August 12, 2025 • 22 mins
Let's talk about sub-$400 Ethernet PLCs (and more) in today's Automation Tech Talk, Lunchtime Edition:
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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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:31):
Hey, everybody. Welcome to Automation Tech Talk. Sean
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
(00:52):
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.
(01:12):
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
(01:33):
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
(01:54):
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
(02:14):
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
(02:35):
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
(02:57):
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
(03:17):
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.
(03:38):
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
(03:59):
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
(04:19):
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,
(04:40):
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
(05:00):
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
(05:20):
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
(05:41):
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.
(06:01):
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.
(06:23):
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
(06:44):
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,
(07:05):
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
(07:25):
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
(07:46):
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
(08:07):
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
(08:27):
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.
(08:48):
$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.
(09:09):
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
(09:30):
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
(09:50):
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
(10:11):
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.
(10:33):
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,
(10:54):
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
(11:15):
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
(11:37):
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
(11:58):
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
(12:18):
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.
(12:39):
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
(13:00):
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
(13:21):
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,
(13:42):
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
(14:03):
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
(14:25):
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
(14:45):
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
(15:08):
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
(15:30):
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
(15:51):
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
(16:11):
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,
(16:33):
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
(16:55):
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,
(17:16):
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,
(17:38):
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
(18:01):
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
(18:23):
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
(18:45):
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
(19:07):
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.
(19:28):
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
(19:48):
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?
(20:10):
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.
(20:31):
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
(20:52):
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
(21:12):
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
(21:34):
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.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to Automation Tech Talk. Sean
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
(00:52):
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.
(01:12):
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
(01:33):
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
(01:54):
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
(02:14):
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
(02:35):
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
(02:57):
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
(03:17):
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.
(03:38):
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
(03:59):
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
(04:19):
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,
(04:40):
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
(05:00):
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
(05:20):
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
(05:41):
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.
(06:01):
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.
(06:23):
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
(06:44):
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,
(07:05):
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
(07:25):
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
(07:46):
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
(08:07):
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
(08:27):
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.
(08:48):
$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.
(09:09):
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
(09:30):
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
(09:50):
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
(10:11):
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.
(10:33):
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,
(10:54):
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
(11:15):
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
(11:37):
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
(11:58):
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
(12:18):
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.
(12:39):
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
(13:00):
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
(13:21):
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,
(13:42):
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
(14:03):
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
(14:25):
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
(14:45):
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
(15:08):
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
(15:30):
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
(15:51):
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
(16:11):
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,
(16:33):
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
(16:55):
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,
(17:16):
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,
(17:38):
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
(18:01):
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
(18:23):
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
(18:45):
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
(19:07):
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.
(19:28):
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
(19:48):
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?
(20:10):
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.
(20:31):
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
(20:52):
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
(21:12):
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
(21:34):
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.
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