Hi all,
We are a small company involved in water and wastewater treatment and have been feeling the need to "upgrade" our standard electrical panels to more modern ones integrating a PLC (easier to modify, cut down on relay cascades and allow for analogue signal processing).
We will be subcontracting all electrical work outside the company (we have no in-house electricians) but want to program the PLCs ourselves.
I have a little experience with PLC programming (see below) and a Chem Eng background, so ideally I would go for ST over FBD (second option) or Ladder (only if really needed).
In termos of experience, I worked (as end-user / small modifications) with AB Micrologix and FactoryTalk (hated it), B+R (in Basic, no major problems) and now with some Siemens LOGO! modules (FBD - ok, but limited).
We are talking about very small projects, so cost is an issue, especially software cost, as the payback will be invariably long. Also, in Portugal, we are a bit restricted on availability of modules (with Siemens, Schneider and Omron at a distant third rulling the roost).
I have been looking at Beckhoff and Siemens (S7-1200), but each have their problems: Beckhoff panels are VERY expensive and Siemens require paying for software and the whole "number-based" vs "tag-based" structure sounds confusing for larger projects.
For a "basic" project (small display, small PLC with up to 8 DI/DO and 4 AI/AO, Ethernet-based comm) I wouldn't expect to pay more than 500-750 euros for a full system.
I would really appreciate your input on options, alternatives and suggestions. Thanks!
We are a small company involved in water and wastewater treatment and have been feeling the need to "upgrade" our standard electrical panels to more modern ones integrating a PLC (easier to modify, cut down on relay cascades and allow for analogue signal processing).
We will be subcontracting all electrical work outside the company (we have no in-house electricians) but want to program the PLCs ourselves.
I have a little experience with PLC programming (see below) and a Chem Eng background, so ideally I would go for ST over FBD (second option) or Ladder (only if really needed).
In termos of experience, I worked (as end-user / small modifications) with AB Micrologix and FactoryTalk (hated it), B+R (in Basic, no major problems) and now with some Siemens LOGO! modules (FBD - ok, but limited).
We are talking about very small projects, so cost is an issue, especially software cost, as the payback will be invariably long. Also, in Portugal, we are a bit restricted on availability of modules (with Siemens, Schneider and Omron at a distant third rulling the roost).
I have been looking at Beckhoff and Siemens (S7-1200), but each have their problems: Beckhoff panels are VERY expensive and Siemens require paying for software and the whole "number-based" vs "tag-based" structure sounds confusing for larger projects.
For a "basic" project (small display, small PLC with up to 8 DI/DO and 4 AI/AO, Ethernet-based comm) I wouldn't expect to pay more than 500-750 euros for a full system.
I would really appreciate your input on options, alternatives and suggestions. Thanks!