New member....New Student

Hi Guys,

My name is Steve and I am the owner of a commercial/industrial electrical contracting company. I am looking to expand my personal knowledge in the world of plc's.

I have multiple opportunities available to me at this time and don't want to pass these up. But, I do not want to rush through this.

I am looking into on-line courses because of the flexible schedule as mine is very busy during working hours. I don't mind spending the money for top notch materials and desire only to pursue this path if I can be very proficient.

Can someone learn completely from these on-line/video courses or could I use these for a starter and sign up for some classroom training later?

I have been playing with the Logixpro demo and student exercises and have completed the Door Sim through #3.

I welcome any comments on the following:

Thanks in advance,

Steve
aka MiPilot

Hi.. I'm a newbie as well..
However, after going through the forums, I've learned at least 2 things..

1) Always comment your rungs so that people will know what function each individual rung does. You can do this by right clicking on the rung and select "Edit Rung Comment".

2) Label your symbol with easy-to-understand names. I notice that for I:1/0 and O:2/0, you label both of them as "Open". It might be abit confusing sometimes as well as it might not give sufficient information to the one reading your code. Instead, you might label I:1/0 as "Open Button" and O:2/0 as "Door Opening" etc..

MiPilot,
Welcome,
For "Complete Learning" and or to be "Proficient" at programming PLCs requires quite a bit of practice or experience. After all any skill that can be had comes from repeating the task over & over many times until a certian level of skill or confidence is felt. Does not matter if it is basketball, fishing or driving a truck.

That said, I required a lot of hands on experience before I was able to do anything that resembled quality programming. You on the other hand may be able to pick up the skills without the hands on part since everyone learns differently.
In my mind the on-line videos & books are a good place to start before getting into the hands on stuff.

One of the members here offers a PLC training "Boot Camp" with instructor led hands on training that can't be beat. Look him up (Ron Beaufort) after you complete the videos & books & you will be on your way to being a respectable "Bit Flipper" in just a few months.

Gotta Go; the Colts are playing!

MY $0.02

BD

Welcome, MiPilot.

In addition, I noticed that your Ajar lamp is on when the door is moving up or down. I think the instructions mean for Ajar to "flash" only when the door is stationary at some position other than fully open or fully closed. Learning to read instructions (or directions from the customer) and follow them exactly is a big part of successful programming.

The Ajar Lamp will flash if the door is stationary, and is not in the fully open or fully closed position. The Ajar Lamp will flash at a slower rate (1/4) then the other lamps.

Click to expand...

Steve,

Never mind, I am wrong again. Your Ajar lamp is correct as is. The next part of the Student Instructions makes that clear.