Let’s talk about sub-$400 Ethernet PLCs (and more) in today’s Automation Tech Talk, Lunchtime Edition: Watch Automation Tech Talk on The Automation Blog:

 

Listen to Automation Tech Talk on The Automation Blog:

Automation Tech Talk Show Notes: Below you’ll find the links from this week’s show:

• Automation Game
• LinkedIn Post
• The Automation School 

Read the transcript on The Automation Blog: (automatically generated)

Shawn Tierney (Host):Hey, everybody. Welcome to Automation Tech Talk. Shawn Tierney here. You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve used StreamYard, and they’ve actually added some really cool things. I can actually see if my mic is working.

So please, leave a comment in the chat. I’m, we’re going out live to LinkedIn and YouTube. Of course, this will be released over on the podcast and at the automation blog later, when I’m done lunch. But in any case, I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about the, the thought process behind the show is, you know, I learn so much every day, and I just I can’t I can’t keep up with the courses. I can’t add everything I learn into my courses or do, like, full blown productions on it.

And so I’m like, you know what? Let me just meet up with all my followers on LinkedIn and YouTube and just share what I’m learning, and then I can just watch the chat and see if you guys have anything else to say about it. In that way, all this stuff I’m learning every day, I can get right back out to you guys, and you guys can share what you’re learning with me in very informal, you know, type of show. So that is what automation tech talk lunchtime edition is all about. I’m doing this to my lunch because there’s no there’s you know, I’m not making money from this.

But, in any case, I do wanna say say thank you to all my students at the automation school, and thank you to all my members at on YouTube and the automation blog. Thank you guys very much. Now I am you know, I wanted to bring the news, show back, but it’s, like, three hours a day, and it makes zero money. So it’s just like I can’t invest the time to do that. And so that’s why I’m doing the show, but I’m gonna reuse the new show podcast.

So if you’re listening to the podcast, you’re like, hey. Showed to the new new show, and you’re getting this instead. It’s expensive and time consuming to spend the new podcast. So, I’m thinking from talking to some of the listeners out there, I’m thinking you guys would enjoy this, maybe not as much as the news, but maybe, as close to it as I can provide right now. With all that said, thank you again for tuning in.

And today, what I wanted to talk to you is about, low cost Ethernet PLC. So as an instructor, I’m always looking for how people can can get, you know, learn PLCs. Right? Program controls, PACs, PLCs, whatever you wanna call them. They are, like, to me, the heart of an automation system.

The IO comes into that. You know, devices talk to the IO. IO talks to controller. HMIs and SCADA talk to the controller. IoT connections, IoT connections.

You know? So that’s like the brain of the system, always has been. Right? And it’s kinda like the motherboard in our computers. Right?

And so, you know, I I think people will always wanna learn them as long as we’re we have control systems. And, I know some people will say, well, you know, there’s DCSs and this this that I understand that. I understand that. But in any case so, you know, I recently posted let me see if I can share it with you. I recently posted over on LinkedIn.

Let’s see if I can get this up here and bring it over to the right screen, and let’s see if we can go to this. Again, I haven’t used this in a while, so it’s a little new for me. But in any case, this is not what I wanted to show you. Let’s see if we can show something else here. Let me see.

Bear with me a second. Share screen. Let’s share the whole screen. I think that will be that. Okay.

Great. So this is LinkedIn. I’ve tried to clean up all the red spots. Of course, I got more now. But this I was talking about the code, Sys, for a scan, and a lot of people totally misunderstood me even though they are trying to add helpful advice.

And I appreciate everybody. I gotta shout out to some of the guys. I I don’t wanna say the names, but several people in there were super awesome and helpful. But one of the things this post over on LinkedIn got me talking about was, you know, what happened to the sub $300 PLC, Ethernet PLC. Right?

And so what I did is I’m like, you know, it’s it’s been a long time since I looked for a sub $300 PLC with Ethernet, and that’s the key for me, Ethernet. Right? Because nobody wants to use a serial cable these days. USB is not bad, but Ethernet is better. Right?

So I said, you know, my I used to really be a big fan of the micro eight twenty. I still am. I guess I should say I still am. But in any case, you could see here in proposal works, I updated it recently, and it’s showing it at $3.97. Now this model, used to be February or February.

I’m thinking this is the February model. But in any case, you can see how much inflation we’ve had over the last ten years. Just a lot of inflation to bring that price up to $3.97. So what we used to say maybe is a $250 Ethernet POC, which is a great thing to learn on, it’s now more like 400. I think, you know, back then, it was the price of a of a video game console.

And I guess today, video game consoles have gone up in price because I think it’s still the price of a video game console. But in any case, the the reason the reason I like having a physical POC to learn on is because a lot of times, this would be something that, you can actually use. You know, you could build your own trainer or maybe it’s an OEM who wants to install it in a machine. Right? And so not all vendors have a program like ProposalWorks.

It makes it very hard to find pricing on them. Now, some other POCs to consider, Ethan, the POCs that you can learn on, that are under, let’s say, $400 or under. 1 would be the s seven twelve hundred. You guys know I teach a class on that as well as the micro 800 and Compact ControlLogix, MicroLogix, all that. The s seven twelve hundred, I think, you know, it’s great in one way compared to the micro eight fifty no.

A 20. Now the micro eight twenty is great that it has free software and free simulation built into that free software. The only downside or I shouldn’t say the only downside, but the major downside with the micro eight twenty is the small Ethernet PLC is it doesn’t program identically to its bigger siblings like the ControlLogix and CompactLogix. I think the low and I did not look one up in here. We can do this live if you want, but I think the smallest CompactLogix you can get is around a thousand dollars.

You know what? Let let’s try it. Let’s try it live. Now I did update this last week. I think the lowest one is the, $53.71, the CompactLogist cell one.

And let’s just see if I can do it. Now these are all list prices. And from my and I don’t know if they changed this over the ten years since I’ve been self employed, but, there used to be a bigger discount on CompactLogix than there were on micro eight hundreds. They want the list price of the micro 800 to be closer to the real price, versus a, the micro 800. They want the list price to be closer to, you know, the actual place where they give a bigger discount on the CompactLogix.

I don’t know if that’s still the case. Right? You guys let me know if you know the if you know. So I’m gonna throw this in here. They always seem to throw an Ethernet cable in.

I don’t want an expensive Ethernet cable. I don’t wanna spend $50 for an Ethernet cable. Thank you. Not to learn at home. Maybe if you’re working in the field of $50, it it just doesn’t seem that seems a little little expensive.

Okay. So this little guy, this l sixteen e r, this guy used to be I I thought it was around $1,400. It’s now $2,400. So this is the smallest CompactLogix you can get. And so when we’re talking about small Ethernet PLC, if I go the the Microw eight fifty, I get the Allen Bradley I mean, the Microw eight twenty.

Don’t ask me why I keep saying the Microw eight fifty. I have no idea. If you go with the Micro eight twenty, you get an Allen Bradley for $400. You get an Ethernet PLC, but, it doesn’t program like the rest of the those PLCs. And, yeah, I think $2,400 is just beyond what most people wanna invest in their personal training.

Now having said that, another option if you like Siemens or if you use Siemens at work or if where you’re gonna apply it is is Siemens or if you work in Europe, is the s seven twelve hundred. Now that product is probably in that $400 range for the small guy. $400 for an s seven twelve hundred is a great price, and the biggest advantage there is that that unit programs identical to the 1,500. Now the hardware is different. You know, I’ve had videos where I did the high speed counter on the 1,200 and the 1,500.

You can see how they’re different. Right? So, and there’s different you know, there’s more data types in the 1,500. But what I think is really good now the s seven twelve hundred, if you just run out and buy one, right, the software’s not free. You can get a free twenty one day demo, but it’s not free, like, on the eight fifty.

So that’s kind of a downside. But then if we look at the upside there, they have starter kits. And I couldn’t find, the starter kit with just a controller. I know they have a $700 starter kit with the controller software and HMI, which is a good deal. But I was looking for the old one.

I used to promote my courses in the 4 or $500 range, which were, just the controller and the software, lifetime copy of the software, perpetual license. And those were in the $4,500 range, and that is a much better deal if you wanna use Siemens because you get a lifetime copy of the software. Right? And so I could not, and I searched. I searched.

I searched. And, if anybody knows Siemens or has the link, throw it in the chat. Even after even after, the show, if you wanna put them in the chat, I’ll try to keep check up on them later. But that is a phenomenal deal. Now another good deal that I was recently and I’m I got a show coming up on this is, the Modicon.

Right? So the Modicon machine edition of the their software and their their little Modicons. Right? There and I don’t have the exact number. Joel, great guy over at Schneider, posted a part number over in that LinkedIn discussion.

And that unit, I think it was a two forty something, that unit is in the $300 range. So Ethernet PLC, it’s Codesys based. I do like what Schneider has done with the Codesys developer. They’ve added their own flare to it. And when I say what I like about it, and I’ll do this in the future video I’m having, is they kinda organize the project tree a little bit better, and they automatically add their hardware.

So if you remember when I sat down with the Ethernet code, Sys PLC did not automatically add the hardware. I had to kinda do some research to say, like, how do I add the back plane? So, and same thing if you watch my IFM, episode with, their code Sys HMI PLC, which was these are all great products. Just I’m just sharing my opinions with you. But in any case, and you’ll find all this stuff over at the automationblog.com.

That’s where I post everything. But, in any case, I really like and to have it be even cheaper than the, than the micros from Rockwell, although, you know, it goes up to probably medium range PLC, and then there’s a a different an automation expert for the high end. I think it’s a six two four nine nine or something like that. The the the automation expert software is different than a machine expert. But still, it’s a huge range that is what most people would ever use.

The only thing I I I don’t know about is they don’t I don’t see that they have a starter kit that gets you the software. So they do have a forty two day trial, but if you buy a piece of hardware, you want the software forever. And I really think a starter kit that includes the software and hardware would be the way to go like Siemens has done. It’s just such a great job they’ve done there. And, of course, we all know of AutomationDirect.

They have their line of products, and they typically make their software completely free. But now if you wanna talk about going really inexpensive, right, like, totally free, you can always do Codesys. Right? So Codesys, you know, you can download the developer for free. You can, simulate your HMIM PLC in it, and it doesn’t cost you anything.

The downside with Codesys is that the ladder editor is not I would I’m gonna I’m gonna say modern. Okay? It’s not a modern ladder editor. The old version is crypt is is I’m I’m I’m trying to be this little clumsy. And the new version is I’m gonna say it’s feels like it’s beta.

It doesn’t really work well. I’m sure there’s experts out there who know how to make it work and, you know, work as good as anything else. But as somebody who’s been doing this for thirty five years, when I pick up your software and I can’t figure it out, like, I had no problems figuring out Siemens from Rockwell. Like, I was converting my program, and I took the limit test out of Rockwell, and I did a limit in Siemens and quickly find out totally different instruction. And, they actually had another instruction, which is, like, an in range instruction or whatever that made a lot of sense.

And I I do like the Siemens limit instruction because it actually limits your your output to be within the range. So I thought that was cool too. But in any case, yeah, so easy to figure out. Great help. When you hit f one in Rockwell or Siemens, you get all kinds of great help.

Codesys, not so much. The the Codesys help system, at least the ladder editor, I would say is not and, again, they’ve been around for a long time, so I’m not trying to make excuses for them. It’s not like they’re a brand new package that just came out. Right? I’m just saying, you know, I’m gonna teach students ladder.

You know, if my if I have electricians coming in, you know, I’m whether they’re coming in person or they’re learning at the automationschool.com, I’m gonna be I’m gonna be teaching them ladder. I mean, I love function block structure text, sequential function chart. I try to cover all of those in most of my courses. It can be really time consuming to go deep into that stuff, but I plan on adding more lessons on that stuff too because you should you should know all the languages. Right?

But in any case, level one, I just do ladder. And so, that there’s a downside there. There there’s one other thing that I wanna show you, and I’m I’m gonna do I’m actually gonna do a course for this because I know a lot of the gamers, having you know, they just don’t have the our background, our automation background. But let me see if I can find this really quick. Again, I’m just spending lunch with you.

This isn’t a preplanned, you know, multimillion dollar production. It’s just showing sharing his lunchtime with his, with you guys on LinkedIn and YouTube. I’m just typing this into a search box here, and gotta be careful. There’s actually two different games that that have to do with automation over on Steam. But I gotta show you guys.

I actually hired this developer to create an app that I give away to my custom to my students at the automation school. I wanted a way to work with I’m just trying to find a preview here. I wanted to find a way that people who had nothing and was taking my course could actually do all the labs. So I hired this gentleman to create an app for me that I give away to every student, PLC student, over at the, automationschool.com. But let me come over here and share this with you.

And, I’m actually I’ve gone through and solved all of the lessons, and I had an absolute blast doing this. But this is the automation game. Let me see. And, again, there’s no affiliate link here. This is I’m just sharing.

It’s something I’m passionate about. I don’t know if this is gonna show up on both LinkedIn and YouTube. It looks like it’s not showing up on LinkedIn, but this is over at steampowered.com. If you’re not a gamer, that’s where most of us buy our PC games. There’s other places too, but, anyways, we won’t go into that right now.

I think I’m gonna be playing Planet Crafted tonight. My friends haven’t played it yet. So, if you wanna catch that, you’ll find me on my gamer on my gamer, YouTube channel. But in any case, this this, game, right, it’s it’s, you know, it’s a 15 game. Right?

So you can expect, like, a $5,000 week get Rockwell or Siemens out of a $15 game. But this game is fun. It gets challenging because this PLC that it emulates, right, is, it has some limitations. Right? There’s some features in this PLC, like like, branching outputs, you know, having multiple outputs on, on a rung.

It doesn’t support that. So as you get onto, like, the palletizer, it gets a little tedious having multiple, having multiple rungs to do the same things. Right? So you wanna turn the conveyor on and you wanna turn the pusher on and etcetera etcetera. But, talk about fun.

So I recommend this to Guy. If you only have $15 in your pocket, you wanna learn POCs, this will teach you. I mean, it’s it’s it’s you’re not gonna learn a specific POC, but, you know, it’s fun. And, again, if you sign up for one of my courses, you get a special edition of this game, one that was designed just for, my courses at the automationschool.com. So, I would love to hear what you guys think about what is an affordable POC to learn on.

Do you disagree with my comments about the code sys lotta editor? I spent a lot of time with it, lost a lot of lost a lot of time, struggling with it, you know, and so, are there other PLCs? Like, we’ve worked with the PLC next guys. We’ve worked with the Wago guys. Are there other PLCs?

Are there other vendors, out there that I should be looking at? Let me know. But I I did wanna share that with you, my thoughts on affordable Ethernet PLCs, kinda where we stand today. But I’m sure I’m missing some, you know, starter packs, some some, you know, kits out there that, you know, maybe new kits, maybe, kits that have been around around for a while. And, you know, I would love to hear somebody make the case for AutomationDirect.

You know, I’ve covered them in the past, but I haven’t programmed them to the extent where I could say, yeah. These are great to learn automation on. And with that, I think what else do I have for lunchtime updates? So I’m more you know, one of the things that had me thinking about this is I’m updating my courses over at the automationschool.com and filming new courses at the same time. So if you’re enrolled in any of my POC courses, you’re gonna you’re you’re seeing updates come there almost every day as well as, new lessons being added.

And, as I’m doing my new courses, I’m trying to align my old courses with the new courses. And some of the lessons, like, you know, going and downloading and installing the free software from Rockwell or Siemens or whoever, you know, I wanna update those on the original courses and the new courses now. The other thing I would do wanna mention, if you are in any of my original courses, you’re gonna get the new course for free. Okay? Now if you bought the ultimate bundle, you get a bunch of extra stuff on top of that.

But, so if you bought going back to 2014, if you bought one of my courses, you’re gonna get the new courses for free. If you bought level one, you’re gonna get the new level one. If you bought one and two, you get the new level one and two. I’m not gonna make anybody repurchase something. And, of course, you guys have support.

You can ask questions. There’s no expiration. No subscription. You know? Just buy the course, and, and you have questions, you ask me.

I also did something new too where you can actually schedule a Teams meeting with me if you get stuck on a on a lesson. So I wanted to get that out there. But, with that, that is about it. We do have on the automation blog, I have a great, interview that I’m gonna be doing in the next couple of days about IO Link. So I’m really we had a lot of success with the original IO IO Link, podcast.

This week, though, we’ll be releasing a new PROFINET, podcast. So I know a lot of you maybe use EtherNetIP. I just wanna let you know, I invited the EtherNetIP guys to come on the podcast. Right? They not only declined, but they declined in a little kind of a cheeky, maybe kinda rude way.

So I tried. Right? How many times you’re gonna get hit in the face before you say, okay. You guys don’t wanna come on my show. I’m I’m okay with that.

So, but, we’ll keep inviting everybody to come on the show and, you know, except for the ones who pretty much tell us that they don’t like us. So, in any case, if there’s any vendors watching too, I met with a rep from, one of the local automation distributors, and, you know, I just wanna get the word out the vendors. We wanna cover everybody. Alright. I it’s just me.

I’m the only one who works here. I wanna cover everybody. So you guys know that I’ve had a lot of success with the great folks at Siemens and Rockwell and Snyder and a lot of other people too. Met with Toledo, IFM in the past, and now I’m gonna forget somebody and feel bad. But, you know, I’ve I’ve had a but a lot of the other vendors that we don’t commonly think of, like, maybe in the first or second place, love to get them on too.

So any vendors out there, just reach out to me. Look. If you don’t have $500 in your, marketing budget, we’ll we’ll just do the freebie version that’s audio only. So, in any case, with that, I think that’s it. That’s all I had for lunch.

I don’t see anybody commenting because this is episode one, so it’s a little rough. But, thank you. I see some of you guys watched through the whole thing. Thank you very much for tuning in. And, before I leave, if you’re if you can just say hi in the chat so I can say hi back so I know who’s watching.

I just want to, thank you guys for tuning in. And I gotta get back to work. You guys probably have to get back to work too, but I do wanna wish you good health and happiness. And until next time, my friends, peace.

If you have any questions about Shawn’s in-person or online courses, please don’t hesitate to setup a time to meet with Shawn via MSTeams, or drop him an email using his contact form here: https://theautomationschool.com/question/

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

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Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.