Advice on choosing a PLC for a project

[NevergoldMel 38]

And your ethernet switch is too close to the PLC for proper heat dissipation. 

[mikeexplorer 12]

19 hours ago, pcmccartney1 said:

PLC is PROG Mode, change it to RUN Mode and try again.

At the time I took the screenshot. it was to show how it is displaying the analog I/O. For testing, I do go to run mode and go online to be able to toggle the outputs on and off to check my wiring and I have started to test the inputs. Once I have verified my wiring, I will clean it up and zip tie it. I have those sticky pads under the wires to mount them.

Next I will create a blank project file and fill in the symbol and descriptions of the I/O (IE: I:0/0 is Emegency Stop, I:0/1 is Automatic mode)

Mike

[mikeexplorer 12]

19 hours ago, Michael Lloyd said:

That's correct. Also, you're looking at the Analogs in Binary. Change it to Decimal to see the individual IO points

Analog is new to me so I didn't realize that, so when I change to decimal view it will show me how it would be addressed. Thanks you.

 

[mikeexplorer 12]

18 hours ago, NevergoldMel said:

And your ethernet switch is too close to the PLC for proper heat dissipation. 

I missed that, thanks for pointing that out, I can stick a end bracket between the switch and the PLC to open a gap between them, I do have some room left on that DIN rail, I just have to slide everything over to the right a bit.

Mike

 

[mikeexplorer 12]

On 1/14/2020 at 9:23 AM, PLCMentor.com said:

That is a quite impressive bit of hobby work!   No that's just an impressive bit of work.  Well done!  You'll have to post some of your screen shots to let us know how you are incorporating your HMI.

I have the Cmore HMI communicating with the Micrologix 1400 with Ethernet now. So that was a good learning tool to setup the computer, PLC, and HMI to use Ethernet instead of serial communications. The screen shown is from the "First generation" (The Micrologix 1000) so the tag database is based on the old inputs and outputs. I togged those outputs to verify that the HMI does see the tags, as shown here, I toggled the switch positions so you can see the green and red arrow, and I toggled the old track power outputs which show on the HMI as white squares. This was enough to prove communications are working properly between the PLC and the HMI.

The screens will have to be completely re-written for the new PLC of course, but I am pleased with my progress, as it was a good learning tool to set up ethernet.

I do like that I can have both RSlogix and Cmore software open at the same time and no more swapping serial cables.

Perhaps in the future it could be possible to put it on my home network if there is a reason to do so. I did set it up with IP addresses of 192.168.2.XX where my home network uses the typical 192.168.1.XX addresses so there would not be an IP conflict.

Mike

 

[Michael Lloyd 85]

I have a Rigol Programmable DC load (for testing batteries, solar panels, and miscellaneous ham related stuff... ok so it's a toy I wanted) and it has an ethernet port that lets me set it up, run tests, see results, with free software that I load on my computer. My workbench is not close to my computer or an ethernet connection so I added a

NETGEAR - Nighthawk Mesh X6S Tri-Band WiFi Mesh Extender, Seamless Roaming, One WiFi Name, Works with any WiFi Router (EX8000)

to my workbench. It lives on the WiFi network but gives me numerous ethernet ports. It's pretty easy to setup up and very handy. I turned the WiFi power way down on my router and the extender. Hopefully it's low enough that the neighbors can't see it Iike I see theirs) but I also use router security to control access.

[mikeexplorer 12]

I have a Linksys router on my home network with WPA2 password protection. The wifi can also be protected by MAC addresses (not allow wifi access if the MAC address is not specified as OK) I have a NAS on the network which is why I have it locked down, critical data on my computers is automatically backed up to the NAS drive. All computers and such are hard wired ethernet.

[mikeexplorer 12]

To revive an old topic. Here is an update on my project. I don't work on it full time so its a side project so I work on it when I can. A video tour of the project

CW80 Screen Written since the video was made

 

 

 

Updates are posted on my website here:

 

https://www.nepaview.com/model-train-plc-project.html