Making the effort

There have been a few posts concerning, persons just wanting answers, instead of doing some research on their own.

These beginners are doing themselves a disservice by not making the effort. I would guess the answer got here will not be remembered in 6 months.

But….. if you dig for information, hook up some sort of demo and try to figure it out,(it may take a few attempts). When you succeed, you will remember. You will also get a boost of confidence.

Just my thoughts

Good point TS, all to many people these days are not interested in working for anything, just point, click and gimmie! I face it all the time in the classes that I teach. Working toward a goal is just foreign to some!

Although relatively new, I pour over the posts here, as well as the manuals. There is just so much information out there, but it's quite piecmeal. To solve a specific problem takes hours of research. I'm not complaining, but I just hope that my recent questions are not perceived as me just being lazy. I have spent days coming to grips with PLC communications, decypehering cryptic manuals, piecing together disjointed nuggets from posts on here as well as general google searches, and have only just scratched the surface. Consider how daunting it is to the relative novice. It's a long haul to the surface when you're flying solo and starting from scratch.

fredbear said:

Although relatively new, I pour over the posts here, as well as the manuals.

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I download all the manuals people post links to. I read most of them. I have a HUGE pdf library. When I get bored I read pdf tech files.

fredbear said:

There is just so much information out there, but it's quite piecmeal.

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Yes, and much of it is noise.

fredbear said:

To solve a specific problem takes hours of research. I'm not complaining, but I just hope that my recent questions are not perceived as me just being lazy.

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Yes, you are not alone.

fredbear said:

I have spent days coming to grips with PLC communications, decypehering cryptic manuals, piecing together disjointed nuggets from posts on here as well as general google searches, and have only just scratched the surface. Consider how daunting it is to the relative novice. It's a long haul to the surface when you're flying solo and starting from scratch.

Click to expand...

Communication manuals can be confusing. I find the Modbus manual and the DF1 manual to be simple. They have good examples of the packet exchange. The Profibus DP manauls are confusing. There is too much non standard terminology like SAP. What is a SAP?
I find examples are key. That is why we have plenty of examples on our website. However, I also know that I don't have enough and probably never will.

Fredbear, my advice is to think about how you would solve the problem as if you are the only left that can do it. Once you realize what the problems are then you can move to the next step which is how to solve the problem. The designer usually has a few ways to solve the problem but there are usually some best ways that narrow the problem down. Now you must think in terms of how you would solve the problem or better yet, how would the designer solve the problem. Once you can get inside the designers head then you are home free. Then you will be able to anticipate the way the designer will solve the problem.

I find the key to understand how equipment works is to understand the designer. Where this fails is when the designer is so poor that I say that I would never do it that way. Fortunately this doesn't happen often but it does happen.

i would say only about 10% of my work is PLC related..(But am looking for more!!)..I am a firm beliver in look first and ask later.(To a cetain point)..TSmith is correct..i get a rush when i figure something out..when someone tells me what to do i do it..and dont remember in 1 week..let alone 6 months..

I do believe (Unless ron has changed it) that ron has the perfect sig..i cannot remeber exactly what it says but basically its "give a man a fish he eats for a day..teach a man to fish and he sits in a boat and drinks beer all day...NO No ..its teach a man to fish and feed him for life...

I visit this site daily and you could never imagine the information i pick up from here..not just PLC...look at all the OT post's...I do ask questions..some have been answered before..but i have read the answers but am still unclear..take one of my last post's about PID..I think i will be old and gray before i figure that one out..If i ued it every day it might be different..but...

to end i will say..if you are bashed here...sorry but get a thick skin..your gonna need it..the world isnt nice..do your leg work and these guys will go out of there way to help you..if you dont do the leg work..well then be ready for the flamin!!

D