ELC-anyone?

[Ken Moore]

Just got a catalog from a place I buy from, they now sell the Eaton ELC micro PLC. Looks interesting, very small, and reasonable pricing. Cheapest one is 93.00, Software is 99.00 and cabe around 20.00, and the flyer says one license per site, multiple users allowed, not bad. I was wondering if anyone had used these and had an opinion. I haven't looked to deep, but it appears to support on line editing. I'm tempted to buy one and give it a test.

[Steve Bailey]

I haven't tried one myself, but Eaton/Cutler-Hammer's track record in the PLC market is rather spotty. They have never made a PLC of their own, instead offering branded versions of PLCs made by others. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that, the support for the products they offer can sometimes leave something to be desired. About the only place where I've seen Eaton/Cutler-Hammer PLCs is in Eaton/Cutler-Hammer manufacturing plants. I used to work for a distributor and we handled Cutler-Hammer products, including the offerings from Cutler-Hammer Automation. We had very good success with their PanelMate HMI line for a few years. Around 1997 or 1998 they got in bed with Steeplechase software, offering a branded version they called "Netsolver". At the product rollout session the rep from C-H Automation announced; "We missed the boat on PLCs. We're not going to miss the boat on PC-based control". [sarcasm] A decade later, everyone recognizes Cutler-Hammer as the world leader in PC-based control. [/sarcasm]

[gtsuport]

Ken, I have worked with the ELC. Pretty good little product, excellent price. Instruction set is quite complete for a small plc. Documentation was ok. I did get it to work with a 3rd party operator interface. Just FYI, it is a private labled product. Hope this will help.