Learning Siemens Control System

[skkn]

Friends,

As someone who has spent several years troubleshooting Control Logix PLCs, Factory Talk View, Powerflex drives, servo drives and distributed IO etc from Rockwell, I always wanted to learn Siemens control system.

Sometimes I do come across Siemens systems and struggle with identifying hardware let alone troubleshoot PLC programs or HMI. So what is the best way to learn their hardware and then start learning their PLC programming? Does anyone know the knowledge glide path?

Thanks,

SKKN

 

[parky]

There are a number of videos on youtube, perhaps try there.

 

[JesperMP]

The product portfolio is huge, so it is best to narrow it down to what you are actually working with.
I suggest that you go to Siemens Support and seach for example for "S7-1200 getting started" if you need to find out about S7-1200
https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/start?lc=en-US

Siemens support is free, there is no paywall.
In order to download something you may have to register, which is also free.

 

[bb76]

Siemens stuff can have it's quirks and there are also things that will only work on higher level processors which can catch you out.

Check out Hegamurl on youtube as he has a lot of videos and broken down into good sized chunks so you can pick the bits you want.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1P4ACs0hsr7AWcl-mWKQbQ/search?query=tia

 

[drbitboy]

I came across something confusing: how can I view the status of discrete outputs (e.g. %Q0.0; S7-1214C, V4.2; TIA Portal V14) when online? I did not find them anywhere, and eventually found I had to either put them into a dummy rung (where I could modify them manually), or add them to a Tag table (where I could not modify them).

What am I missing?

 

[JesperMP]

I think you are looking for a watch table.
You find these in the project tree at "watch and force tables".
In a Watch table you can also change the value of the variables.
Inputs are cyclically updated by the PLC, so these you do usually not write to in a watch table.
And the outputs are overwritten by the PLC code, so these you also usually do not write to in a watch table.
If you need to overrule the normal input and output scan, then you have to force the inputs or the outputs.

 

[drbitboy]

Yes I experimented with watch tables also, thank you.

What surprised me is that the outputs are not already in some standard, always present table, like where I find the system tags (free running clock, cycle count, etc.). This seems like a design oversight, but of course I my definition of "normal" biased by what other PLC brands I have worked with.

I am not writing to the outputs in the code so the manual modify will work without forcing.

Anyway, at least there are some workarounds.

 

[JesperMP]

I see what you mean.

You can relatively easily make a watch table that includes all the addresses you want to view.
Just make 1 start address, like %I0.0, then grab the little black square at the lower right corner of the Address cell, and drag it all the way down. Just like in Excel.
A list with consecutive addresses will be filled in.
I think this is actually quite neat, and I dont feel the need for a viewer of the IO.

Another way is to find the addresses or symbols in the Tag table, and then hit the 'monitor all' button. I think this is less useful, since either these are sorted alphabetically, or according to the absolute address, and the addresses you want to monitor might not be next to each other in this list.

 

[Engineerj22]

I bought an s7-1200 starter kit in the before times for about 600$. It came with a s7-1200, a led hmi, and a nice box to mount it in. Also the license for TIA portal 15 basic.

 

[drbitboy]

You can relatively easily make a watch table that includes all the addresses you want to view.
Just make 1 start address, like %I0.0, then grab the little black square at the lower right corner of the Address cell, and drag it all the way down. Just like in Excel.
A list with consecutive addresses will be filled in.
I think this is actually quite neat

ooh, sweet!

 

[L D[AR2P#0.0]]

TIA is heavily tag based - why would you refer to I/O that does not have a tag?

 

[Ken Moore]

In traditional Step-7, you could got to a module and go online with it and see the IO status. This takes programming out of the equation when there is a problem. Plus you can see the quality at the same time. PCS-7 is the same. If you are used to using it, you really miss it in TIA. One of my biggest gripes.

 

[drbitboy]

TIA is heavily tag based - why would you refer to I/O that does not have a tag?

Outputs in Inputs are the primary interfaces between the model of the process that resides in the PLC and the actual process in the Real World. Why should I be prevented from knowing an output's value?.

Perhaps it is an input or an output that is not in the current program i.e. it does not have a tag (yet).

What possible rationale justifies hiding knowledge of any bit in the entire PLC? If the argument is that "that is not how this PLC was designed to be used," then, in my mind, that is a flaw in the design.

 

[JesperMP]

In my programs I have some standard FBs for motors, actuators, silos etc.
When I do I/O tests, I open the code where the relevant instance of object is programmed. Then I conveniently have all the inputs and outputs in the same view. Also makes it easy to observe what an input does when an output changes, i.e. when the valve solenoid is actuated, how long does it take for the valve feedback to change position.
If I were to rummage about in the entire IO table, I would have to first find all the relevant IO, which might not even be next to each other.
So I dont see the need for looking directly in IO tables. I never did it with STEP7 classic even if it was possible.

 

[andrewwei]

Try this: https://www.kinito.ca/
William Valedis is very experienced
I was trained at a Siemens Training Center, William was the trainer at the time.