PLC Training

[Bobhook149]

Is PLC training a on the job type of training or are there classes you can take to become familiar with them?

 

[StephenSDH]

It is best to learn on the job in my opinion. Plus someone is paying you to learn so that is win/win.

 

[Paelectrician]

We learned some on it in school, and i will tell you weather it is on job or you gotta take a class, it is very interesting!

 

[Bobhook149]

Where can i look to take a class. Is this type of work in demand or over crowded.

Thanks

Bob

 

[GMc]

Where can i look to take a class. Is this type of work in demand or over crowded.

Thanks

Bob

I have taken a couple of Ron's classes. You can check out his website here. He is second to none in teaching PLC's.

 

[Bobhook149]

Nice thanks

 

[GMc]

Your Welcome..

 

[petersonra]

Is this type of work in demand or over crowded.

In some respects it is both. Especially for industrial electricians who work with automated equipment it is becoming expected that an electrician be able to deal with PLCs.

Usually that amounts to being able to commission equipment that includes them, and do minor debugging of them, and some light programming.

Think of PLCs as ways to wire things up and interlock them in software instead of using relays and discrete devices to do the same task. Not much different than wiring interlocks into motor starters.

It is very handy to be able to have the plant electrican take care of this kind of thing himself. You just have to be careful about getting yourself into something that is above your level of skill, and sometimes that is not real obvious. If you could figure out how to hard wire something to work how you want it to, you can probably program it to do it in a PLC a whole lot simpler and with less cost.

OTOH, there are a lot of guys out there who are advertising themselves as experienced in using PLCs that are not finding all that much work these days. It is unlikely you will be able to find work that involves only PLCs, but you probably will find some that requires you be able to deal with them in some way.

 

[ivsenroute]

I have taken both college classes and manufacturer classes. The manufacturer classes are very expensive and intense whereas the college courses are spread out and less expensive in the long run.

OJT is also a great way but you need to understand more than you can lean from OJT.

 

[S'mise]

IMO, It's better to learn in school before "on the job" A mistake made in the field can cause damage to machinery and injure people.

 

[singledad234]

most industrial companys want you to have that piece of paper that says you went to school. I am taking a plc class in january. i know a little about them but the place i am applying for doesnt care they want you to have that piece of paper

 

[gar]

091227-1338 EST

To understand what a PLC does and how to program a PLC you need two things.

1. An understanding of logic. This means knowing what AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, IF THEN, and other logical functions are. Also how timers or other signals that can produce a logical output (0 or 1, False or True) function.

Largely you can learn this on your own. A class might make it easier.

2. You need to study the instruction manual for the subtle characteristics of a particular PLC. Such as: transitional contact, scan sequence, latching output, and math operations. If a PLC does not have a transitional contact, then how do you accomplish this function? Why can this function be useful?

After this you need a real world PLC or a simulation program and some problems to force you to make a program do what it is supposed to do. Note: a simulation program may not accurately represent a particular real world PLC.

In my opinion never use the AB sequencer mode to control a complex machine function. The sequencer may be easy to program, but as soon as the machine has to move in some manner that is not the sequence, then it is all manual button pushing to get home. This can be a real disaster on an assembly line when it is stopped in the middle of a sequence. Often by emergency stop or a wreck. There are places for a sequencer, but really look at the consequences of using one.

.

 

[petersonra]

In my opinion never use the AB sequencer mode to control a complex machine function. The sequencer may be easy to program, but as soon as the machine has to move in some manner that is not the sequence, then it is all manual button pushing to get home. This can be a real disaster on an assembly line when it is stopped in the middle of a sequence. Often by emergency stop or a wreck. There are places for a sequencer, but really look at the consequences of using one.

I agree, but when you get to a level of complexity where this might be a problem it is usually not because the PLC software constructs are not adequate. It is because the sequence of operation has not been thought through completely to include any unusual things that might happen.

Its is fairly easy most of the time to come up with the normal cycle, but dealing with the many possible iterations of things that could go wrong and how to deal with them, and how to recover from them, is often times far more work. And its not a programming issue.

Its not unusual in even a simple machine for there to be 10X the code to deal with the unusual stuff than the normal.

 

[sparky59]

Can anyone recommend a good book for learning about plc's