New to siemens s7

I am attempting to buy a small s7/200 plc and the starter kit as i have never touched these plc ' s before and as i understand it that the s7_200 has been discontinued , the set up of the com's is it easy enough and is the com's cable special as far as rs232 to rs232 or is there a special adaptor necessary for these little plc . Cheers and thank you in advance

Hi!
S7-200 is still in production, but you must have a USB(or RS232)/PPI adapter or universal adapter to connect to it. Programming software is Step7 MicroWin.

If you need small PLC other than S7-200, You can start with S7-1200 (new), CPU S7-1212 (expandable), with ethernet port (no special cable adapter needed). Programming software (Step 7 V11 od V12) is part of TIA portal software.

Thank you , i once inquired about s7 software and was led to believe that it was not only expensive but complicated so i wonted to start small and keep the cost down .

It depends what you are trying to achieve. If you want to start to learn PLC programming then there are cheaper ways to start, you could download the programming demo version for the Easy relays, it is free and includes a simulator:

http://downloadcenter.moeller.net/en/software.a6864aa1-0f3e-4e24-b2e5-5a51937b7166

There are demo versions of other software, you could open a new thread here to ask for suggestions.

If you want to learn PLC programming and then run the results in the real world then you could get an S7-200 but it is a blind alley. You will almost have to start from scratch when you move to another type of PLC.

It is true that there is a steep learning curve with the S7-1200 software, I started moving from S7-200 software a year ago and still have a lot to learn. But if you want to learn and take the learning forward with you I would suggest the S7-1200 route, maybe get a starter pack:

https://www.automation.siemens.com/...ic-s7-1200-kit/pages/default.aspx?HTTPS=REDIR

On the other hand if it just out of curiosity and you can get a cheap S7-200 and programming cable and programming software you could learn a lot.

Don't waste your time with the S7-200.
Knowing it will not help with the 7-300/400/1200.

You would be better off with getting a S7-1200 starter kit, it will be cheap and the knowledge / skills are more transferable to the 300/400 and now the 1500.

My 2 cents

So the s200 is no better than a smart relay by the sounds of it , i would have thought that the programming would be similar without the extra function blocks . OK then thanks for all your input and BryanG i will give the demo software a go . cheers

Its not like smart relay. But it is obsolete.

blueyedpeter said:

So the s200 is no better than a smart relay by the sounds of it .....

Click to expand...

S7-200 in not like a smart relay. S7-200 is "real CPU" with floating point math, various port/communication possibilities, various HMI connection allowed...

S7-200 is a real PLC, easy to program, and the Step7/Microwin was free at one point. But I must agree with Mike, the S7-300/400 is a different animal, so go with the S7-1200 starter kit.

Wouldn't an IM151-7 or IM151-8 be an alternative? Since it got the same architecture as the 300 systems.

Maybe not as cheap as the 200 or 1200, but at least it's possible to learn something decent on it.

You can have (here) cheapest 1211 dc/dc/dc cpu for ~120€, 151-8 costs ~540€. Also license needed is different animal...

I dont know what decent learning you think s7-300 offerst that s7-1200 does not. Ok graph and stl. But i would in any case recommend learning LAD and SCL that both are available for 1200. Also 1200 is more representative of siemens s7-1500, that is going to replace s7-300/400.

Thanks again gentlemen

i would also suggest s7-1200...

200 was easy and very reliable but a bit old now. Ladder logic remain ladder logic but it's more related to communication options. 200 is a serial plc VS 1200 that it is ethernet based with connectivity to anything exept AllenBradley