No i don't have access to the PLC ladder. I've made an appointment with a friend. He is an electronic engineer and electronic lab supervisor at the university. They have a Siemens S7-300 PLC in their lab.

I would assume the Lab also has the program/monitoring S/W?
If it it was portable, i.e. loaded in a Lap Top, it might pay to buy him a couple of beers to swing by and down load a copy of the ladder after classes, this could then be displayed in the Lab environment for diagnosis purposes.
I would be very surprised if the location where the PLC system is installed does not at least have the physical I/O addresses in hard copy etc for maintenance purposes.
If they don't have Any information, someone slipped up when having the equipment installed!
Max.

 

I believe you will find the time spent with your friend interesting and enlightening. During my career I was fortunate in that I had the opportunity to work with several really great ME types. Frequently projects required extensive collaboration for developing test jigs and fixtures. Many a meeting and conversation often proved humorous as I applied my weak mechanical skills trying to explain what I wanted and the same was true across the aisle. We each needed to learn the other's side of the fence. Well enough to converse anyway.

Ron

So true what you are saying Ron. I'm so so glad that tomorrow i will finally be able to see how a PLC works.

 

I would assume the Lab also has the program/monitoring S/W?
If it it was portable, i.e. loaded in a Lap Top, it might pay to buy him a couple of beers to swing by and down load a copy of the ladder after classes, this could then be displayed in the Lab environment for diagnosis purposes.
I would be very surprised if the location where the PLC system is installed does not at least have the physical I/O addresses in hard copy etc for maintenance purposes.
If they don't have Any information, someone slipped up when having the equipment installed!
Max.

Hi Max, Tomorrow i will see how the PLC is set up. I will ask him to have a copy of the ladder. Can't wait till tomorrow.