Salvage PLC to play with, but...

[bornhandy]

I was at a salvage yard not long ago, and I saw 16 robotic arms, 4 turn tables, and a truck load of PLC cabinets being scrapped.  I asked if I could buy one of the cabinets, and the answer was no, but they let me take what was inside of a small cabinet (they only wanted the metal).  I got my hands on a q series - complete with a base unit, power supply, CPU, and a few i/o's.  Here is where I need a little help.

I want to play around with this setup, but there is no way I am buying the software for it.  Is it possible to use an open source PLC software to program and run this PLC?  I want to use it on an aquarium (of all things).

Any advice is welcomed.

[collinsd70]

4 hours ago, bornhandy said:

I was at a salvage yard not long ago, and I saw 16 robotic arms, 4 turn tables, and a truck load of PLC cabinets being scrapped.  I asked if I could buy one of the cabinets, and the answer was no, but they let me take what was inside of a small cabinet (they only wanted the metal).  I got my hands on a q series - complete with a base unit, power supply, CPU, and a few i/o's.  Here is where I need a little help.

I want to play around with this setup, but there is no way I am buying the software for it.  Is it possible to use an open source PLC software to program and run this PLC?  I want to use it on an aquarium (of all things).

Any advice is welcomed.

Hello BornHandy.

I believe there is a trial version of GX Developer that is free for a fixed amount of time/ steps.

You will have to browse the web for this as its not something ive ever had to do.

Just a heads up- if you are using Q00J, Q00, Q01 or Q02 (not Q02H) CPUs...you will also need to buy the serial lead to communicate with the PLC. Otherwise a standard Printer Cable can be used in conjunction with the EasySocket driver.

 

Regards

Daniel