C
Hi all
Since I suddenly have a lot more time, I've been finishing my eval of small PLCs for add ons and small stand alone projects. Many of you are familiar with the big name offerings in this arena, Micrologix, FX, etc. So, I've been looking at the newer offerings because like all electronics, PLCs should get better faster _and_ cheaper and you shouldn't have to pick any two of those.
I did a project with the GEFanuc Durus PLC. It's a joke, no math, no way to reference timer and counter internal regs,etc. It's really just a relay replacement with a little logic. The software was free and worth every penny. It was barely transliterated (not translated) from the Chinese and really seemed not done. Maybe rev 2 will be better.
The Click from Koyo aka Automation Direct, seems to be a killer product. Less expensive, but with a much wider range of instructions, even floating point math and decimal addressing. This software is also
free and the PLC itself starts at $69. It does need a power supply
which blunts that a bit, and it lacks the display and buttons on the
Durus, but the project I did on the Duras was much smaller and easier
to do with the Click instruction set. IO is very reasonable with DC points at less than $3. One notable missing part was analog, internal or add on. That seems curious as most of the newer offerings seem to throw in a couple inputs or at least an add on.
I don't have a Windows machine here at home, and I'm a little reluctant to buy a Click on unemployment, but it would surely be the one to buy under these circumstances, and if I get a few bucks ahead, I'll get a Click and do the hardware side. If anyone has a Windows license to contribute to the cause, I can round up a spare hdd for my laptop. I left the Click software on the laptop at my previous employer.
Regards
cww
Since I suddenly have a lot more time, I've been finishing my eval of small PLCs for add ons and small stand alone projects. Many of you are familiar with the big name offerings in this arena, Micrologix, FX, etc. So, I've been looking at the newer offerings because like all electronics, PLCs should get better faster _and_ cheaper and you shouldn't have to pick any two of those.
I did a project with the GEFanuc Durus PLC. It's a joke, no math, no way to reference timer and counter internal regs,etc. It's really just a relay replacement with a little logic. The software was free and worth every penny. It was barely transliterated (not translated) from the Chinese and really seemed not done. Maybe rev 2 will be better.
The Click from Koyo aka Automation Direct, seems to be a killer product. Less expensive, but with a much wider range of instructions, even floating point math and decimal addressing. This software is also
free and the PLC itself starts at $69. It does need a power supply
which blunts that a bit, and it lacks the display and buttons on the
Durus, but the project I did on the Duras was much smaller and easier
to do with the Click instruction set. IO is very reasonable with DC points at less than $3. One notable missing part was analog, internal or add on. That seems curious as most of the newer offerings seem to throw in a couple inputs or at least an add on.
I don't have a Windows machine here at home, and I'm a little reluctant to buy a Click on unemployment, but it would surely be the one to buy under these circumstances, and if I get a few bucks ahead, I'll get a Click and do the hardware side. If anyone has a Windows license to contribute to the cause, I can round up a spare hdd for my laptop. I left the Click software on the laptop at my previous employer.
Regards
cww