controls, Solution running is OPC Datalink which founf much more stable.
Like PPB system , either tags are OPC or Harmony all comes in one tag format and data can easily transfered between OPC and Infi net.
Why 800xA event these many years of development not able to find a uniform format for all tags comming to system through different connect , Not able to find a good solution for data tranfer between different connects.
ABB has so many product support different protocles , but don't have single product support all (integrated solution)
Voted best answer
You should speak to a product manager about your concern.
If every OPC server would be "ideal" (unlimited performance, 100% compliant to all OPC methods) there is no problem using the Property Transfer service in 800xA.
However, the reality is much different; few OPC servers are 100% compliant, many have strengths and weaknesses and none have unlimited performance. Hence, an OPC bridging device like Property Transfer will have issues with writing.
I don't know how many times and hours I've spent the last 15 years on explaining the weaknesses of the 800xA for Advant Master (MB300) OPC server. Just because the OPC server is from 2016 and runs on Windows 10 and a 4.0 GHz Xeon processor does not mean you can throw just about any amount of data to it.
In reality, most (all?) OPC servers are restricted by the amount of data the below situated PLCs can supply/accept.
I don't know so much about Infi 90 / Harmony, but maybe their OPC layers are strong. However, try to bridge their data to a connectivity with weaker OPC layers and you will probably not succeed as good as you do within Harmony/Infi90 alone.
And my 2 cents are; as long as you are trying to perform cross communication between "OPC weaker" PLCs you should find other ways of sending data across them, e.g. a FieldBus like ModbusTCP, etc.
IMHO: avoid involving Microsoft Windows into PLC cross communication --> no OPC.
Microsoft Windows is trying hard to become a 24x365 realtime operating system, but in reality it risk folding at next Windows Update, software upgrade, etc..
Just before my vacation I had to perform an emergency visit at an 800xA installation where OPC in a whole connectivity server just went "dead in the water" because someone installed some new (official, but still 3rd party) software - the system went down and customer became very very upset. Foreign software was quickly removed, but we had to reinstall parts of 800xA to recover.
Add new comment