extremely low power PLC

[diat150]

anyone have any experience with very low power plc's? It seems hard to find a plc or programmable rtu that has minimal IO that pulls very little power. I essentially just need a few DI and 1 DO. I am looking for something that is 12vdc but only pulls about 20-40ma or less.

It doesnt even need to be a PLC per say, just something that I can do minimal code in to turn on an output for a few minutes when an input changes states.

 

[Epy]

I know of some IDEC PLCs that only draw a few watts, but for the range you listed you might be looking at microcontroller boards or the like (e.g. Arduino and similar)

 

[diat150]

The Idec I am using now draws 126ma.

 

[Bullzi]

I worked on a project several years ago that was all solar powered. They used used SCADAPak PLCs because of their low draw. Might want to check them out.

 

[BryanG]

http://www.barth-elektronik.de/mini-sps-stg-600-a2786.html

The specs say that it draws less than 4mA at 32Vd.c., don't know how that will translate to 12Vd.c. It runs from 7 to 32V.

 

[boneless]

Depending on what you need, I would take a look at the Arduino.

This is an interesting read:

http://www.home-automation-communit...n-atmega328p-for-a-year-on-coin-cell-battery/

 

[Cow]

I believe Zelio has a 12vdc version if you wanted to see what it draws.

 

[DwSoFt]

Yupp I use ScadaPack RTUs of all types. They have one called the Scadapack LP for low power that has less IO. Even the lights on the board have a button to turn them on and off to save power. I'm gonna google.exactly how much it is supposed to draw. Or I also have one on my work bench wired up I could just measure the Actual. Lol

 

[Mickey]

Yupp I use ScadaPack RTUs of all types. They have one called the Scadapack LP for low power that has less IO. Even the lights on the board have a button to turn them on and off to save power. I'm gonna google.exactly how much it is supposed to draw. Or I also have one on my work bench wired up I could just measure the Actual. Lol

Power Supply
DC power Input 30V maximum
10.0 to 11.5V turn on
9.5V typical turn off
Typically 125mW (at 12V) during sleep mode.
Typically 360mW (at 12V) during normal operation. LEDs

Looks like 30ma

Link for the manual...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...zs4lZx3stfkvetLMw&sig2=7_tsHAE4iDd4D0dXdMv0kA

 

[diat150]

Yupp I use ScadaPack RTUs of all types. They have one called the Scadapack LP for low power that has less IO. Even the lights on the board have a button to turn them on and off to save power. I'm gonna google.exactly how much it is supposed to draw. Or I also have one on my work bench wired up I could just measure the Actual. Lol

yeah I talked to the sales guy yesterday and he told me they dont do that anymore.

 

[shooter]

O would go for an arduino type, or other MCU like renesas, even has units running 1 mA.

 

[jraef]

There are a lot of different RTU products for weather SCADA systems out there, because they are very remote and hard to change batteries on. But I've used a product from SCADAlink, worked great. One thing that's important if running from batteries is power management, how much it draws for specific tasks, and the ability to schedule the tasks rather than have them happen at random. That's something the SCADAlink did well. It was only 1.5mA when idle, which is the majority of the time.

https://www.scadalink.com/products/scadalink-series/rio100-series/rio100/

 

[DwSoFt]

yeah I talked to the sales guy yesterday and he told me they dont do that anymore.

Like they don't make the scadapack LP anymore? I have at least a dozen on the shelf right now..
I really like the fact that I can put isagraf on it instead of telepace...

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

O would go for an arduino type, or other MCU like renesas, even has units running 1 mA.

NO!
The MSP430 is the way to go. 16 bits and lower power. We use this in our battery powered products.
http://www.ti.com/lit/wp/slay015/slay015.pdf
The MSP430 practically runs on neutrinos.

 

[Brandon_K]

You may want to look at an EFX TEK Prop-1.

It was created by some guys at Parallax for the haunted attraction industry, which then inturn broke off to form EFX TEK.

I've used hundreds of the Prop-1's. They're great for what they are and even built well, even without an enclosure. I would use this over a Arduino any day, if you can deal with the cons (which the Arduino shares some of the cons)

Runs on 9-30vdc. Can sink up to 500ma on the outputs.

Cons;

Programs in BASIC (it runs on a BASIC Stamp). Could be a good or bad thing. It's not a terribly hard language to learn. Way easier than C.

Like an Arduino, ZERO input protection. The input headers are 5v and those go straight to the microcontroller, so you'll need to do a voltage divider or come up with an opto-isolated input board if you plan on using typical industrial 24v sensors.

No enclosure. After years of hounding "The John/Jon's" (owners of the company), still no enclosure.