No, I don't mean (necessarily) who has the best functioning, or most rugged. I mean which manufacturer has the best looking PLC and IO slices?

I want to build a controls panel for some non-critical stuff, but instead of an enclosure, I want to mount it on a carbon fiber or anodized aluminum subpanel with a sheet of acrylic mounted in front of it for a little safety. But I want it to look good as it will be visible from a high traffic path, if not accessible to it.

Most of all I want it to be striking and interesting to look at. I want it to look like someone took way too much time to do way too little, like those breaker box installs from Singapore and Poland.

My company has several Flexo printing machines and we'd love to get live data from them, press state, speed, waste & job details ect.

The company we buy the presses from charges a fortune for access to this data through their web portal. We'd love to get a live feed into a local server/SSMS to use the data how we like.

A simple ip scanner in switch showed it's password protected.

Just looking for advice/options/ Is there a type of PLC that can be routed between others to read the data passing through?

Apologies for the complete lack of knowledge or erroneous assumptions I might be making here! (am I in the wrong sub??)

Hello everyone!
I tried to open a backup file sent by a client, but this error appears when opening it in RSLogix 5000.

What should I do to be able to open the file on my machine?

Ok so, I recently started my career (literally, i'm 2 months into my first job on this industry) in this factory with a messy network and they want to install a MES system. I have 3 network ranges and they're all distinct to that of the main router that the MES company wants to connect to. IT wants me to change the IP of 40+ devices that talk to each other and I've said multiple times that that's insane. I talked to IT about the possibility of using NAT routers but the guy seems to genuinelly not know about that. What can I do here other than change all IPs? Should I tell the supervisor about NAT routers and tell him that buying them spares us from more than likely big downtimes?

Hi everyone,

​I have this complete Omron C1000H rack assembly including the CPU, power supply, and multiple I/O modules as shown in the picture.

​Since this is a legacy large-rack system, I would appreciate your expert insights on a few things:

​Thanks in advance for any advice or technical tips!

I got a job as an automation tech. I think my first project will be a data center but the company does a wide array of automation/controls work. I have been trying to learn everything i can about the processes I will touch and I've been practicing my ladder logic.

Is there anything I should focus on? Any tips for life on the road? Thank you in advance

I'm working on railway interlockings controllers, in particular for subways, so extreme safety requirements are not negotiable. Some interlockings are "programmed" using electromechanical relays (including in some new lines!). There's also microcontroller-based solutions (like Trackguard from Siemens) or, more recently, some vendors are advertising SIL4 compliant PLCs (e.g. Hima).

I could rant all day about the drawbacks of relay-based interlockings, but relying on specific vendors, usually with proprietary editing software for PLC/microcontroller based solutions, also have its own problems.
I was wondering, what are the technical¹ roadblocks that would prevent taking 2 or 3 basic PLCs and add a voter² to make a 2oo2 or 2oo3 system to get a system that can respect SIL4 constraints?

1. I know the technical side is only (a small?) part of the constraints. The railway industry is quite conservative, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes less so...

2. As usual for redundancy, the voter itself is a critical point so it must be very reliable (possibly also by using redundancy), but its behavior is extremely simple.

After 3 times of my customer losing all their Digital IO cards on a AB 5069 system I finally found the source. It was clear we were getting a foreign voltage on my customer's DC line. We had a prox sensor explode, lost a long lead-time encoder and all 5 digital IO cards 3 times. The issue would only occur every couple weeks and wasn't present when I was onsite to troubleshoot. After the 3rd time I isolated each IO card with a 5069-FPD and installed a Phoenix Contact 2906841-ND DC surge arrestor for each card. The 4th time I had only 1 card fail. There was only one Input on that card that made sense for a the foreign voltage to be getting on the DC line. Looking inside the limit switch for that input I found some strands were bridging a 120VAC contact to DC. You can see the burn mark on the screw and the strands melted back. I think the issue would occur when a mechanic was in the area working and disturbing the cables. This was a new and challenging one for me. I've also never used a DC surge arrester, but will consider them for my future projects where I am worried about field wires.

The cooling fans in the PLC cabinet to be fed from the UPS power or just normal power ?. As all know, when the main power is OFF, the load on the PLC is reduced; but still requires cooling for the CPUs, I/O cards.

What is typically followed? the PLC cabinet manufacturer says, he just provide only normal power to the Fans. I understand that normal is required only for the lights and anti condensation heater in the PLC cabinet.

A quick follow-up to my earlier post about mbmap-library and Modbench.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to review the format and suggest improvements. I've spent today working through several of those suggestions, and quite a bit has changed.

What's been added or improved:

• JSON v2: Following the discussion around CSV vs. JSON, I've migrated all 410 device maps to the new JSON-based format. The migration is tested to preserve the meaning of existing maps, and the v1 specification and examples remain available under legacy/v1/.
• Separate byte and word order: These are now independent settings, which makes multi-register values less ambiguous across different devices.
• Firmware compatibility: Maps can specify supported models and firmware ranges, including registers that only exist on certain firmware versions.
• Map revisions and source information: Maps now have explicit revision tracking and structured source metadata, making it easier to identify updates and trace register definitions back to their documentation.
• Automated validation: The CI now checks that map changes which affect device behaviour increment the revision. The format also has a JSON Schema and expanded validation tests.
• Modbench integration: Modbench now reads the v2 format and checks the connected device's model and firmware against the selected map. It warns about mismatches before writes and can hide registers that aren't available on the detected firmware.

I've also added more manufacturer documentation links and expanded the library with additional device maps.

This is still an evolving project, and I'm particularly interested in feedback from people who work with Modbus devices in the real world. What would make a shared register-map format genuinely useful in your workflow? I'd especially appreciate feedback on firmware handling, validation, interoperability with other tools, and anything I've overlooked.

• mbmap-library — format specification and device maps
• Modbench — Modbus TCP/RTU client

Thanks again for the constructive feedback.

Hey, I'm kinda new to the PLC world, currently learning about MODBUS protocol/SCADA systems, and generally obtaining the domain knowledge of this field.

I was wondering, how do the sensors and devices in critical environments not just die, and if they actually do, how do we recover from that? For example in high heat/vibrations or like chemical plants, if a critical sensor died in there, how do engineers handle this issue? Is it mostly redundancy/voting logic or fallback values in the PLC?

Thanks a lot.

hi all i am currently designing a control panel for a generator. i am using a battery charger to charger a lead acid battery which is used to power the control panel circuit and the starting coil of the generator. my question is whether i can used the same charger out to charge the battery and the control circut when main supply is available. when main supply fails the battery will be used to power the load

Hey everyone, we have a hydrostatic transmitter at my plant that measures level and temperature. It was starting to drift so we replaced it. However now I can’t get any reading from it. It reads the bottom of the scale on the level and temperature and I have a fault in the plc, it’s an SEL plc.

I know the wiring is correct, I was able to compare with another we have. There’s 2 other level transmitters going into this plc that are reading fine, however they are guided wave radars from rose mount, so different type.

What confuses me is when I lift the leads from the probe and send a 4-20 it won’t come through on the plc, but when I put my meter leads in the circuit it will then show up on both the plc and my meter. If I try to read the mA on the circuit with the probe installed the fault go aways temporarily but the level is still way off, and I’m getting basically 0mA.

I’m pretty confused, I’ve never had to do much loop troubleshooting like this, I haven’t touched any of the wiring besides the probe. I noticed on the screen the level does change slightly so it seems like it’s responding, but it’s just so far off by like 200 feet.

If anyone has any advice I’d appreciate it, thanks!

Hi, I’m thinking of learning plc programming and controls technician. I was wondering what the day-to-day is like for this field. What do you like about it and what do you not like about it.

I’m coming from software development but the industry is going through rapid changes and mass layoffs. I’ve been jobless for over a year now so I’m thinking of pivoting to something else that can utilize my programming skills.

Hey everyone, I hope everyone is doing wonderful or have a lot of fun plans for the years end.
I’m currently stuck trying to figure out what should be an appropriate stability check logic for any liquid filling applications where the weight logic needs to be coded for.
I’m currently using EL3356-0010 as a weighing indicator by beckhoff for a strain gauge type loadcell(platform loadcells) of 500 kg capacity with 4 wires.
I’m currently facing a lot of weight instability issues where on a platform scale if there is no load applied my weights fluctuate by around 5-30grams.
The filling process needs to be very accurate upto 0.01% or the appropriate respective loadcell technical specifications for determining the real accuracy possible.
Would love some guidance or directional pushes to get me aligned with the path which needs to be followed.
I’m also using an IPC as a main controller than a PLC. My preferred programming language is Structured Text.
Thank you

I have an Allen-Bradley kinetix 5700 that is getting its encoder signal from a Nordson Laserspeed Pro LS4500-406. I'm getting Feedback Signal Noise Factory limit. We've re-terminated connections, isolated encoder cable that was previously ran over cable tray , replaced cable, made sure shield was grounded on one end, swapped servos, and replaced the LS4500.
Has anyone else experienced this fault and if so, how did you fix it? Any help is appreciated!

EDIT: The format will be moving forward as JSON-based, as per suggestions, I am writing a converter tool

Hi everyone,

I've been working on a small open-source project to make Modbus register maps easier to share and use across tools.

One recurring problem with Modbus is that device information is often locked away in manufacturer PDFs. Even when you have the correct register table, you still need to configure addresses, data types, scaling, units and bit fields in your software.

I'm trying to make that information portable.

MBMap is an open, CSV-based format for describing Modbus devices and their registers. The goal is to have one device map that different compatible tools can read, instead of rebuilding the same configuration for every application.

Format and device map library: https://github.com/nobrega8/mbmap-library

Modbus client built around the format: https://github.com/nobrega8/modbench

Modbench supports Modbus TCP and RTU on Windows and Linux. It can read registers by address or load a device map to display values by name, with scaling and units. It also supports raw request/response inspection for debugging.

The maps and specification are dedicated to the public domain under CC0, so they can be reused in commercial and open-source tools.

I'm sharing this because I'd like feedback from people who work with real Modbus devices.

Would a shared register-map format like this be useful in your workflow? What would you need from the format before adopting it?

Contributions and feedback are welcome.

Looking to see what people standardize on when an application outgrows typical catalog drives and needs serious power density.Between ultra-compact packages like Elmo, Beckhoff modular drives, or Synapticon, packing high continuous current and EtherCAT sync into tight volumes makes mechanical packaging way simpler, but the configuration workflows vary wildly. When loop response, thermal dissipation, and advanced notch filtering really matter, what high-end drive platform do you prefer commissioning?

Hi folks! Writing to try to help my dad who is in his 70s. He is carpenter that has owned (and fiddled with) many PLC-controlled machines, but is in over a head with the specific programming/config work required on his latest issue. I am a computer scientist but have never gotten into the PLC niche specifically… so I have a better chance than him but obviously have no domain knowledge.

I predict the solution to this problem will be “hire someone who knows what they’re doing,” and am primarily asking how to find such a person! He is located in Otsego County, NY.

Some context… my dad recently bought a Shanklin Omni sealer machine at auction. It uses a Panelview Plus 700 HMI. He was able to get the machine working through some debugging (replacing backup batteries, etc) but at some point in the process he lost the ability to log in. There is a landing page (see pics) where he said there used to be boxes for username and password (which he has) but now the login page renders without the boxes as pictured. It just has a grayed out box listing “????????” As the current user.

If anyone has ideas of how I could help him debug, I can provide more info — just assume I know computers but not PLC specifics. Otherwise, as I said, looking for someone who could help him or how he could search for such a person. Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I'm curious about your practical experience with PLC and PAC systems.

What are the main differences between them in real-world industrial applications? Have you worked with both throughout your automation career?

In what situations would you choose a PAC over a traditional PLC? Are there any real advantages, or is the distinction mostly about terminology and marketing?

I'd love to hear your experiences and opinions!

low effort submission?
bro Iver been figuring this out since July, and I still do'nt have the thing fully figured out.
the next step though is writing 1 of 2 wrappers that either interpret plc registers into key strokes,
or use touch zone inputs to do the same thing. kernel doesn't have built in uinput.