A Node-RED Logix tag read takes one install script, one palette install and two dialogs on a Raspberry Pi 4: Zone7_Speed from a 5069-L306ER appears in the debug sidebar as 30.0, and none of it involves typing a line of code. The node that does it is node-red-contrib-cip-ethernet-ip 1.1.3, installed from the palette manager, configured … Read more
A snap7 S7-1200 read – plc.db_read(12, 0, 12) against a CPU 1214C – returns twelve bytes on the bench and an exception on the machine, and the difference is two checkboxes in TIA Portal, neither of them on the Pi. python-snap7 3.1.2 talks the S7 protocol to TCP port 102 in pure Python, so there … Read more
Read process gain, dead time and time constant off one bump test, then enter them in the units PIDE actually wants instead of the ones the PID wants.
A project built for a CPU 1214C DC/DC/DC, no CPU in the building until Thursday, and an S7-1200 PLCSIM instance one toolbar button away. Press it, pick PLCSIM in the PG/PC interface dropdown instead of the wired NIC, and the download that would have gone to 192.168.0.1 over the bench cable goes to a powered-up … Read more
Wireless PLC communication done properly: choosing Wi-Fi, 900 MHz radios or cellular, RPI and timeout budgets, antennas, roaming, and link loss logic.
Map FANUC, ABB and KUKA signals into a PLC, build a pick cycle handshake that cannot drop, select the program by number, and set a sane RPI.
How a PLC state model feeds OEE, downtime reason codes and SPC triggers on a rotary filler: the ST block, the tag structure and the classic mistakes.
Build a Logix Emulate chassis, run PLCSIM Advanced, test the HMI offline, and learn which parts of a machine you can trust a simulation to prove.
Where fuzzy control beats PID, how to hand-code memberships, a 3×3 rule table and weighted-average defuzzification in Logix ST, with a dryer example.
Read real scan times with GSV on a ControlLogix and the cycle time view on an S7-1500, then find what is eating them before the watchdog does.
Set up an EtherCAT bus in TwinCAT 3: ESI files, scanning the line, picking a cycle time, distributed clocks and the CRC counters that find a bad cable.