Week 24 Update & Rule#5
- LS
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Good afternoon automation nerds.
Last week ACI was in Houston for an Opto22 controls upgrade at a top secret facility (well not really, just can't tell you). We removed an LCM4, many B3000s, handfuls of old SNAP-OAC5s and SNAP-IAC5s and other old hardware that was controlling a plastic extrusion machine. I would like to tell you that the control panels were clean with wires and cables nicely routed, labeled and secured inside the wire way but, as you already know, that is RARELY the case (see pictures below).
Now, you may be asking yourself: "How can it be so dirty?". Well it's simple, they did NOT follow Rule#3: Always keep the control panel nice and clean. They also leave the panel doors open sometimes which is breaking Rule#2: Follow SOPs. And if you break Rule#2 then you have already broke Rule#1: Be careful with the hardware.
First thing was to lock out, tag out the machine (LOTO). Then, before any hardware was replaced, we had to go through and document all the IO terminations going to the racks (wire colors, any labels and termination location) just incase something went wrong. While doing this I came across a live wire (120VAC) in one of the panels going to a SNAP-IAC5 module (see Rule#4: Assume the wires are live) which wasn't a big surprise given the state of the control panels. They traced it and got it powered down. We started running all the ethernet cables and that was it for day 1.
Day 2: hardware removal and installation of the new Opto22 equipment.
We were replacing all this old Opto22 with 1 EPIC, 3 PAC-R1s on a 4, 8 and 12 rack and 2 RIOs. Our initial plan was to put some of these in a small enclosure and mount that inside the control cabinets so they would stay free of dust and debris. Unfortunately we had to abandon that approach once we got onsite for all but the 8 position rack because the panels didn't have enough room for our enclosures. Luckily a couple of their control panels were not as dirty as the rest. So the EPIC would run the control program and all the others would act as remote IO units. Day 2 ended with all but the 12 position rack installed with just a bit more wire terminations/modifications to the EPIC system.
Day 3 started with installing the 12 position rack, plugging all the module connectors back in and the EPIC wire terminations wrapped up. Then I started making up the ethernet cable ends, routing the cables neatly as possible through the various control cabinets all the way back to the EPIC location where the network hub was located. I removed our LOTO locks and they brought the power back online to the machine for the initial smoke test. Once we passed the smoke test we had to troubleshoot some power issues with the two panels that got the RIOs. After a while we got those fixed up, we continued with IO checks. Once the IO checked out, we moved to try and run the machine. This is where we started to run into issues with the original software (which ACI did NOT write). At the 12hr mark we called it a day, machine not operational due to software issues. These were resolved over the weekend and brought back first thing Monday morning for testing & deployment. By Wednesday (6/11/25) the machine was running better than it ever had.
This project had many hurdles we had to overcome in the field but in the end we were successful in upgrading the controls AND the software which wasn't part of the original scope of work. This also brings me to Rule#5: Bring more clothes than you think you'll need when doing out-of-town startups...
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