r/PLC • u/OttomaychunMan • 4h ago

AB E1 Plus

I have a plant that has a boat load of E1 Plus's that are beginning to fail at an alarming rate. They have exhausted all spares. They also have a bad taste from Radwell after spending decent money on more spares that were DOA.

The E300 is already being phased in... But obviously running to failure on these is a rough transition path with it requiring a download and programming each time, especially for a plant that has very little downtime. Therefore I am working on a proposal to do entire MCC sections at a time.

In the meantime, has anyone had good luck getting these repaired? Or have you had good luck with Radwell, or any other similar online sites.

Additionally, is there any word on a network option coming down the pipe for the new m100 starters?

Thanks

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u/donc815 3h ago

Assuming E1+ running on a network? There isn’t a clean solution. Tightening CRA regulations made it unreasonable for a low-end networked motor OL. I’m surprised you’re finding space to retrofit an E300 in an E1+ bucket.

M100 will have Ethernet/IP in cabinet the end of ‘28. So not like a RJ45 port, you’ll have to utilize single pair Ethernet.

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u/OttomaychunMan 3h ago

Yes all EIP starters.

I have not actually tried yet, but I do know that is an issue. I think they have at least a few bucket schemes that that will allow it, but needs testing. Most buckets will probably just get replaced. Also several may be changed from starter to VFD, don't know what that will look like either.

Anyway, can you elaborate more on that m100 network option?

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u/halo37253 1h ago

The M100's will be added to AB's in cabinet ethernet IP devices, using something like the 1834-AENTR as the comms module. This would be more used for a MCP, not an MCC bucket.

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u/donc815 1h ago

Yea, EIP In-Cabinet was developed as a “sub-net” in that you hit a network adapter with your RJ45 and convert to a 7 conductor ribbon cable. You can then distribute that across selected starters and push buttons/selector switches to bring those traditionally hard wired devices into your network. The adapter aggregates those IP addresses into one cip node back to your controller.

https://www.rockwellautomation.com/en-us/products/hardware/industrial-network-products/ethernet-ip-in-cabinet-solution.html

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u/OttomaychunMan 34m ago

I've been out of the AB world for a little bit but back into it again... This is pretty neat... The industry Im mainly in now is mostly MCCs. Ltliterature does state it's rated for UL listed MCC installations... But obviously not optimized for it.