SIMATIC HMI TP1900 Comfort 18.5-inch Touch Panel PROFINET and PROFIBUS (6AV2124-0UC02-0AX1) CAN Electric — Industrial Automation Parts Supplier

The largest pressure-sensitive screen in a standard Comfort housing

The 19-inch class is not “a bigger 15-inch panel”. Resolution stayed the same while the glass grew, so the pixels got larger — and that changes who can read the screen. Where the operator stands at arm’s length watching a fault text beside a running conveyor, a large low-density screen beats a sharper small one. Four trend windows side by side still land in the readable zone, and a gloved hand pressing the front registers where a fingertip on glass might not.

Who should still specify it, and who should stop

Three buyers still have a use for this order number: replacing a failed unit where housing, cutout and TIA device all match, so the line restarts without mechanical rework; stocking a spare for a plant that already runs several, because a stopped line costs more than a panel on a shelf; and shipping a spare with an existing machine order.

What it is not is a Comfort PRO. No support arm, no extension unit, no capacitive glass, no sealed rear — the back opens into the enclosure by design, because it belongs in a cabinet door, not on a machine frame in a washdown zone. For a new project the honest answer is the MTP1900 below.

Data per the Siemens product documentation and Mall entry. Verify cutout and cabinet depth against the current data sheet before the enclosure is cut — plate thickness and flatness decide whether the front seal actually seals.

Readability is a distance question, not a resolution question

A sharp screen rewards the operator who leans in; a large one rewards the operator who does not. On an enclosure door in a busy cell, the person reading the alarm stands back — behind a guard, beside a pallet, holding a tool. Growing the glass while holding the pixel count gives the text physical size, and physical size survives at a metre and a half. The trade: dense faceplates look coarse beside a full-HD panel of the same diagonal.

Pressure input is a maintenance item as well as a feature

Resistive touch is chosen for what the operator wears and holds: thick gloves, oily fingers, a stylus, a wet hand. The cost is mechanical. The front is a flexible layer over the display, it registers one point at a time, and it wears where the same buttons are pressed shift after shift. On a screen driven by fixed on-screen buttons, treat the touch foil as a consumable, like contact tips.

Portrait is allowed here — the PRO range cannot do it

Both orientations are permitted, which matters on narrow enclosure doors, vertical andon columns and machine backs where width is scarce. Siemens attaches a penalty: upright, the ambient ceiling drops, and leaning it over drops it further. Plan the orientation before the cooling — and note the PRO housings are landscape only, so this flexibility stops at the PRO range.

Identical pixel count, identical engineering software, and yet no project moves between them untouched: the TIA device type, the touch behaviour and the physical envelope all differ. Treat the shared resolution as a layout convenience, never as an interchangeability guarantee.

Same-model swap: match the housing, restore the project

Four things decide whether the machine restarts on the same shift: cutout, depth behind the door, 24 V supply, and the project. Replacing an older -0AX0 keeps the housing but not the platform — that revision ran Windows CE 6.0 and WinCC Comfort V11 SP2, this one needs V14 SP1 with the HSP. An old archive has to be opened, recompiled and downloaded, so put an engineering seat next to the electrician. With a golden project on an SD card, no laptop is needed at the machine.

Moving to the MTP1900: the old cutout is bigger than the new panel

This detail ruins upgrade budgets. The successor does not drop into the hole this panel leaves: Siemens specifies a smaller cutout for the MTP1900, so the existing opening is oversized on all four sides, and a straight swap leaves a visible gap and a front that no longer seals. The remedy is the 19-inch adapter frame, 6AV6881-6UD41-0AA0, which fills the old opening down to the new footprint — an accessory, not in the box with either panel.

What else changes when you cross that line

The display gains resolution, the touch becomes capacitive and multi-point, the USB ports move to a newer standard, and the panel sits slightly shallower. The real work is engineering: the MTP1900 runs WinCC Unified Comfort, a different system with a different device type. Screens do not port one to one, and the migration is a project with a schedule.

Cutout and depth figures for the successor come from the Siemens Unified Comfort installation documentation; the adapter-frame assignment is stated in the associated ATEX type examination certificate. Confirm both before ordering — an oversized opening cannot be closed by a mounting clip.

The panel couples to SIMATIC S7-1200, S7-1500 and S7-300/400 over PROFINET, MPI or PROFIBUS DP, with Modbus TCP/IP and EtherNet/IP covering third-party controllers. The RS-422/485 port is the way into older MPI networks, one reason this type survives in retrofits where the controller was never migrated. The 15-inch TP1500 Comfort is the same platform in a smaller door footprint, and the 22-inch TP2200 Comfort is the next size up.

How to order

• Email sales@can-electric.com with the order number, quantity, delivery country, and whether you are replacing a unit or stocking spares.
• State the condition you need — new, new-surplus or refurbished is written on the quote, not implied. For a running machine, send the hardware revision from the old nameplate.
• The type is in phase-out, so availability comes from channel stock and is confirmed per order; prices are USD and ship from Hong Kong by DHL.