I am working on scoping how to implement Groov RIO on our manufacturing floor. We have 3 Manufacturing machines with Allen Bradley PLCs that I would like to connect to and publish some tags onto a dashboard to be viewed remotely by other users on the plant network. The limitation as always is the cost, and I am trying to see what the most cost-efficient way is to see that data.
I am thinking about connecting 3 Groov RIOs (one to each machine) and then install a groov server on a PC where the dashboard will be built using groov view. This way I don’t have to purchase standard ignition license where the data are supplied to it using Ignition edge on the RIO. I understand the limitation of this one is that only one user can view the dashboard at the time, right?
Or, utilize Node-Red to publish that data to SQL database and then build visualizations off that database in any interactive tool that capable of querying data. This way we can have multiple users to view the data at the same time.
Based on other’s experience, how feasible either of these two options? are these better ways that I am not considering?
Your plan sounds really good.
One RIO per machine sounds solid.
Run groov Server for Windows on a PC in the facility.
None of our software has a ‘one viewer’ limit, so not sure where that came into the mix. In-fact, if you can recall where you saw this, I’d love to know!
We have a lot of customers using GS4W and have scores of connected users at the same time. Since its Windows based, we even have customers running it in a server room on a VM or headless server.
With the user permissions in groov View you can hide pages from any viewer, so its very flexible in the multi user aspect.
The RIO will talk to the AB PLC via Ignition (so be sure and order the RIO MM2 with Ignition) and the tags will be brought into GS4W via the Ignition OPC. Very easy to setup and get running.
Option 2 I would ovoid. Its a lot of necessary work. OPC nodes in Node-RED are doable, but they are pretty CPU intense.
You could always build a database logger aside from the groov View HMI if you wanted to go that way at a later date.
Awesome. Thank you Beno. I think I got that idea of Groov server limited to one user because I was under the assumption that it had to be installed on a local PC. Glad I was wrong.
Two more questions:
Aside from the forums here and the user guides. What other resources are available to understand how to connect and make sure the devices are talking to each other.
When you say building a database logger. Do you suggest using OptoDatalink installed on the server with the Groov Server?
Thanks for the extra details on the ‘single user’ trail… It can go on a desktop PC or as I mentioned on a server or VM, do note that if you go the VM route, our support is limited, but I know more than a few customers that are using it without issues (or needing support).
Either way, many many concurrent users are supported.
In regard to point 2. The data-logger… my comment was in reference to your original post where you were going to roll your own HMI via SQL… I don’t think you will end up going that way and it should take a backseat for the smooth option of linking the AB tags to Ignition, then using the Ignition OPCUA to send those tags to groov View.
If you want to look at some other data-logging down the track, we can start a different thread for that.
