ACC Automation: PLC & Industrial Control Learning
Practical Tips and Techniques
Many questions come from serial communications using the Click PLC. Most of these questions deal with communication timing when using multiple send-and-receive instructions. We will show you how to deal with serial communication timing in the Click PLC. Receive and Send instructions will allow you to send and receive serial data to an external device. … Read more
The Click Plus PLC has now been released. This can only be programmed with version 3.00 or higher of the Click Programming Software. Version 3.00 will program all of the Click PLC CPU units and add additional features to the Click Ethernet CPU units. Features of the new Click PLUS PLC (C2-0xCPU) includes the following: … Read more
We will now look at the click PLC Modbus ASCII protocol. This communication will happen in PLC ladder logic and communicate through the serial port (RS485) to a Solo process temperature controller. Modbus ASCII will be the communication protocol. Modbus is a communication protocol used to transmit information over serial lines between electronic devices. The … Read more
We will now look at the Click PLC Modbus TCP remote io. The Click PLC can use remote inputs and outputs from Stride. The Stride Field I/O Modules are simple and compact. They provide an economical means to connect inputs and outputs to an Ethernet Modbus TCP communication network. Every module operates as a standalone … Read more
A PID (Proportional, Integral, and Derivative) control is possible with the Click PLC. The Click Programming Software version 2.50 now includes PID. This features 8 full-featured control loops with an easy graphical user interface (GUI). PID will run on all of the Ethernet-enabled Click PLCs. We will be using this PID along with a Factory … Read more
A dusk to dawn sensor usually is discrete on/off of the lighting control. If we want to vary the lights to mimic more of the sunset and rise, we would use an analog output to control the lights. I was recently asked about such a program. Every day they wanted the lights to go off … Read more
The Ethernet Click PLC high-speed counter has seven different modes of operation. In Part 1 we discussed the High Speed Count Mode, Interval Measurement Mode, Duration Measurement Mode and Frequency Measurement Mode. This 100 kHz counter can accept Up, Down, Up/Down, Pulse/Direction, or Quadrature (with Z) inputs. We will be looking at the last three … Read more
The Click PLC family has been updated, and now has the ability to use high speed counting. This is available on all of the Ethernet units that have DC inputs. The faster processor on the Ethernet unit (3 to 10 times faster than the basic unit) allows this capability. There are seven (7) different modes … Read more
We will now look at the programming and wiring of a rotary encoder to the Click PLC input. Rotary encoders are modern digital devices that have taken over from the potentiometer in stereos and many other applications. This is because of their fine digital control, and they can fully rotate without end stops. We can … Read more
Firmware is usually PLC operating system code that is written into a read only memory. The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) of a PC (personal computer) is a good example of firmware. It provides the low level interface between the hardware and software. The Click PLC firmware comes with the programming software. https://support.automationdirect.com/products/clickplcs.html We will … Read more