Low Cost I/O Recommendations Wanted

Nov 17, 2004 5 Replies

I recently had a request for some information totally outside of my field, so I want to see if others have the information.



A company wants to implement a control system (continuous process, some discrete devices, mostly analog I/O with PID, ratio, cascade, etc.) on a PC with Windows XP using Visual Basic. They want recommendations for I/O (4-20ma in and out, discrete 110vac in and out) to connect by some type of standard bus (FF, Hart, whatever) to the PC. A Visual Basic control to connect a VB program to the I/O will also be necessary.



In advance answer to an obvious question. There are no safety implications, high reliability is not needed. The customer is looking for industrial, not hobbyist or home type, equipment but does prefer low cost. The equipment will be located indoors.


If you just need I/O with PID, you can use a SBC with DOS operating system. This will be very cheap. Have a look on the

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, there are some cheap solutions that may help you.

I understand that the client needs use Visual Basic (existing software already being used, they will add to it for the new project).

Also they prefer Foundation Fieldbus but that is not a requirement. Any standard fieldbus (e.g. Profibus) will do. Of course, they will need to be able to interface it to the PC (running Windows XP Pro) and have a control for the Visual Basic.

Thanks, Anita

You might want to check out Opto22's products.

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I would go for Foundation Fieldbus. Take a look at

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You will find discrete I/O control embeded in Fieldbus:

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Besides that a linking device to connect to your PC:
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And a supervision system with visual basic capability:
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if you have any doubts, feel free to send it to: snipped-for-privacy@smar.com.br

Fl=E1vio

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