CONTROLLINO for real projects

[ran]

Hello All,

I find CONTROLLINO very interesting platform for development.

I would like to ask whether you recommend this platform for real projects in POV of:

– Company stability?

– Product stability?

– How long the company exists?

– Do the products suffer from pediatric illnesses?

– Can I trust the products’ supply chain for the coming 5 years?

Sorry for skepticism, I would like to be sure before I choose the platform…

Ran

[c9p]

I had the same concerns. Did you ever get a response? I was looking at the Controllino, Industrial Shields, and the Industruino for alternatives to more proprietary PLCs.

[mr-controllino]

Hello Ran,

Would be interesting to know what do you mean by your questions and what answers do you expect!

Company stability? YES, the company is in a very stabile building. I dont see any risks that it will break down! If you have not expected this answer … well what kind of answer do you expect in a Forum like this? Do you think I will show you all the company numbers???

But of course in your list are also questions that I can answer …

How long does the company exist? 3 years.

And if the question about the supply chain was a question of how long the products will be available … then I can tell you … at least for 10 years and more.

Do the products suffer from pediatric illnesses? What kind of question is this? I think you meant teething troubles!

Not that I am aware of.

regards

Marco

[c9p]

Yeah, haha, not too sure what he meant by “pediatric”. I was just curious how many of these things are deployed to the field. We just bought one to evaluate so I’m excited to see how it performs. So far we like the design of the Controllino the best out of what we’ve seen.

[ran]

Hello Marco,

I do not understand why you chose to answer a cynical reply.

I would like to add this product into real project. not just prototyping.

Let’s face it, most designs based on Arduino is for Educational and prototyping purpose. not real projects…

There are some barriers for me to choose this product and not well proven PLC, from well known company.

“stability” – If this is product built by Start-Up company, I’ll let the product to mature. But if not, I can rely on the company to clean up SW or HW bugs as we go to market.

“pediatric” – Every product has problem which first met in the field while go to high scale.

[tara]

I had similar concerns. Did you ever get a reaction? I was taking a gander at the Controlling, Mechanical Shields, and the Industruino for options in contrast to progressively exclusive PLCs.

Electrical Engineering

[mr-controllino]

Hello Ran,

Your assumptions are totally wrong. Why should a design based on Arduino only be for Education and Prototyping?

What is Arduino? Arduino is not a hardware! Arduino is a programming platform that has chosen some dedicated microcontrollers to work with their programming platform.

What is inside of a SIEMENS, Allen Bradley, Rockwell, Schneider, Crouzet … PLC? It is a microcontroller!

For example, in a Crouzet PLC there is also an ATMEL ATmega microcontroller. It is not the 2560 … but similar. I think it is the smaller 128… or so.

So, if Crouzet would have chosen an ATmega2560 … this would make the Crouzet PLC in some ways also ARDUINO COMPATIBLE. You can kick off the original program and put the Arduino bootloader on it. Or … you can also program it directly with ATMEL studio.

But according to your assumption … now the Crouzet PLC is only for Education and Prototyping! Boring story!

What we have with CONTROLLINO is an industrial grade hardware based on the same microcontrollers the Arduino platform is using. And we have put this into an industrial housing. Nothing more.

If you want to work with something with an already existing firmware like SIEMENS, Allen Bradley, Rockwell, … and follow their way to program it. Please do so. If you don’t feel that you are able to program properly in C so you can switch things ON/OFF, measure something, connect to the world … then please don’t use any Arduino platform or CONTROLLINO. Please use something where you think you can handle the situation!

So, at the and … if you have concerns … and you are afraid of your own life (milquetoast) … don’t buy it!

[asch]

To: Mr. Controllino

I can understand the concerns of Ran because I am in the same boat. Let me clarify this:

* I have programmed 8 bit AVR based products so I am confident in the chip itself that it can work fine if it is put into a good circuit.

* I can handle the programming in C. No issue there.

* Our concern is that we have to decide whether the product is really industrial quality or not.

If I offer an integration solution to a factory with my company based on your hardware I have to be sure that the hardware itself will prove to be a good choice. For example if there is some weakness in the electrical properties that makes the hardware to fail after 2 years of operation and I have installed 100 pieces of the hardware to a production line then I will be in trouble. There will be constant downtime in the factory. And at the end it will be caused by my decision to use this specific hardware.

If it happens with the PLC of a well known big name company then I can shrug and say: guys I have chosen the same PLC that everyone else uses. It is not my fault.

But if it happens to a hardware that is not very well known then if it fails then everyone will blame me for my decision.

For this reason it is very risky to apply a not very well known product in a real world application where high SLA is required but not that high that we build a redundant system. So a single HW failure can cause a few hours of downtime in a factory which costs a huge amount of money. (The replacing cost will be small compare to the downtime cost.)

If Controllino already has references to industrial projects at big factories where it is used then at least we have some facts to support our decision. So it would help us to choose your product.

If you are aiming to be used in the industry as a substitute of PLC based solutions then this question has to be targeted and a comforting answer has to be given. A few example projects where they use it and can be publicly referenced would be the best that I can imagine.

It is not about being a milquetoast: as engineers we have to make the best possible decision when we design a project. Factoring the risks is part of the decision. And the unknown is always higher risk then something widely known.

Disclaimer: I have also just ordered a Controllino that I will use the evaulate the product in a company internal demo application. And if our team likes it and we have a reassuring answer to the reference problem then we will put the same Controllino into an integration project for a factory.

[juankax]

Thanks for the information.

dino cams[/url]

[paulsm]

Hello. I am looking to build a cnc machine. Is a controllino a good choice (for cnc)? I see that outputs can be loaded max 2A and if more outputs used at one time – 0.5A max and relay outputs are not the choice. I see that even small stepper, like nema 17 need 1.7 amps or even 3.5 amps when both coils loaded. Correct me if I am wrong, thank you.

[Jarda]

Hello,

mentioned parameters are for complete temperature range. 0,5 A is also for maximum temperature range and the outputs loaded all the time.

If you use these outputs for motors which will run not all the time, you can count with more more current than 0,5 A. Each output has some internal over temperature and over current protection. So you can tune it for your conditions.

Regards

Jarda