electrical maintenance/ plc's etc.

[dlt27]

Hi all. I am desperate to more from my role as installation electrician to electrical maintenance. I have gained experience in all areas and sectors. Ie Inspection and testing, fault finding, motors etc. However I appreciate this doesn't really help with today's maintenance jobs with plc's etc .
I was wondering if at 37 it is too late to retrain/ change sectors. If not does anybody know of any realistic courses that would help to get into maintenance or would I need to back and do an engineering degree? I live in the Worcester area (west midlands).
Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[T&Earth]

Hi

I was about 45 before re-training, its never too late. Sorry I'am not sure which would best the best route.
Good Luck

T&E

 

[somersetsparks]

Hi mate, I've recently just transferred myself and love it, if your a practical chap, you'll be fine, mist of my work is mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic as well as electrical though, even have to unblock bogs occasionally as well as changing lamps fitting doors etc.

 

[Tidy Max]

I would love to do a course on PLCs. I have subbed to a Sheffield company and i dismantled a large robotic arm with 4 conveyers and reassembled it another factory.

I panicked on the first day, loved every minute of the 2 week dismantle and loved rebuilding it even more. Once i had done it i even got to go fault finding on the PLCs.

I would have no idea where to start if i was on my own! I look after a couple of scrapyards and i have already instructed them that i don't know where to start with the Crane PLC. I will be coming onto this forum and finding a local respectable member (if there is one) to come and help me!

 

[jon4381]

Have you tried to applying for a job in a factory, give it a go. They might take you on, I applied for jobs with my standard electrical certs, but this did include the 2391 and a engineering production qualification. I got one of the job with very little experience in Plc. They will not expect you to know everything about Plc.

 

[somersetsparks]

PLC'S are quite simple really as far as on site maintenance goes, usually I just confirm that it is a plc issue and we get a local chap in go reprogram, normally it's a faulty relay output and he just modifies the program to use a spare output then change the wiring over, to be honest, most issues are usually down to faulty limit switches etc, PLC'S are pretty reliable

 

[dlt27]

Thanks for info.

 

[Knobhead]

Depends where you are, our lads would do most of any minor program changes needed. Myself I spent most of my working day reprogramming as part of being in R&D.

The best thing is apply to local firms. They won’t expect you to do any in depth work on PLC’s but they will expect you to learn. How you go about that is down to you and the company.