What's the best way to into Ladder Logic/other Enterprise

get a job, or download ignition and play with the tag provider simulator module i guess.

>>60183105
I have a job, but want a better job.
>tag provider simulator module
will look into it, thanks

>>60183813
pretty sure this fits into one side of the electrician trade and instrumentation as a whole. there are trade schools for this. from recall, I remember vendor-specific certification for the PLCs. there doesn't seem to be a general, overarching course or certification for programmable logic controllers. I've considered getting into it because when I've seen these guys in the field, the job looks comfy as fuck. sure beats the fuck out of building scaffold or fitting pipe or constructing steel frame buildings.

fuck I hate the trades.

>>60184721
Mainly instrumentation/automation these days and yeah there's trade schools for it, but I can't afford those at this time (and make too much to get aid).

Thankfully, I'm in the oilfield, so it's still possible to get into one of those positions just by knowing your shit (not easy, but possible) with certs coming later. Still pretty difficult though.

>>60184815
what do you do

>>60184826
Currently a lease operator, but prior was site lead for a service company that relied heavily on automation, so I have a decent amount of experience dealing with troubleshooting PLC controlled systems and relay logic as well as various flavors of electromechanical process controls, just no real experience with the software side.

>>60185060
'berta?

>>60185076
South of that border. North Dakota (a huge hunk of the reason I can work my way into a position without proper certs -- not many with proper certs want to deal with living here).

From what I've heard, the tar sands are basically entirely dead now. Too expensive to operate.

>>60185127
i just came off of a huge project right in the middle of the tar sands. it's certainly not dead

>>60185150
That's good to hear. Thought a few times about heading either that way or up to Alaska to work, but then I remember both are north of here and Winter here blows ass, especially with the particular area I'm at because we have to use freshwater injection.

>>60185211
yeah, if you can't handle the cold don't bother coming any farther north.

i had another thought, if you wanted to go PLC route you may have to get education in EE. a lot of the guys I've spoken to doing that sort of thing are EEs.

out of curiosity, what's the name of the IDE you refer to in OP

Check out AutomationDirect and get a CLICK PLC for $70 and learn that shit. The software is even free so you don't even need the PLC unless you want the hands on portion.

>>60185244
I can handle it, but I'm beginning to hate it because of all of the problems it causes with our freshwater systems.

If I go back to school, I'll just do either a CE or Petro.

RSlogix...not fully sure it's correct to call it an IDE, but it's a similar idea.
>>60185273
Nice, thanks.

File: B&R.jpg (4MB, 4032x3024px) Image search: [Google]

4MB, 4032x3024px

I use B&R PLCs at work, but have also used Allen Bradley. Don't waste your time with ladder logic. Unless it's some stupid simple repetitive machine then you'll be using one of several other languages like C or C++, Structured Text (like Pascal), and more.

PLCs also require learning controller interfacing, standard IEC61131 languages, motor drives, sensors and monitoring, bus types (profibus, X2X, etc).

Long gone are the days of ladder logic unless you're just working with conveyors and other repetitive actions.

>>60185365
i don't suggest petro if you do, just based on what I've seen/heard around here. maybe it's different where you are. CE is top tier.

why not use glycol injection

>>60185375
how do you get into this?

>>60185365
Completely avoid Allen Bradley for learning. Their software and PLC lines are so convoluted you'll go crazy just trying to work with it. The software requires a USB key so you'll need to emulate that, and when a new PLC line comes out you can't always just upgrade the software, sometimes you have to do a complete install. So, if you work with multiple AB lines you'll have 3 or 4 different versions of their same software installed.

They have the majority market share, but compared to other companies like Beckhoff, B&R, etc they are in the stone age.

>>60185413
Work for a company that deals in automation or OEM machinery, and work your way into R&D and/or software development.

If you're thinking about doing 1-off projects you'll probably need a degree and some experience. Conveyor systems companies like Dematic do custom installs at every customer site so something like that would be what you are looking for.

>>60185449
>>60185413
And don't think about starting with flagship lines anytime soon. The B&R X20 PLC I posted above starts at $900 not including the Input/Output/Bus modules. Each of the 3 modules on the right cost about $300 each, and that's not counting the software which is $5,000 per user, and then the cables, and stepper drives, motors etc...

On an OEM machine with a controller, 2 drives, 2 motors, the cable interface, and software, you can easily do $10,000+ on JUST the PLC/Automation stuff.

>>60185375
>unless it's some stupid simple repetitive machine
Friend, around 1/4 of the stuff I work around was literally designed by farmers. The rest of it was thrown together by meth-head roustabouts which has required years and years of kludge fixes on top of kludge fixes to keep it running.
>>60185401
Yeah, not super stable and as a CE there's a running ton of other industries I could work in.

>why not use glycol injection
The fw injection systems are because the brine that comes up with the oil in this area is so salty it'll salt up everything if it's not diluted downhole. One of my wells is so bad we have to inject 120 bbl/day of freshwater to keep everything clear. As far as putting glycol into the fw to keep it from freezing, too expensive. We do use it as an antiscaling agent, but that's maybe a liter a day.

>>60185418
Thanks for the info. I aimed for them because everything here is AB.

>>60185496
The problem with Allen Bradley is old people own/operate factories and warehouses, and always REQUIRE Allen Bradley shit because that's all they know, so in the automation profession you have to know it even if you hate it.

They basically operate on their namesake and charge double what their competitors do for older hardware and software.

>>60185413
Not that anon, but I used to program/test PLCs professionally. I have a math degree, I just fell into it after university because I had friends in the industry. Now I do datashit though. I was hired as a plc/automation test engineer and then worked into programming.

>>60185516
>They basically operate on their namesake and charge double what their competitors do for older hardware and software.
In my prior job when I moved up enough to where I started having to purchase this stuff, my jaw dropped when I saw their pricing. Like $600 for a buzzer and a light on a dead simple circuit. That was also when I got introduced to how stupid businesses are. All that was screwed up on it was a single $0.30 capacitor was blown. They refused to let me solder a new one on and insisted on just replacing the entire thing.