Feasability using OPC for COMPLETE PLC IO-NO LADDER LOGIC

[DaqMaster]

Attention intergration Gurus:

I was wondering if this is REALLY feasable and would work? We need a high channel output using AB PLC's for air solenoids (high current) and +24v Prox's and such.

I really would like to get rid of the existing (3 plc) design and use labview to do everything.

The PLC's inter-communicate via RS232, done by three seperate companies.  Thats why its not intergrated.

Has anyone really used PLC's I/O withou a Ladder program ??

I can do both, but want to bring things up to todays tech....

Thanks

Eric

[tst]

I do this frequently, although not with OPC. Usually we use NI's cFP-180x I/O modules, but we've also non-NI hardware.

The basic questions you would want to ask yourself:

1. Can I afford a situation where the system might not behave correctly (for example, if there is a network error or the desktop machine gets stuck doing something else)?
2. Is the technology I'm going to use (OPC, Modbus, custom protocol, etc.) going to be fast enough for the balance of the desired program speed and the channel count?

If the answer to both of those is yes, then you should be able to do this.