Low-cost PLCs are compact PLCs
that are offered by manufacturers for programmers just like you and me;
those who need a complete system for skills development and exploration.
Within a very short time, you can be up and running,
creating and testing your own PLC programs
using a real PLC used widely throughout the automation industry.
Let’s explore a few Siemens S7-1200 PLC Starter Kits
that are available for immediate purchase and quick delivery.
There are many ways to learn how to program a PLC,
and RealPars offers many ways to get started.
Our collection of video series is well known
for its clear, concise presentation of a wide range of topics on PLC programming
and automation concepts.
But I may ask,
how can I get access to software and hardware
to practice the skills I have learned from the RealPars courses?
Trial versions of the programming software are great,
but what do I do after the short trial period ends?
And what about testing the software?
The simulation programs can be quite expensive.
At RealPars, we understand that automation engineers like you
want to get real world, hands-on experience with industrial PLC software and hardware
to build the skills that allow you to become more proficient in PLC programming.
And now you can!
Low-cost PLCs are compact PLCs
that are offered by manufacturers for programmers just like you and me;
those who need a complete system for skills development and exploration.
Siemens S7-1200 PLC starter kits are available at low cost
and come with fully licensed components.
Within a very short time,
you can be up and running, creating and testing your own PLC programs
using a real PLC used widely throughout the automation industry.
Basic starter kits include a PLC processor, software, and cabling.
Let’s explore a few Siemens S7-1200 PLC Starter Kits
that are available for immediate purchase and quick delivery.
I go to “marketplace.realpars.com”.
You can find the link in the video description.
In the search box,
I enter the part number “6ES7212-1BD34”.
The two items that appear are part numbers “6ES7212-1BD34-4YB0”
and “6ES7212-1BE34-4YB0”.
These two starter kits differ by only one letter in their part numbers.
The one that includes “1BD34” is an older version that is no longer available
so I need to go with the one that includes “1BE34”.
I can see that the starter kit includes an S7-1212C PLC,
TIA Portal Basic programming software, an 8 point input I/O simulator,
an Ethernet cable, and a hard plastic storage box, called a Systainer.
This PLC has a built-in 120VAC power supply.
I will need to wire the input power terminals to my local power source
using a power cord or other appropriate cabling.
The S7-1212C is a powerful, small PLC.
This PLC model is commonly used in onboard machine applications.
It has built-in I/O, including 2 analog inputs,
8 digital inputs, 4 of which can be high-speed counters,
and 6 AC/DC relay outputs.
The S7-1212C boasts 2 megabytes of memory
and a Profinet/Ethernet interface port.
This PLC model is equipped to be able to create the programs
for every “RealPars” course example,
including “Functions”, “Function Block”, “Data Block”,
“PID”, and “Interrupt Blocks”.
You can find the links to these courses in the video description.
This model also includes a basic runtime license for OPC UA
to assist in the communication of data to and from the PLC to other applications,
like data historians which is something you could not find with the older version.
To learn more about OPC UA,
you can check out the RealPars course library over at learn.realpars.com
and search for OPC.
A quick heads up,
you need to be a subscriber to be able to get access to the courses there.
For those who need a more advanced development starter kit,
there are several models that include all of the hardware and software
included with the Basic Starter Kit,
plus a basic HMI panel.
HMI panels allow the user to interact directly with the PLC logic,
just as a machine operator would.
The version of the starter kit shown here
includes a KP300 HMI Panel.
This panel has a 3 inch monochrome display with function keys
and a Profinet interface.
I can see that the price of this version of the starter kit
is more expensive than the basic kit,
but if I were to purchase all of these components separately,
the cost would be more than twice the price of the starter kit.
The next step up starter kit model includes a KTP400 HMI panel
which has a 4 inch color touchscreen display and a Profinet interface.
One more step up is a starter kit that includes the KTP700 HMI panel,
which has a 7 inch color touchscreen display and a Profinet interface.
If I need to gain experience with safety PLCs for hazardous systems control applications,
I may want to consider the S7-1200 Fail-Safe Starter Kit.
This starter kit includes an S7-1214 FC CPU,
one ProfiSafe digital input module,
one ProfiSafe digital output module,
and the other items contained in the basic starter kit.
This CPU only has 256 kilobytes of memory,
but this is more than adequate for most small safety PLC applications,
such as boiler damper control,
flammable gas monitoring,
and overpressure detection.
If my intent is to use a starter kit to serve as a testbed
for larger process logic development or simulations,
I can choose a starter kit with an S7-1500 CPU.
The starter kit shown here comes with an S7-1511T CPU,
power supply, SIMATIC memory card,
and all of the other items included in the Basic Starter Kit.
The S7-1500 starter kits come with TIA Portal Professional,
but with only a 1 year license activation.
This may seem like a negative,
but one year can offer an adequate period of time to develop and test
many sophisticated programs.
Other available S7-1500 starter kits, like the one shown here,
include the S7-1500 ProDiag module
which can be configured to provide machine and process diagnostics
through configuration instead of programming.
These diagnostics can be shown on operator panels
to aid in machine maintenance and troubleshooting.
In this video, I showed you a variety of low-cost PLC starter kit options
to meet a variety of programming, educational, and development needs.
Automation Engineers, like yourself,
will find the Siemens PLC starter kits affordable
and valuable for creating and testing PLC programs.
Many companies are purchasing these low-cost starter kits
for the training and development of their employees.
Order a starter kit and start your journey
towards becoming a proficient PLC programmer!
Want to learn PLC programming
in an easy to understand format
and take your career to the next level?
Head on over to realpars.com