Can I program a SCADAPack 330E with RemoteConnect?

[Anonymous user]

Can I program a SCADAPack 330E with RemoteConnect?

[MartinChartrand]

Hello,

No, the SCADAPack E-Series RTUs cannot be programmed with RemoteConnect. RemoteConnect is for the SCADAPack 57x and 47x RTUs only.

The E-Series RTUs are configured (Com ports, IO Assignment etc) by the "SCADAPack E Configurator", or logic-programmed with the "SCADAPack E Workbench" (IEC61131-3) platform. Both are available from Exchange Shop, here in a single download: https://shop.exchange.se.com/en-US/apps/62865/scadapack-e-workbench-and-utilities

Please note that although the download from Shop is free, you will need a purchased license to fully operate SCADAPack E Workbench. The "SCADAPack E Configurator" does not require a license.

Regards,

Martin Chartrand

[BevanWeiss]

@MartinChartrand does 8.17.1a (and possibly latter) still require the explicit licence?

I noticed this on my latest installation when I went to jump through the licence hoops, and was instead greeted by:

I'm used to this just saying Engineering Trial Licence with an expiration of xx days.

Maybe this was a glitch, and if I 'upgrade' again to 8.18 then I lose this...

I assume there's no plans to have a migration firmware to allow an existing 3xx / 5xx SCADAPack to run x70 and utilise RemoteConnect?  It's certainly a bit tricky, since with such a cold migration process our customers are typically jumping ship entirely... Why pay to migrate from a SCADAPack 3xxE series to a SCADAPack x70 when they could just as easily migrate to a Wago PFC200, Brodersen RTU32M, or Kingfisher CP35 platform?!?

Having a seam-free engineering migration pathway should have been a higher priority.

I would have thought the complaints when Schneider did the ISaGRAF v3 -> SCADAPack Workbench migration, and the huge numbers of customers that simply didn't follow this transition would have taught a lesson.

[MartinChartrand]

Hello,

Workbench no longer requires a license to run. It does, however, still require a license for the legal right to be used. The message that was displayed indicates that the software is installed in a working state with a license file that does not expire. This applies to any installation of 8.18.1 onwards.

There are no plans to allow a 3xxx/3xxE to run x70 firmware and use RemoteConnect; the hardware, unfortunately, cannot support such a path. However, we do intend to offer an automated conversion using the new EcoStruxure Control Engineering product. This system allows a user to provide their configuration and program to the ECE team who will provide an automated conversion to RemoteConnect. We have this capability available for the standard (e.g. Telepace-based SCADAPack RTUs) ready; it will be made available to customers in June 2021. You can expect the equivalent for Workbench this fall. Regarding the SCADAPack 53xE we are studying a potential conversion path to the SCADAPack 57x.

Thank you for your initial comments, they are much appreciated.

Martin

[BevanWeiss]

@MartinChartrand wrote:

...

You can expect the equivalent for Workbench this fall.

...

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So in the next month or two?  Given it's currently March, and fall/autumn is from March-May [here in AU] 😉

Or are you expecting it more in 2021Q3?

The 53x to 57x 'conversion' should have been trivial, since they are (were) exactly the same hardware.  It should have simply been a case of allowing the common Bootloader to flash the x70 firmware regardless of existing firmware.

The E-series firmware is a little tricker given the ISaGRAF licence required (and WindRiver OS licence), but I expect there is a reserved non-volatile memory slot dedicated to serial number or similar which identifies whether the unit has been allocated an ISaGRAF licence (and hence can be flashed with E-series firmware).

[MartinChartrand]

@BevanWeiss 

I apologize for the seasonal confusion. 😁 Yes, we're looking at late Q3 2021 for the Workbench version of the ECE conversion product.

I will pass your subsequent comments on to the SCADAPack team.

Regards

Martin C.