PLC AND fiber optic Recommendation.....

escoplcguy

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Join Date
Jun 2010
Location
New Jersey
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hello everyone....first let me start off by saying that you for all the help you have given me the last few months!!!! its help educate me greatly! ..... now if i could only lear to spell better, but thats another issue haha.....


i am working on a project of my own, i want a PLC that runs on very low voltageso that it can be powered via solar energy, or even a car cigarette lighter port.....

all i need is 2 inputs 2 outputs and hopefully 2 analog inputs...it would need rs232 interface cause i would like it to beable to hook up to a GSM modem to send text messages and e-mails to me when in alarm condition. anything you guys would recomend??

also, i am looking for Recommendations on "closed loop fiber optic trip wire".....an actual fiber optic wire and an amplifire so that if someone was to drive into it it would break and turn on a latch than email and text me that it was broken...


thank you guys!! your all great! im a good cook too so if you in NJ let me know ill fix you up something tasty!🍻
 
Voltage is not your problem. PLCs can be found for both 12Volt and 24Volt as standard. And this is what you get from a cigarette lighter port or solar panel. Of course you will need a battery for your solar panel.

Your problem is power consumption but a small PLC does not consume more than some few watts.

A Schneider Zelio has the right number of I/O and can be ordered 12V or 24Volt. It has the GSM function you require.



Not sure I understand your fibre optic ideas.
 
its like this for the fiber optic like this, ... there is a constant signal going to the PLC... the fiber optic cable is acting as the "laser" between 2 points, when that signal is broken the signal turns off and sets off an alarm......the range of distance is 2000 feet
 
I've done some work with fiber, both loose and tight buffered. I don't think you'd be able to use an off the shelf fiber cable for this as the manufacturers design their cables to resist breaking.

Is this fiber going to be on the ground or suspended? Even fiber meant for patch cables usually has kevlar fibers in it for strength. The cables made for conduit runs and direct burial are quite tough and would probably survive being driven over if just laid out on the ground. Is it your intent to replace all 2K ft each time it gets broken?
 
Are you looking for a fiber beam sensor. Like a eye break it and it turns a input on or off?

Are you saying your sensing gate is 2000 feet across.


Feed us a little more and a little better info and we can provide a better answer.
 
yes we would plan on replacing the cable each time it broke....hopefull it will never break, and its not something that would be run over, think more like a plane is going to crash into it. i think the force of a plane may be enough to rip it in half.......and thining about it...couldnt i use use about any fiber optic amplifire and turn the cable around and send its own light back into the other side.....typically on amplifiers i have used there are 2 ports one sends and one recives......to instead of lets say a small tip at the end i cut the tip off and turn the cable around and put that into the recieving port of the amp....jut a thought i had....

and no i dont need a beam of light cause the applications is going to be outside....and i dont want to have to travel 300 miles to a site beacuse a cat or something stepped into the beam....it needs to be more rugged to to withstand people walking on it, but not so much so that if a plane crashed into it it will break and send the signal lettine me know that something major has happened.
 
From limited experience in high security areas ie Nuclear weapon or nuclear power sites there is always a problem with something (mostly wildlife) hitting detectors and tripping them.

More info on what you want this thing to protect / sense and under what conditions would help. Are you really going to lay it on the ground


Dan Bentler
 
We need more info on this "fiber optic" alarm thing; maybe you have a diagram or drawnig on the concept.

Why not just use regular copper instead? Of course, there might be other, more suitable hardware setup depend on the intention.
 
I think I understand your intent. If I were to try and implement what you want to do, I'd run a pair of singlemode the length and use a loopback or patch cord on one end. What to do on the other end is the question. If you are just looking for a break, a home brew transmitter / receiver pair (not necessairly fiber components but possibly a LED and photosensor) would likely do the trick but make sure that it is not so sensitive that sunlight would trick it. Build yourself a circuit that flashes the LED and gives you an output if the flashes are not received by the photosensor perhaps.

Terminating fiber is not hard but the equipment can be expensive. A 200x scope for singlemode use can be a few hundred dollars. Loose tube fiber requires fanout kits which can be a real pain in the a** until you become proficient.

I'm guessing that this will be woven into a chain link fence?

Shawn
 
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That distance you could get away w/ Multimode and a 1310nm transmitter. Singlemode would work fine, but would be more expensive.
 
That distance you could get away w/ Multimode and a 1310nm transmitter. Singlemode would work fine, but would be more expensive.

You're absolutely right Dravik. For some reason I read 2K feet but I somehow twisted that into 2K meters. At that distance he could probably even use whatever the fiber is they use in Toslink cables.

Shawn
 
@ken roach... yes ken you cought me! :nodi:

i am the first person to have the power of controls. when i walked in here (fresh out of school) they decided to give me a chance, they have PLC equpiment here but very scattered, no plc talks to another plc and they all run on the same line...it didnt even make sence!! for instance, we have a micrologix 1400 running a process (with plenty of inputs and outputs) and then along the line there is a pico controller! controlling one transfer convayor that i asked a million questions as to why and still havent gotten an answer....so they gave me a ton of projects to work on, some were already started and less than halfway finished and about 3 years old. now that im here i get the privlage to resurect them all and just sort of make them my own......i will try to draw up a sketch and post it so that maybe you guys can get more of an idea of what i need. Also....the reason for fiber is because again, there can not be any electricty crossing through the area
 
ps food for thought.....with every answer that helps me, we all save lives together....now doesnt that make you all warm inside haha!!
 

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