ACC Automation: PLC & Industrial Control Learning
Practical Tips and Techniques
One week ago, the free PLC simulator at accautomation.ca had 17 ladder instructions. Today it has 42. Between October 13 and October 16, the ACC PLC Simulator shipped six releases, v1.123 through v1.128, in four days. You can now change a program while it is running, step a traffic intersection with one drum instruction, pick … Read more
Until now, the ACC PLC Simulator ran one 3D scene at a time. You could program a motor starter, a conveyor, or a tank—but only one at a time— and the moment you connected a second scene, it fought the first for the same inputs. From version 1.121, that limit is gone. The multi-scene PLC … Read more
I Replaced a $5,000 PLC Trainer with a Free PLC Training Simulator. A PLC training panel costs between three and eight thousand dollars. Technical colleges buy racks of them. Self-learners look at the price and walk away. Companies send employees to week-long courses at two thousand dollars per seat. I built a free PLC training … Read more
Can AI Program a PLC? I Tested AI-Generated PLC Code Live. I gave an AI assistant one task: write a complete conveyor control program in Structured Text for the ACC PLC Simulator. Start the motor, detect the box at each end with proximity sensors, reverse direction, auto-stop, and handle a restart. Then I pasted the … Read more
Structured Text is widely recognized as the fastest-growing PLC programming language. It is an IEC 61131-3 standard text-based language that reads like Pascal or C. If you have worked with any high-level programming language, ST will feel familiar. And if you have only used ladder logic, ST opens up a new way to think about … Read more
The ACC PLC Simulator now supports simulator gamepad input. Plug in any standard USB or Bluetooth controller, and you can drive PLC inputs, control analog values, navigate 3D scene cameras, and run your program without ever touching the keyboard. This works with Xbox controllers, PlayStation controllers, generic USB HID gamepads, and most Bluetooth controllers. There … Read more
In this tutorial, I will show you how to connect the ACC PLC Simulator’s 3D Control Panel Scene to the BRX Do-More PLC using Modbus TCP over Ethernet. We will use the Do-More Simulator that comes built into the Do-More Designer programming software. This means you don’t need any physical hardware. You will write real … Read more
The ACC PLC Simulator is a free, browser-based ladder-logic editor and PLC scan engine. There is nothing to download or install. You open it in Chrome, Edge, or Firefox and start programming immediately. I built this simulator so that anyone learning PLC programming can get hands-on practice without needing hardware. It uses standard PLC register … Read more
Did you know that understanding edge triggers can drastically improve your PLC understanding? How one-shots work within the PLC scan is vital in programming PLCs. In this post, we’ll dive into the world of programmable logic controllers and explore the techniques and strategy secrets you need to know to trigger your edges precisely and accurately. … Read more
In this tutorial, you will learn how to program a chain conveyor transfer using Do-More. The EasyPLC software suite includes a Machine Simulator (MS) with pre-programmed machines, including the chain conveyor. This machine can move boxes of various sizes along the production line, transferring them to different locations. We will use the Do-More Designer PLC … Read more