Nice review. :) AutomationDirect's Click PLC is $85, and the software is free. The Click talks Modbus RTU (over serial) or plain old ASCII (NOT ASCII Modbus as I found out :) ) and that makes it very useful as a I/O to Modbus gateway. Otherwise it isn't all that remarkable (other than the price). I will say that AD has great phone support, but Phoenix does too. Phoenix makes some nice stuff, and how it integrates into their existing product is impressive. I see that the software is also free. So what to watch out for when looking for bargain PLCs? 1) Do you have to stop the PLC to do a program change? That's okay, as long as your customer is fine with it, but it's hardly optimal. 2) What's the price of the software? It does you no good whatsoever to save a wad on the hardware just to blow it on the software. 3) How long has the company been in business. And while that sounds like a scare tactic, there have been more than a few "Fly by night" PLCs on the market. 4) Support. Calling up and getting an engineer is the gold standard while email support would be about at the bottom. With getting your documentation off of the "Wayback Machine" being worse. But just barely. 5) Footprint. Gone are the days of an AB PLC-3 taking up a metric buttload of space (and being about as slow as a fat boy on a bicycle), but keep that in mind. 6) Does it have all of the features that you need? What is the plan going to be once you've bought the device and find that for something critical, that "You can't get there from here". That would suck. Bigley. So do your homework first. 7) Check the specs. A common limitation of the budget PLCs (as well as some pretty pricey ones) is the old .500 ma per output up to a max of 2 amps per block trick. 8) Connectivity. Wiring up a 32 point input swing arm sucks. But is there a cable for this? That would be nice... 9) UL (or whatever applies for you) approval. And keep in mind that a lot of stuff that you can get from China will never be approved by any agency. 10) Your IP rating (or NEMA if you are stuck in the stone age). The Turck blocks are rated for IP69K. That's badass, no two ways about it. So my new bargain PLC is the Turck TBEN PLCs. Not dirt cheap like the Click or the Phoenix, but it has some amazing specs. It's being used as the replacement for a Rockwell PLC for a project that is headed to Antarctica. IP69K rated. I didn't even know that was a thing. And where this thing is headed the altitude can be >3 Klicks up (~9800 feet). On the plus side, humidity (from the outdoors) shouldn't be a problem... Robust I/O with outputs that put out a ton of power (and have their own diagnostics IIRC). Small compared to the Rockwell. Free software. One of the big complaints of the old system was paying the "Rockwell Tax". Check out their analog input block. One of them can be configured for 0-10v, 4-20ma, Thermocouple, or RTD. Damn... You can get the PLC with a webserver built in. We went with this, but I'll be honest, AdvancedHMI is still my favorite HMI software.
@@EliteAutomation Thanks! I've been at it for awhile. :) I finally retired (hopefully for the last time) yesterday. 47 years is enough. How did I celebrate? I slept. That said I've got some loose ends to tie off, that Antarctica project being one of them. I also picked up a robot cell along the way. But I'll be collecting my social security money and that will limit my earnings for the next year and a half (unless I want to pay my SS back, so nope).
@@EliteAutomation Thanks! But that's 47 years of paying into SSI. I'm 65, and that's old enough for me. :) As for what's next, I found a 72 Triumph TR6 for a song, and it's going to get a bunch of work done to it. I also have a 69 Corvair that will have to wait its turn to get freshened up. But it's in pretty good shape so it can wait. I also have the afore mentioned controls projects lined up.
Is it possible to make a adjustable timer, that can be controlled with a potentiometer? I’ve played with the software and can’t figure it out. Thanks for the great continent!
Thank you very much!! I have not done it yet. But i bet you will have to use a variable. Write the analog input into a variable and then use the variable to set your timer. There is a slight possibility you can’t do it though.
Price list: 2907443 (The stand alone module) - $99 2907446 (The expandable module) - $115 2905137 (Expansion module) - $61.95 All of the relays are just our standard slim line relays (SPDT 24VDC) - $15.15 Controller - PLC-V8C/SC-24DC/SAM2 - 2907445: www.phoenixcontact.com/online/portal/us?uri=pxc-oc-itemdetail%3Apid%3D2907445&library=usen&tab=1
Thank you for this great Video!
No problem. Hopefully it was useful
Nice review. :)
AutomationDirect's Click PLC is $85, and the software is free. The Click talks Modbus RTU (over serial) or plain old ASCII (NOT ASCII Modbus as I found out :) ) and that makes it very useful as a I/O to Modbus gateway. Otherwise it isn't all that remarkable (other than the price). I will say that AD has great phone support, but Phoenix does too.
Phoenix makes some nice stuff, and how it integrates into their existing product is impressive. I see that the software is also free.
So what to watch out for when looking for bargain PLCs?
1) Do you have to stop the PLC to do a program change? That's okay, as long as your customer is fine with it, but it's hardly optimal.
2) What's the price of the software? It does you no good whatsoever to save a wad on the hardware just to blow it on the software.
3) How long has the company been in business. And while that sounds like a scare tactic, there have been more than a few "Fly by night" PLCs on the market.
4) Support. Calling up and getting an engineer is the gold standard while email support would be about at the bottom. With getting your documentation off of the "Wayback Machine" being worse. But just barely.
5) Footprint. Gone are the days of an AB PLC-3 taking up a metric buttload of space (and being about as slow as a fat boy on a bicycle), but keep that in mind.
6) Does it have all of the features that you need? What is the plan going to be once you've bought the device and find that for something critical, that "You can't get there from here". That would suck. Bigley. So do your homework first.
7) Check the specs. A common limitation of the budget PLCs (as well as some pretty pricey ones) is the old .500 ma per output up to a max of 2 amps per block trick.
8) Connectivity. Wiring up a 32 point input swing arm sucks. But is there a cable for this? That would be nice...
9) UL (or whatever applies for you) approval. And keep in mind that a lot of stuff that you can get from China will never be approved by any agency.
10) Your IP rating (or NEMA if you are stuck in the stone age). The Turck blocks are rated for IP69K. That's badass, no two ways about it.
So my new bargain PLC is the Turck TBEN PLCs. Not dirt cheap like the Click or the Phoenix, but it has some amazing specs. It's being used as the replacement for a Rockwell PLC for a project that is headed to Antarctica.
IP69K rated. I didn't even know that was a thing. And where this thing is headed the altitude can be >3 Klicks up (~9800 feet). On the plus side, humidity (from the outdoors) shouldn't be a problem...
Robust I/O with outputs that put out a ton of power (and have their own diagnostics IIRC).
Small compared to the Rockwell.
Free software. One of the big complaints of the old system was paying the "Rockwell Tax".
Check out their analog input block. One of them can be configured for 0-10v, 4-20ma, Thermocouple, or RTD. Damn...
You can get the PLC with a webserver built in. We went with this, but I'll be honest, AdvancedHMI is still my favorite HMI software.
Holly cow! Thanks for sharing all of this. There is a ton of valuable information here. Thanks again for sharing. I wish I could write this much. Lol
@@EliteAutomation Thanks! I've been at it for awhile. :) I finally retired (hopefully for the last time) yesterday. 47 years is enough. How did I celebrate? I slept.
That said I've got some loose ends to tie off, that Antarctica project being one of them. I also picked up a robot cell along the way. But I'll be collecting my social security money and that will limit my earnings for the next year and a half (unless I want to pay my SS back, so nope).
@@MrWaalkman Oh wow congratulations!!! How did you manage to retire so young? What's next for you?
@@EliteAutomation Thanks! But that's 47 years of paying into SSI. I'm 65, and that's old enough for me. :)
As for what's next, I found a 72 Triumph TR6 for a song, and it's going to get a bunch of work done to it. I also have a 69 Corvair that will have to wait its turn to get freshened up. But it's in pretty good shape so it can wait.
I also have the afore mentioned controls projects lined up.
This modular PLC seems like a good option. Do they have HMIs to interact with it?
I do not believe it offers external comms. I honestly wouldn't use this on anything that would have an HMI. Or go a plc/HMI combo like proface.
Thank you for a great video
Is it possible to make a adjustable timer, that can be controlled with a potentiometer? I’ve played with the software and can’t figure it out. Thanks for the great continent!
Thank you very much!! I have not done it yet. But i bet you will have to use a variable. Write the analog input into a variable and then use the variable to set your timer. There is a slight possibility you can’t do it though.
If I place order ,how long will it take to deliver the expandable?
It really depends. I think the PLC is in high demand 8weeks but I think the expansion module is much shorter. I believe we have one in stock.
Bro you sounds like Donald Trump..🤣🤣🤣
🤣🤣🤣
Price list:
2907443 (The stand alone module) - $99
2907446 (The expandable module) - $115
2905137 (Expansion module) - $61.95
All of the relays are just our standard slim line relays (SPDT 24VDC) - $15.15
Controller - PLC-V8C/SC-24DC/SAM2 - 2907445:
www.phoenixcontact.com/online/portal/us?uri=pxc-oc-itemdetail%3Apid%3D2907445&library=usen&tab=1