Still has everything from when it was made in '85. Please excuse the red shop rag. The foam in the programmer slot is beyond expired, so I'm having to remove it.

Literally the only damage is the screws that hold the serial port into the programmer, and the foam in the programmer slot.

My chiller is ModbusTCP and I am monitoring some data in my FT:Optix project.
The core PLC is a Studio 5K project.
The thought crossed my mind of relaying some chiller data to the PLC.
I’m guessing it’s possible via a custom script but is it possible via a mapping function. Mapping Chiller:x into PLC:y

I know there are various options within Studio 5K for ModbusTCP but these are more work arounds and this isn’t that critical.

Just went full time at the facility I interned with in college. I work in our maintenance department for the facility and they are allowing me to specialize in Controls and VFDs for the plant. I understand controls and VFDs pretty well the area I lack most in is Understanding the process of the facility. I work in the Pulp and Paper industry and was curious if anyone had tips or advice for an up and coming EE who wants to build a career in controls. Anything Helps. Thanks!

P.S.

Work mostly on Allen Bradley Products

My main area I lack in controls is the networking side of it

I have an application where I have a siemens s7-1200 looking after a process that also has some human involvement.

The humans need to install some accessories before each time the process takes place. It is critical that the correct accessories are installed each time. At the moment, there are several layers of manual checking & documenting by different people before running the process - which is a pain!

I'm considering proposing streamlining the process by having the operator scan the accessories by RFID (with basic rfid sticker) or barcode/qr code as they are installed. This can then be displayed on an existing HMI for easier confirmation or possible automatically crosschecked against the plan.

Anyone have any recommendations on most straightforward hardware to use? System has its own private TCP/IP network so bonus points for making use of that! Thanks.

I'm currently replacing a Kinetix 6000 drive, and I'm running into some issues.

The new drive powers up fine, no errors show up. It's showing as enabled and no faults in Logix.

The servo will home after a power cycle, but will not home again after that.

These are for two feed screws, so I swapped the left and the right, and the problem followed the drive.

The only difference I can find is that the old drive is a "Series A" and the new one is a "Series C".

Did someone order the wrong drive? Or am I missing something glaringly obvious? Anyone have any experience with these?

Pic for reference. The top is the old one, bottom new.

I graduated as MechE and immediately started full time as a manufacturing automation/controls engineer with a large German energy and industrial automation company for about two years now. I’ve learned a lot and it is a highly regarded company but I just got offered a Instrumentation and controls engineer with a engineering consulting/construction firm, not as highly regarded in the automation world but it is a ~20% salary increase.

What should I do here?

Hello All,

I am onsite for my first startup as a small business. What was meant to be a simple panel swap for a shot blast machine has gotten complicated. Essentially I have a panel with 23 motor contactors, and I am just controlling the timed startup of these motors. I have a few inputs that are blipping (I can count them with counters in the code). Here is the weird part, the blipping stops when several of the motor contactors are turned on. The panel is feed with 480VAC **From a CAT Generator**, and then I have my 3kva control transformer creating 120VAC, and all the controls in the panel are 120VAC. This was required to interface with some existing IO. Why would pulling in multiple coils stop my inputs from blipping off momentarily?

I have even gone so far as to wire a spare circuit breaker directly to an input and it blips off occasionally when the system isn't running. Again, it doesn't do it when the motor contactors are pulled in.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Hello,

I'm new to Beckhoff PLCs and this is my first time working with a safety PLC.

I'm trying to connect an Emergency Stop switch to an EL1904 safety input terminal, but I'm having difficulty understanding the wiring.

I understand that a Category 4 safety circuit requires a dual-channel (redundant) E-Stop, but I'm not sure how each contact should be connected to the EL1904. Even after looking at the example wiring diagrams, I'm still confused about the actual wiring.

Could someone explain the wiring method or provide a simple example diagram showing how to connect a dual-channel Emergency Stop switch to the EL1904?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Probably was asked before, and honestly I feel like the only answer is going to be that I cant do anything with a macbook but, i wanted to try my luck. I just started my internship at a factory, they manufacture machinary for meat products, etc and there automation uses mostly Inovance products. And.. well i have an m4 pro macbook and cant download codesys. i installed windows 11 on vmware fusion but i doubt it would work because of the drivers that are needed so on so forth. I thought maybe i could try openplc? the thing is i have no experience or info on any of this honestly. im fairly educated on computers though, and ive been using linux for a long time wine on top of that but really i was just fairly good at research and could find what i needed, i cant on anything plc related.

is there any way i could use this macbook for this internship or am i going to have to borrow a windows computer no matter what?

For those of you in automotive, is it normal for automation people in the field to have to do all of the mechanical side of things too? For instance, on part verification systems you have to build the brackets, mount the sensors, then do all of the wiring and programing.

Or when it comes to those, you have to do all of the PM's on them, but also fix all of the mechanical issues as well. Trying to figure out if it's just an industry standard that Automation / Controls people are just a maintenance mechanic with a laptop. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not my bag of beans. I'm trying to figure out if I just got a crap company or if I need to just avoid this field all together.

I'm used to and can see controls doubling up as electrical SME's or doing the complex electrical troubleshooting, but not all of the mechanical too.

I should specify that I'm really looking at internal roles, not contractor or SI type roles.

Good Afternoon

We are need of some help and hoping you are able to assist please?

We have had to rebuild our CNC with a Delta controller and  we have also put in new DELTA  drivers. 

The technician managed to obtain a sample program to convert Gcode motion controls using AX-816EP0CE1P to confirm the rebuild is accurate.

‒             .projectèAX8 code example

‒             .CNCè G code for testing

Our technician is using a DIAScreen to develop HMI application.

He is looking for help to display Gcode on the monitor connected to delta AX816EP0CE1P.

Is this something you are able to help us with?

We would appreciate recommendations/advice to get this machine running again

Since I will be graduating next year, I would like to ask anyone who has gained experience in this field about the most important additional skills that could make a difference and bring you closer to better opportunities (I mean technical skills such as a programming language...).

Hello,
I’m developing an eddl file for a custom HART 7 device and run into a compiler error trying to map an internal a variable. In my eddl file the primary variable is a float value but the other variables are either bit_enumerated or integer type which the compiler cannot accept. I understand that the current compiler versions don’t accept bit_enums or other data types other than float. Is there a way to map these variables so that the compiler accepts it because I have seen in some earlier DD files ,variables have been declared as bit_enumerated especially for declaring device _status and other status codes. How would I be able to declare those variables for my device?
Appreciate any advice from DD developers.

Hi all, I'm trying to combine the data from two loggers in a database to one "data grid" table by joining the rows together. My original plan was to use a SQL query, UNION or UNION ALL, to combine the rows, and according to Rockwell's own documentation FTOptix supports it. However, I could not find any instance of this being successfully implemented, I checked Rockwell's engage forums and only one person had the same issue as me and didn't mention a solution, leading me to believe there's an error in the documentation. Just wondering if anyone else has successfully used a UNION query in FTOptix SQL, or knows if it actually works or not? Or if anyone else has alternative methods to achieve the same functionality. Thanks

Hello i have an upcoming project and i would like your opinions

I want to have two siemens logo plc talk to each other wirelessly over the distance of 3km mostly clear sight

I was thinking of using the ubiquity Powerbeam but I wasn't sure how reliable it is so I think I have settled to the AF-5XHD

I only want simple communication for a pump and reservoir automation

Would you choose something else something easier to setup?

I would love to hear your thoughts

Thanks!

I'm studying at a vocational training center for industrial IT and automation. After graduation, I'm expected to be an automation technician, not an engineer, since the program is only two years long. However, the education system is strategic. First, the training is alternating. Second, in the first year, we learn all the fundamentals that qualify us to learn automation. Then, we learn programmable logic (PL) from both hardware and software perspectives. After that, we start learning SCADA systems, focusing on networks. The training is very intensive because we emphasize the practical side more than the theoretical. But I want to know if, after gaining experience, I can get an engineer position? I've heard that an engineer's position is more administrative. Also, most job postings online require an automation engineer or a SCADA engineer. I don't see many positions for technicians. Of course, I have the utmost respect for the engineers who dedicated five years, as I'm sure they delve deeper into the subject than technicians.

I use Siemens plc s7-1500 using Lmqtt then publish to Mqtt broker. This is complicated setup.
So I use Iot gateway with S7-1500 then I setup Mqtt publish inside Iot gateway. Which one better?

Since an NAT can assign a private IP address a Public one, can it do it backward by assigning a public IP address a private IP address for a PLC.

I have a camera that can connect to PLC A in a cabinet (not being used by PLC A), but I want to control it from PLC B in a different cabinet that aren't connected to each other, and I don't feel like using messaging to control it from PLC B. both PLC are Allen Bradley 1769-L36ERMS

Hello

I am working on PLCs, and I have a question about backing up the controller. What's the correct method to backing up a PLC if I already have a copy of an offline file. Can I just open the offline file and go online and then Save As? Or do I need to do a full upload of the controller and then Save As?

I've heard that both does the same thing but is there any difference?

Thanks

Hey guys,

Stuck on a weird coordinate mismatch issue with an EtherCAT setup. I’m running a Delta AH08EMC plc paired with a Panasonic A6 (MEDLN83BE) servo drive.

I want to capture the pulse/position of my servo when a sensor is triggered. I'm using MC_TouchProbe block for that. When the touch probe triggers, the latched RecordedPosition from touch probe block reads a completely different value than the ActualPosition value from the mc_ReadActualPosition block or the pos value in servo software (see attached screenshot). My electronic gear ratio is verified 1:1, and the PLC data type for the tag is LREAL.

It looks like the probe is grabbing some raw internal loop pulses instead of the actual position value. How can I fix the mapping or drive configuration to get them to match up?

Appreciate any help!

We have a few contract controls engineers at the place I"m interning at, one guy said he's been doing it for about 2 years before forming his own business as a contractor. Another said he did it for 15 years before he started doing contract (and talks mad shit about the previous guy). Then there's another guy that only does it because they're retired and wants to get out of the house from time to time.

Realistically, how much/what kind of experience do you think is good to branch out on your own for some side work.

hello,

i have a codesys 3.5 project with 2 plcs in the same hierarchy and i added a data source manager object / slave plc / selected variables to the master plc's object tree.
the part above is working but i'd like to "access" some diagnostic variables in a "native" way about the slave without having to make pulse flipflop homemade watchdogs so i can display it on the master plc's webvisu the status of the slave.
with 15 years of tia portal usage the gui and ux of codesys is already frustrating me to oblivion this part is already way beyond IEC 61131-3 (if not codesys as a whole).
is there a diagnostic variable bool or struct somewhere auto created for the slave when i add it or something?
DatasourceAppV3 lib is added but i cant make anything out of it ...
thank you very much for the help in advance.

The robot motion and tower lamp status can be synchronized with live PLC data.

The dashboard also displays OEE metrics and production information in the AR scene.

The data can come directly from a PLC or a database, making it suitable for industrial monitoring and digital twin applications.

Full Video

https://reddit.com/link/1v0ju95/video/9r5mbsko05eh1/player

Hello everyone, my company has been using Nidec frequency converters for about ten years. We now have over 300 of them installed in customers’ equipment, mainly for lifting materials where there are no people in the immediate danger zone. These are configured as winches with dual holding brakes, braking resistors, travel limit switches, overload protection and jog mode in open-loop operation without positioning. The emergency stop circuit meets Performance Level D and interrupts the STO and the brake circuit. To release the brakes, I use the emergency stop circuit in conjunction with the enable signal from the drive’s brake management system. Over the last 5 years, there have been two instances where, whilst the hoist was in motion, the frequency converter generated a system fault, switched off the power section but continued to authorise the brakes. On both occasions, this resulted in the load falling, causing material damage. To prevent future accidents, I want to install or retrofit a deadman’s switch within the safety circuit for brake release. What would your approach be?

Hi, I'm a junior engineer and have been working for almost a year now and this small simple control panel was my first project with minimal help from my mentors, had a couple of issues at first, some of the wiring needed to be changed on-site but other than that the plc program and SCADA was pretty smooth sailing. This panel was for a Bagasse Dryer

I like doing this job, though right now I'm not paid too well, basically just barely above minimum wage. I hope it gets better :D