Plc Programming

[Dm7192]

Hi

I am looking to do a short course to Learn how to programme plcs. I have done a Hnc with a module on plcs therefore have a basic grasp although as my industry requires me to engage with controls and instrumentation, brushing up on my Plc skills would be useful without paying money to cover old ground. I stay in The glasgow area and can't seem to find anything useful. if any one has any suggestion that would be great thanks.

 

[gnuuser]

there are various plc/ slc simulator programs on the web.
heres one link
https://www.automation.siemens.com/...-module-logo/demo-software/Pages/Default.aspx

and another
PLC Simulator - Free from TheLearningPit.com

and another
Free PLC Training

hope these help!

 

[Fast&Rough]

Itech in Troon is your best bet mate , they have trained me for years

 

[Darkwood]

Without knowing like yourself the content of the course its hard for us to say its worth while you need to ask this to the college not us...

 

[mhar]

Are you talking about writing the code or just doing the actual programming?
If I had been in the manufacture and programming of D2Mac 'alternative' viewing cards I would have gone to Dataman in Dorset who I would have found to be exceptionally helpful plus I would also have contacted Arizona Microchip in the uk who would also have been extremely helpful!!!

 

[Knobhead]

The manufacturers courses I’ve been on were a waste of time. Too much emphasis on configuration and topography. I needed programming and fault finding. I ended up having to run courses for our electricians for PL7. We had a guy from Telemecanique to run a course, he was told “programming” he went in to auto pilot and rambled on for two days about configuring the TSX Premium.

Given the choice I like Modicon’s Modsoft. It’s an old system but versatile. I had to learn it by flying by the seat of my pants.

The only problem I really had with it was the data transfer rate. I was stuck with 200 series I/O with a 900 series processors. Not the best but I found ways around it. The high speed counters are weird.
I had six main processors with seventeen out stations, a mixture of Modicon 987’s and Telemecanique Premium. Anyone ever tries to link them via ModBus, watch out, the bit patterns are reversed. The 987’s can also use PeerCop to confuse things even more.

To be honest, I found that hands on is the real way to learn. I went in to R&D. it was a licence to cause mayhem and not get blamed for it.

 

[SteveG]

In my opinion (and many others) there is only one way to become a proficient PLC programmer. And that is to buy a PLC, buy the software get the programming manual and make a test rig with switches proxy's and relays etc. Then spend months/years studying, practicing and learning all the instructions.
A beginners course might well be wasted money you could have spent on your rig because the chances are you will be lost in techno-babble on the course.

I am a Mitsubishi certified engineer but I didn't go on any courses until I was very competent and confident with programming. Many of my peers on those courses were out of their depth from the first day. Not because they weren't clever enough but because they didn't understand the terminology and quickly fell behind.

You can buy cheap 2nd hand plc's, cables and software from ebay to get you started.

I started like this 20 years ago and it cost me over £3000 to set a rig up. (that was laptop, plc, cables and software etc - when laptops were very expensive) It cost me my yearly family holiday and my wife was not impressed with this.
But you have only to look on the various jobsites to see what salaries plc programmers are attracting - £50K is not unusual.

 

[JulianC]

As above really, getting out there and messing with a plc is the only real way to learn. Back when I was a project engineer in the steel industry, my introduction to plc's went pretty much along the lines of "You know about electronics, here's a laptop, go and make machine X do so and so, and try not to break it" Once the novelty of sending 5 million quid's worth of steel slitting line in reverse at the hit of the enter key wore off I found it pretty straight forward to get to grips with. It's (literally) very logical so helps if your mind is wired that way. Didn't write much in the way of big programmes (just small stuff for basic cut to length lines) but did some pretty major rewrites for the larger machines, especially when different bits were chopped and changed. Worked on the Allen Bradley SLC500s about 20years ago. Dunno how they compare to current stuff.

 

[SteveG]

In reply to JulianC: The AB slc500's still exist but there are a lot newer models now
Plus, the programming language is changing.
Ladder logic is still alive and well (and the best thing for electricians to learn)
But more and more PLC's are now programmed in what would look like a computer language.

This is because (I would assume) that engineers and graduates with little real electrical control work experience find it easier to understand. The use of 'function blocks' and text programming is fast becoming the 'norm' on new machinery with very little ladder logic involved.

However - ladder logic is here to stay and you can make a machine do exactly what you want it to do using either method.

 

[Darkwood]

In reply to JulianC: The AB slc500's still exist but there are a lot newer models now
Plus, the programming language is changing.
Ladder logic is still alive and well (and the best thing for electricians to learn)
But more and more PLC's are now programmed in what would look like a computer language.

This is because (I would assume) that engineers and graduates with little real electrical control work experience find it easier to understand. The use of 'function blocks' and text programming is fast becoming the 'norm' on new machinery with very little ladder logic involved.

However - ladder logic is here to stay and you can make a machine do exactly what you want it to do using either method.

Logic/function block programming is by far faster, easier to understand and learn and has many options which are not available if in ladder, with all due respect Ladder has had its day and is old hat although some still prefer it, hence the options to do either way when choosing a plc to program. Ladder also has the disadvantage of been hard to decipher if you didnt create the program yourself especially if its poorly labelled. Im doing things in logic/function block now that I could never have done easily or at all in ladder..... Its like garlic bread - tis the future!

 

[Robotstar5]

For some reason I struggle understanding some PLC logic, but I can write robot software all day!.

 

[shakerbess]

hi mate
im doing the hnc plc unit was hoping to find out what you covered and if you had done the work base unit

thanks

 

[Knobhead]

Logic/function block programming is by far faster, easier to understand and learn and has many options which are not available if in ladder, with all due respect Ladder has had its day and is old hat although some still prefer it, hence the options to do either way when choosing a plc to program. Ladder also has the disadvantage of been hard to decipher if you didnt create the program yourself especially if its poorly labelled. Im doing things in logic/function block now that I could never have done easily or at all in ladder..... Its like garlic bread - tis the future!

Ladder logic with a good library of DX function blocks has never let me down. I’ll quite happily set it up with double precision maths or any function you can think of.

I don’t like literal, as it’s not easy for the person on shift to follow to fault find on a plant that is costing £1000’s while broken down.

 

[Darkwood]

Ladder logic with a good library of DX function blocks has never let me down. I’ll quite happily set it up with double precision maths or any function you can think of.

I don’t like literal, as it’s not easy for the person on shift to follow to fault find on a plant that is costing £1000’s while broken down.

I think its really each to their own here but as mentioned anyone coming into it now pushes ladder aside, Im using crouzet now as I found the 'zelio soft' was a stripped down version of it and crouzet keep up with driver updates for usb which is the bane of many a brand ... my favourite function block this week is the boolean block with 2 configerable outputs :1:

 

[Knobhead]

I think its really each to their own here but as mentioned anyone coming into it now pushes ladder aside, Im using crouzet now as I found the telemecanique was a stripped down version of it and crouzet keep up with driver updates for usb which is the bane of many a brand ... my favourite function block this week is the boolean block with 2 configerable outputs :1:

I've just looked at the Crouzet range. Which Telemecanique units are a stripped down version of them?

The Modicon 984 could handle 1K I/P 0.5K O/P with 1.5K registers for data. We then went on to Telemecanique TSX.