Practical Tips and Techniques
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
Receive and Send instructions will allow you to send and receive serial data to an external device. The communication method that you setup can be ASCII or Modbus. ASCII (American Standard Communication for Information Interchange) can be used to send to devices such as a printer. Receiving ASCII can be used for connecting barcode scanners … Read more