Hello Guys,
This is my first post to AAC so I'll try to be descriptive enough here.
I have a project for construction equipment where I have a main PLC box, and 3 remote toggle switch boxes (each located about 75' away from the PLC).
The PLC contains all the programming needed to run various parts of the equipment and the 3 switchboxes each have a variety of 10 simple DC toggle switches (on/off, on/off/on, on/on.ect...) for a total of 18 switch states per remote box.
My PLC has two 32 point input cards for a total of 64 inputs to read the switch states and can read inputs ranging from 3VDC to 24VDC.
Currently I have things set up using a rather large 19pin cable for each switchbox to the PLC box, but this is rather large and at 75', pretty expensive. The nice thing about it is that the action of toggling and reading the switches is practically instant and all is running with 24VDC.
I am posting this to maybe find some ideas on how I can eliminate the large cables and use a single ethernet cable to power the switches and decipher and send the switch states from the switchbox to the PLC. I've seen this technology used in a lot of equipment but not sure what protocol is used to create this network.
I've done some research on Arduino networking, I2C, CAN bus, and others but am quite confused on which would work for my needs. Example, Some say that I2C will only be accurate for short distances and timing is very important for these switches (at least 50ms response time).
Any advice or ideas would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Vince
This is my first post to AAC so I'll try to be descriptive enough here.
I have a project for construction equipment where I have a main PLC box, and 3 remote toggle switch boxes (each located about 75' away from the PLC).
The PLC contains all the programming needed to run various parts of the equipment and the 3 switchboxes each have a variety of 10 simple DC toggle switches (on/off, on/off/on, on/on.ect...) for a total of 18 switch states per remote box.
My PLC has two 32 point input cards for a total of 64 inputs to read the switch states and can read inputs ranging from 3VDC to 24VDC.
Currently I have things set up using a rather large 19pin cable for each switchbox to the PLC box, but this is rather large and at 75', pretty expensive. The nice thing about it is that the action of toggling and reading the switches is practically instant and all is running with 24VDC.
I am posting this to maybe find some ideas on how I can eliminate the large cables and use a single ethernet cable to power the switches and decipher and send the switch states from the switchbox to the PLC. I've seen this technology used in a lot of equipment but not sure what protocol is used to create this network.
I've done some research on Arduino networking, I2C, CAN bus, and others but am quite confused on which would work for my needs. Example, Some say that I2C will only be accurate for short distances and timing is very important for these switches (at least 50ms response time).
Any advice or ideas would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Vince