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BigschottkyD

First time PLC user

Number of projects   22 votes

  1. 1. How many logic projects have you completed?


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11 posts in this topic

I'm just finishing my third PLC program with an A-B plc and was wondering how many projects you guys may have been involved in. Vote ! and welcome me to the forums :)

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I am pretty sure I am well over the 500 mark.

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I think size is factor also. Which has the biggest impact on your exposure, 10, 100 point projects, or one 2500 point project?

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I do smaller jobs. I mostly modify large installations. Being a smaller shop I can't handle spending the time on large installations.

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My projects have varied from little S7-200 (Siemens) or SCADAPack or ML1100 projects up to 4 or 5 CLX processors with multiple remote IO drops (2,000+ connected IO was the largest to date. It took almost two months to knock out the programming for the PLC's and the local HMI's. One of the partners did the WW. We actually did two of these back to back. They were both cryo plants with treating and multiple fired heaters). If I go all the way back to the Siemens TI545/555 days I might go over 500... but I doubt it. Sometimes it's a little LACT skid. Sometimes it's a 1,500 hp recip compressor and driver, sometimes it's a 4,000 HP turbine, these days it's mostly large to medium crude oil pump stations and delivery interconnects. I'll do at least 4 (it's early and that's what's in the que right now) projects that have a 17 slot main rack and two 17 slot remote IO drops, plus the flow computer(s) this year (before July). I have 15 small, 4 card Compact Logix racks being built now. 6 of them will be online by the end of May (one on Monday) and and the rest before the end of July. As of the beginning of this year I've programmed and put 8 mid to small PLC projects online. Mid = 3/4 full CLX 17 slot rack. Edited by Michael Lloyd

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Project is such a vague term. Does project inply concept to completion or simply a modification to an exiasting system? And as already mentioned size plays a factor also. I've done 100's of small system improvement projects and I've also done a few major conecpt to complete missions. { An entire Major Airport Baggage Handling System Cotnrols count as 1 project ?}

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The only thing that you need to be concerned with is the fact that everyone here started sometime. There are no shortcuts around hard work and long hours of try and try again. I started by wearing out two membraine keyboards on a T3 Terminal several years before anyone ever heard of a PC. There was only battery backed RAM and it was a big deal when a tape machine in a suitcase showed up to back things up. When I got my first 286 laptop PC with 8K of Ram and a 20MB harddrive (for $6400), it didn't take too long to discover UPDOC for AB PLCs (a DOS program run by memorizing Function Keys). So if you think it is a challenge to learn this now, trust me, you have it easy! The best way to learn is to get a system to play with and go to town. Hack for a while and then study the manuals and then hack some more. Classes are great if they are available and affordable but you can learn on your own if you are persistent. If this was easy, everyone would be doing it. Expect everything to go wrong before it goes right. Nothing is ever as easy as it should be. Keep good notes and document everything. All you need besides your application reports are some Excel spreadsheets and Visio or something similar for IO Documentation. You can spend more when the jobs are paying more. Remember that any automation system will run long enough on it's own for you to forget everything that you knew about it. So unless you want to start over when it needs attention, write the documentation from the standpoint of someone who knows nothing about the system because it will be you. Save yourself a lot of grief and record the Model Numbers, MAC addresses, Firmware Revisions and the IP network layout of everything in the system (pictures of the labels work well) plus and all the passwords and security stuff. In the PCs, make sure you have backed up all the apps several times including offsite. A simple way to make a super documentation system for yourself is to layout the system components in a spreadsheet and then hyperlink to the pictures and Visio drawings and notepad or Word docs. Any applicaiton reports that are text files can easily be included like taglists or memory usage, etc. Put all the files on a Thumb Drive dedicated to that purpose. You will be amazed at how well this works. When you have math in a system, lay it out first in a spreadsheet and when it is working correctly, put it into the program in the exact same format. Then later, to audit the system, you can plug the actual input values from the system into the spreadsheet to immediately see what outputs should be coming out. This saves a lot of time later on when you come back (Hint: look up scroll bar in Excel - it is faster than typing). If you leave documentation and access to a system behind, assume that someone will mess with the system. I once found golf games installed on a 286 that was imbedded in a control panel. Expect PCs to fail regularily. Anytime after a year, it can start and it would be rare for normal ones in full time service to last much past 4 or 5 years. It is well to pay attention to error logs and to clean out clutter and defrag hard drives. Get inexpensive (and huge) external harddrives and back up data and application files on a regular basis, if you will every need to replace data. I manage some environmental monitoring systems and the penalty for missing data is $1000 an hour. After you get burned by a PC, you'll recognize the value of a system design that can run, at least for a while, without them. Everytime you come here and ask a question, it is game time. The game is to figure out the answer before someone gives it to you. If you are as persistent as you need to be, it won't take long before you have a few wins in your column! Relish any success, for it will be shortlived as another hurdle is just around the corner. Best Regards, Bob A. Edited by Bob A.

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I've done... SLC 5/04 system for a waste water pit. SLC 5/04 replacement of a ML1000 for an auger/conveyor system SLC 5/04 for water pumps (2) ML1100 for a cryogenic freeze tunnel Three replacements of Symax PLCs with CompactLogix for various building environmental systems. Right now I'm working on a water chill system, replacing proprietary obsolete microprocessors with ML1100s and a PV+ 700. Also, I'm re-creating our RSView32 Program on FactoryTalk View SE Network.

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Awesome advice. I just want to add that simply being on the Allen-Bradley platform is to be spoiled in of itself. I have to give Rockwell a lot of credit for making their programming environment the easiest to use in the market. I've tried other platforms and they're not nearly as easy. I tried navigating a Siemens S7 program once, it still gives me nightmares.

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Don't give up on a manufacturer based on one set of software. And with S7, depending on the programmer, if they do not know how to properly use and organize their networks things can be a bit dicey. I was "raised' on AB stuff and I found the Siemens TIA portal stuff is great to work with. Everything on one software package that lets you drag and drop all your communications and tag crosses between HMI and PLC and other devices, doesn't get much simpler than that. My biggest point to someone new would be this... What I have found myself, and observed in others, is that the more different platforms a person works with, the more versatile a programmer you will be because the amount tools you will have in your bag of tricks increases with the study of each programming system. Get involved. There are free softwares out there that let you dabble in small projects. Some languages let you do things others do not. Some software packages have features others do not. Just look at AB timers and the bits that are availabel and compare to a Eaton ELC timer or others that do not have that flexibility for example.

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Thanks for the advice Sparky. I read it awhile ago, can't believe I didn't comment since you clearly took some time to write that out. I have been doing a lot of Scada programming lately and can tell you that your advice of posting, then hunting has helped me a lot. Hope you are doing well.

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