Automation Direct Field Trip!
Last week I had the privilege of visiting Automation Direct near Atlanta. I was hosted by Chad Crowe, who does online marketing and social media for the company. He contacted me a month or so ago after my post on …
Category: PLCs
Idec PLCs
Today’s post continues the series on PLC platforms started last year. This is another guest post from Steve Myres, who also wrote an article on Indirect Addressing. Articles in this series include Allen-Bradley, Siemens, Koyo and Panasonic platforms. I wrote …
PLC Articles – Software and Hardware
Since I started this blog in early 2011 I have written a lot of articles on PLCs. The PLC is a major part of many industrial facilities and machines, and indeed has been an important part of my career. Now …
Ladder Logic 105 Scanning Solution
Last week I posted a fairly straightforward question at the end of my post on PLC Scanning. I then shared the post on Linked In as well as on my company’s Facebook page. One reason I share these posts on …
Ladder Logic 309: Allen-Bradley DDE/OPC Link to Excel
It’s been a while since I’ve added to the Ladder Logic series, so this post serves several purposes. It serves as the 7th video in the ControlLogix Odyssey series, it will be posted on YouTube as an ad, and it …
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The Case for Ladder Logic
Lately I have seen a lot of posts promoting Structured Text on forums and Linked In. Structured Text is one of the 5 (or 6) standard PLC languages described in IEC 61131-3. While I have used ST in the past …
Ladder Logic 404: VFD Encoder Control/Siemens
Today’s post doubles as a Ladder Logic series post and an introduction to the last videos in the Siemens Step 7 Odyssey series on my YouTube channel. Last week I covered a bit about how a Variable Frequency Drive interfaces …
Videos and Online Training
As I’ve mentioned in my last few posts, I’ve been creating a lot of videos lately, and have been working on various online courses. The picture above is a Camtasia (the software I use for video editing) screen shot of …
Ladder Logic 309: Allen-Bradley Produced-Consumed Tags (Video)
Today’s post is a continuation on Jason Lafever’s questions on PLC to PLC communications. PLCs often have a need to send messages to each other, and all have some method of directly sending a message to read or write tags …
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Ladder Logic 308: Allen-Bradley’s MSG (Message) Instruction – Video
Today’s video is in response to a post I put on my Facebook automation forum, Automation Training. Jason Lafever asked if I would cover a bit on Allen-Bradley’s MSG (Message) Instruction, and cover Produced-Consumed Tags. I decided to split these …
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Ladder Logic 307: Data Average and Archive
Today’s post is in response to Yusuf Shaikh, who asked a question in a Facebook forum on PLCs. He asked “How to calculate average of drive current tag for every 15 seconds in Micrologix 1400 PLC?“ Of course there are …
Fischertechnik and PLC Trainers
Just an update on my PLC Trainer project. These are two of the Allen-Bradley Micrologix 1400 Trainers along with the Fischertechnik models I mentioned in my last post. The program and documentation for the Color Sorter, shown at left, is completed. …
Ladder Logic 306a: Simulation
Today’s post relates to a new method I am using to teach some of my advanced classes. In a basic PLC training class, pushbuttons and pilot lights built into a trainer are used to complete exercises, usually in order to …
PLC Security
This post is another guest post from MRO Electric. I thought it was an interesting topic. ************************************************************************ PLC Security In The Heating Industry: Keep Your Friends Close, and Your Enemies Closer No one understood or more succinctly described strategies and …