Hello, I would like to learn PLC programming with different types of languages (ladder, fbd, sfc,...).
What free simulator to download do you suggest?
Thanks.

 

if you are serious about learning PLC programming, select product you are likely to actually use a lot and then - get a real PLC + Software for that platform...

while there are language types (ladder, fbd etc.) they tend to be brand specific. only a small part of instruction set matches other brands. on top of that memory maps, I/O, resources like timers, counters, system area are also quite different. anyone who has ever done translating of the code (and I do not mean trivial cases with just few lines of code) would tell you how quickly differences pile up. some brands will have very comfortable set of features and support customization and constructs like structures, enumeration, unions etc. while others will be very crude. getting data to and from individual IO module can be trivial on some and daunting on others...

so... my advice is to get a product you plan on using and learn on it.

 

Thanks for the your advice.
I downloaded Zelio Soft Simulator.
What do you think about it?

 

i don't use PLCs much any more and when i do, it is normally the "big guns" (hundreds of IOs, motion control, several network types,...).

i only have very limited exposure to Zelio and it is not recent, more like 15-20 years ago. from what i recall it is a small PLC better known as a smart relay and was rather nice compared to alternatives. i have one kicking around but i rarely touched small products like this. as i remember it was nice. modern variants include more features including analog IOs and ethernet which mine does not.