Cimplicity Machine Edition 4.0 upgrading to Proficy 6.0

[dave1006]

I have a customer that wnats to upgrade their PLC Software from Cimplicity 4.0 to Proficy 6.0.

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this and can shed any light on any possible issues I may encounter. The Hardware is all 90-30. We use CPU 351, 364 & 374. We also have 90-30 Rack mounted I/O and Genius and versamax I/O.

My concern is some of the hardware is around 10 years old. I am wondering if there may be some firmware issues?

Thanks

[Paullys50]

Can you be more clear?

Proficy Machine Edition is PLC Programming Software.
Cimplicity is HMI Software.

PLC Software over the years has been:

Logicmaster (dos based) => Versapro (First Windows based software) => Proficy Machine Edition (Latest and Greatest)

[Steve Bailey]

Firmware issues are generally related to hardware rather than programming software. Along the lines of, if you have a CPU at firmware version X, then any Genius Bus Controller in the system will need to be at firmware version Y or newer.

I have successfully migrated from Logicmaster to Versa Pro to Machine Edition without having to upgrade CPU firmware. Having said that, the CPU models you cited all have their firmware in flash memory and can be upgraded by downloading the latest version from the support website. If you decide to do that, you should check any other modules in your systems that have firmware chips for compatibility. I'll try to find a link to a compatibility matrix and post it. Or maybe Russ will see this thread and beat me to it.

Paully's5.0:

There has been an ongoing battle between the hardware and software people at GE over the Cimplicity name. I can think of a couple of times when the hardware people have tried to attach the Cimplicity name to the PLC programming software. The most recent was just before they adopted the "Proficy" name. Its quite possible that when the product currently known as Proficy Machine Edition 6.0 was at version 4.0 it was called Cimplicity Machine Edition. At the same time the HMI software you're thinking of would have been called Cimplicity Plant Edition.

[dave1006]

Thanks,

The reason I ask is years ago we started by replacing this customers old 90-70 PLC hardware with 90-30 hardware. At the same time we upgraded the software from Versa Pro to Cimplicity Machine Edition. At that time we had some older CPU"s and I believe Ethernet Modules that we had firmware issues with...this was Eight years ago, so my memory is not crystal clear on this...but thought I would throw it out there and see if anyone had found any issues.

[Steve Bailey]

If the CPUs are very old, there might be a few issues which can be worked around. There is a list of recommended minimum firware levels for compatibility with ME. When you first install ME, by default I believe it blocks download of files to firmware levels older than the recommended minimum. You can change the setting to either warn you about downloading to an older firmware or to just go ahead and download.

I'm not 100% sure about what the issues are if you download from ME to an old firmware. I seem to remember that the most serious issue was that under some conditions, going online with the PLC's fault tables could cause the PLC to stop running the program. Easy enough to restart the program, but sort of like hitting an E-Stop.

[RussB]

Here is the latest compatibility matrix on the web site, kind of old but it will help.
Steve is correct in that you should update all firmware at the same time, if you can without causing problems. Download them all and verify that there are not issues that may be caused by the updates. The only thing I can think of is that there are two hardware versions of the CPU374 so you may need two different firmware updates depending on this. Also the CPU351 is a bit 'finicky' when updating its firmware, if not done right one can "kill" it permanently.
It should be doable, just do your homework and take it one step at a time.
Also be sure to get "Global Care" with the upgrade, so as to include the next version 6.50, which will be supported in Windows 7.

[Mike Lamond]

Originally Posted by Steve Bailey

Paully's5.0:

There has been an ongoing battle between the hardware and software people at GE over the Cimplicity name. I can think of a couple of times when the hardware people have tried to attach the Cimplicity name to the PLC programming software. The most recent was just before they adopted the "Proficy" name. Its quite possible that when the product currently known as Proficy Machine Edition 6.0 was at version 4.0 it was called Cimplicity Machine Edition. At the same time the HMI software you're thinking of would have been called Cimplicity Plant Edition.

You're right. The PLC programmer was Cimplicity Machine Edition through version 5.0, then became Proficy Machine Edition starting with version 5.5.

[Byron]

Greetings!
I have a client with a GE 9030 System- programmed with CIMPLICITY MACHINE V.4.0 and I am wondering if I can go online for MONITORING with PROFICY 6.5 without upgrading the PLC. The maintenance man has CIMPLICITY ME 4.0 and I do not want to lock him out, as it were...

[Byron]

I have looked high and low for CIMPLICITY ME 4.0 to install on an old laptop and cannot find it anywhere ... yet ...

[Steve Bailey]

Why not just use the maintenance man's computer?
You will be able to open the version 4.0 file using 6.5, but any changes will need to be made using version 4.0 if that's what the maintenance man will be using going forward.

[Byron]

Originally Posted by Steve Bailey

Why not just use the maintenance man's computer?
You will be able to open the version 4.0 file using 6.5, but any changes will need to be made using version 4.0 if that's what the maintenance man will be using going forward.

I am moving more and more into REMOTE ACCESS for support. Yes I can use TeamViewer... but I am using "****" and moving toward similar options for legacy support.

"You will be able to open the version 4.0 file using 6.5, but any changes will need to be made using version 4.0"

I understand ... my question, specifically is... can I go online with my laptop using Proficy 6.5 (or any other version) and MONITOR without downloading my version to the CPU. I want to leave the CPU with CIMPLICITY V.4.0 for the maintenance crew.

If I could find CIMPLICITY ME 4.0 I would just install on an old laptop and be done with it. I cannot find that version yet...

[Steve Bailey]

I understand ... my question, specifically is... can I go online with my laptop using Proficy 6.5 (or any other version) and MONITOR without downloading my version to the CPU.

No.

[Byron]

deleted posts... ??? wow

[Steve Bailey]

The earliest installation CD I have for Machine Edition is version 5.5.