Rockwell Software’s RSLinx is the communication hub for their RSLogix and FactoryTalk programming suites. It allows users to connect to Allen Bradley PLCs and PACs as well as Panelview Plus HMIs and other equipment that speaks Ethernet IP, DF1 or DH+ (and their variants). Typically it is used solely with Rockwell and Allen Bradley products. […]
Category: PLC Development
Fun with Red Lion DSP – Polling MC-IIIs
The Red Lion DSP is a great little unit. It has mostly the same internals as their G3 HMI line but without the display. This makes it useful as a protocol conversion box, a data collector or a simple web based remote monitoring unit using the built-in web server. BUT it has its quirks; it […]
Remote SCADA Access to Prosoft E-AFC Card
I was asked recently to build a meter template for ClearSCADA for Prosoft’s new, enhanced E-AFC card. It is a 16 run flow computer module for Allen Bradley PLCs and it comes with Ethernet for simple connections. As I started testing things I immediately ran into a wall. It did not matter which platform I […]
Being Cloud Ready
I just spent the last two days participating in an IoT and Data Analytics Hand-on-Lab at Microsoft Canada in Calgary. It was awesome to see what they are doing with their cloud product offering and how it can be used to enable business intelligence and possibility for new applications. Here is a screenshot of a […]
Using git for Industrial Automation – Part 3 – Remote Basics
This is continuation of the series of articles I have written about git and using it for industrial automation projects. Every automation shop eventually gets to a point where they need some sort of central library of code or central project file store. Eventually you need a way to share files, share projects, or archive […]
Using git for Industrial Automation – Part 2 – Branches
In an earlier article I explained the basics of git and how to use GitKraken, one of the various graphical interfaces of git. Now we are going to take this a couple steps further and show you how to use branches in git with RTU/PLC programming. Branches are an important function of any version control […]
Software Library Recommendations
Any developer’s toolkit is going to involve a decent amount of software. An automation programmer’s toolkit is full of odd-ball, proprietary, weird dependency driven configuration software. Here are some quick tips my mentor shared with me regarding software installers when I started doing automation programming. When I first got my laptop, she sat me down […]
Using git for Industrial Automation
Almost all industrial programmers will use some sort of basic version control at the file system level. This generally consists of keeping copies of dated files and folders in a central file folder structure. Until recently I kept a project database listing clients at the first level, site surface locations at the second level and […]