PC to PLC:)

hi there!
is there a way to communicate PC wit PLC?
hmm, i would be needing signals from PC (visual basic program) to work wit a PLC unit..im only familiar wit PLC..I do not have any idea regarding this application..
any help would be greatly appreciated

http://www.ingeardrivers.com/

This company sells ActiveX modules that allow you to communicate with some PLCs via Visual Basic.

Alternatively, you can buy an OPC Server for your brand of PLC and build a Visual Basic program that accesses the PLC through the OPC server. This is detailed in the following link.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3259

A third option would be to research the company that provides your PLC to see if they sell a pre-made product for this purpose. For example, Mitsubishi sells a product called MX Components that is intended for this type of application.

If you decide to go with the OPC alternative check out Kepware. They have a great OPC server (lots of drivers) and a .Net API called Client Ace, Client Ace helps you develop OPC Clients (VB.Net, C# or visual C++) easy. There are also lots of code examples. You can download and try them both (2 hours demo for the server) at http://www.kepware.com


I have used them both and it works great...

Regards

Edmund

Monkeyhead,

Tnx for the options. I guess il go with your latter choice. I hope il find a good & easy to use hardware.

Edmund,

Tnx, il try to see if we have kepware distributor here in our country. Nonetheless, i have read that OMRON allows PC to PLC interface via CJ1M..Il see if there hardware works for my application

What PLCs are you using? There are several open source drivers and samples that are free. Check www.sourceforge.net

Also Google the protocol if you know it, such as "DF1 open source"

You mentioned Omron, their Host Link protocol is very simple and can be implemented in VB with very little code. I may have some VB.NET samples from a project I did several years ago.