Siemens PLC Guides

Like most things in life, a little planning up front can save a lot of effort and frustration later in the project. PLC programming is a visual style programming. There will often be temptation to just type out a list of instructions rather than use a function block which requires looking up the purpose of each pin in the manual. But the visual functionality of the PLC program becomes important when usig the simulation environment and fault finding of the logic later in the life cycle of the PLC program. What seem eacy when there are just a few lines of code becomes a nightmare when there are thousands of lines. So plan a good structure for your PLC porgram, so that you can easy find the code you need to when there a problems.

PLCs use various programming languages, including Ladder Logic (LD), Function Block Diagram (FBD), Structured Text (ST), Instruction List (IL), and Sequential Function Chart (SFC). The IEC 61131-3 Standard defines the different PLC programming languages and provides a framework for PLC programming.

Connecting to PLC steps

Open TIA Portal

• Use TIA Portal to connect to the S7-1500 PLC

Configure Hardware

• In TIA Portal, you'll configure the PLC's hardware.

Assign IP Address

• In the hardware configuration, you'll specify the IP address you want to use for the PLC, along with the subnet mask and gateway address.

Download and Start

• After configuring the IP address, you'll download the hardware configuration to the PLC and start it.

Factory Settings

• If you need to reset the PLC to factory settings, you can use TIA Portal to do so, which will also reset the IP address to 0.0.0.0.

IP Address Conflicts

• Be aware of potential IP address conflicts on your network. It is always best to power up one device at a time and configure the IP adress. Duplicate IP address have unpredictable results that does not immediately indicate the fault.