The Complete PLCLearn Series - Basic PLC Use and Programming with RSLogix500
There are three elements in this learning series; Lectures, Lab Projects and Discussion of the results of the Lab Projects. The lectures are presented in a video disk set. The lab projects are provided in a step by step lab project manual and the discussions following each lab project are available on a video disk set. the most important of these three elements is the lab project manual, without which you will not have any hands-on experience and hands-on experience is absolutely mandatory to acquiring usable knowledge.
Currently, 80% of the Lectures are available free on our YouTube channel, however the lab discussions are almost useless without completing the projects in the manual.
Although it is more convenient to have both the Lectures and Lab Discussions on disks, you could watch the videos free on YouTube and do it in an organized way by visiting the virtual classrooms under the Classrooms tab in the main menu.
To complete the lab projects, you need software and hardware. You need Micro Starter Lite, RSLinx Lite and possibly Emulate 500. We provide all three of these on the Information Disk that is included free with both the lecture series and the lab discussion series of video disks.
It is possible, but not without difficulties, to complete the lab projects with 500 Emulate which uses a portion of your RAM to emulate an actual controller. We do not support any of this software, it is pro-gratis from Rockwell Software.
The best route for completing the lab projects is with a real PLC. All SLC500 and MicroLogix processors lend themselves to the projects in the manual...But...the projects were originally written with a Micrologix1000. You can use the LEDs on the face of the controller to display the state of the outputs but you need six switches connected to six input terminals to exercise the logic in the projects. With the controller, you need a power supply (24vdc) and a communications cable.
Not shown in the photo, the MicroLogix1000 learning station includes the power supply.