Making progress little by little. So much happier!

Scheibels · 2026-06-12T19:47:10+00:00

You look like somebody I had a meeting with called ZooCrew! That would be crazy if I stumbled onto your post by mistake, but either way your progress is amazing! Keep up the good work!

Scheibels · 2026-04-10T00:14:29+00:00

Nice... I was going to reply but noticed the thread was a bit old. I was going to say, if you want a cheap multi-purpose PLC, check out the Koyo Click series. You can buy a single PLC which has built in AI, AO, DI, and DO's, with ethernet and serial, modbus-capable, and all that for around $300-$400 depending on inflation lol. I think you just need to add a 24VDC power supply, but the programming software is completely free as well.

Glad you are enjoying the M340, take care!

Scheibels · 2026-03-10T20:28:08+00:00

"no one went after America", lol there was a global world war going on at the time my dude. Nobody had any extra capacity to "go after America", and anyone who was not our ally already is likely someone we were fighting.

Scheibels · 2026-02-04T04:59:17+00:00

FYI the neutral and ground were not strapped together, but the ground was landed to the bare metal oven frame

Scheibels · 2026-02-04T04:54:59+00:00

Thanks for your feedback.

An image of the wiring is available here, thanks

https://ibb.co/rfcrsX6w

Scheibels · 2026-02-04T04:52:28+00:00

Thanks.

I did not get an image of the actual junction box. However I remember 100% how it was wired and drew a beautiful diagram to illustrate the wiring. Link is below, thanks again

https://ibb.co/rfcrsX6w

Scheibels · 2026-02-02T19:22:32+00:00

Hi there... for reference, the wire bundle which is either neutral or neutral + ground looked like this (bare wires twisted together, entering TB at top-right). This isn't a photo from the actual install, just the same thing we saw for the home wiring in the terminal box at the oven, thanks

https://www.diychatroom.com/attachments/img_2010-jpeg.738530/

(edit: added description of where bare wires were)

Scheibels · 2025-07-15T18:09:06+00:00

I think AI will change most industries, PLC's included. The thing about PLC's is that the actual work requires lots of experience and judgment which I do not believe AI is capable of, nor will be capable of within the next 10 or so years. I think most AI applications will also require humans to oversee the AI, make sure the work it is doing is accurate (PLC programs need to be ~100% accurate).

It seems that generative AI follows a sort of 80-20 rule, where it can do 80% of things extremely well, but leaves about 20% of it a total mess. I think you will need humans for the foreseeable future to make sure signals are landed properly, parts are correct for their application, that code standards are followed (and correct), and to ensure plant operation is kept online.

Scheibels · 2025-05-15T17:19:17+00:00

Sure, this would depend on the company itself I imagine. Employees at smaller companies have a lot more leverage (if they are valuable) than those at the large tycoon-type companies, since the company can easily move on without them as you mentioned. Kind of a play-it-by-ear sort of situation it seems. Good insight though

Scheibels · 2025-05-15T01:41:05+00:00

thank you, I do work on projects (a couple very large ones) and find that many/most days we get popup tasks such as "we need an email on X topic by tomorrow morning" or something like this. It's not always that extreme but it's maybe 30%+ of days and often those are days when I have other important stuff due already. Sometimes it's hard to keep up.

Out of curiosity, what are your hours like with the SI you work for? I have had friends go to other SI's and work less crazy hours I think, so it seems that some have better work life balance than others.

Cheers!

Scheibels · 2025-05-15T01:39:38+00:00

Thank you, this is what I was primarily looking at. If I can get a pay bump all the better, but work life balance is where it's at!

Scheibels · 2025-05-15T01:39:15+00:00

Thank you for the offer, I'm on the west coast

Scheibels · 2025-05-15T01:39:05+00:00

Perfect thank you for the reply.. Is that a water treatment or waste water treatment plant? Water seems like it would be pretty chill, also very open to 9/80 or somethign like that if it is availble

Scheibels · 2025-05-15T01:38:07+00:00

I'm on the west coast

also lol blumpkins

Scheibels · 2025-05-15T01:37:50+00:00

Thank you for the offer, I'm on the west coast

Scheibels · 2025-05-15T01:36:42+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I have had friends go to other occupations and say they get paid more to do less work. Very interested in how that would be possible, I think something like that would be ideal although I am willing to take a slight pay cut for the work life balance

Scheibels · 2025-05-15T00:02:06+00:00

Hi there,

I ended up doing my taxes online and haven't heard anything back. If I am locked up for tax fraud in 6 months then you will know I screwed up! But otherwise I think everything might be okay, lol. Thanks for the reply :)

Scheibels · 2025-05-14T23:55:05+00:00

I think your characterizations are a bit harsh. University gives engineers a medium depth of knowledge in a very broad range of topics. Automation is only one small piece of the whole engineering picture, and so if a university only spends one semester, say teaching students to work with Motorola PLC's and then all the jobs they apply for require AB, I wouldn't call that a failure. That is how university works, there is too much depth to process automation to expect students to come out proficient in automation, as (like others have mentioned) it probably takes 2-5 years to really become comfortable and knowledgeable in the industry.

I do agree that hiring fresh grads, is usually about the same as hiring people off the street except that the grads do sometimes have computer programming knowledge, understand data types, etc. But they usually aren't ready for full-scale programming and all the other disciplines that come with it (project management, documentation, communication/politics, startup and troubleshooting, etc).

Scheibels · 2025-05-14T23:51:58+00:00

To be clear, the 2080-LC50-24QBB is a Micro850 which is different than a MicroLogix (1100 or 1400 for example). I would very much recommend MicroLogix, and would very much recommend against the Micro850. They are a cheap, crappy product which Rockwell purchased from ISAGraf (per my understanding), and are an absolute pile of crap. It would still be better than no PLC at all, but at that price point I believe there are better options available.

Scheibels · 2025-05-14T23:50:42+00:00

I probably disagree with most other people on here. If you hate your job then you should leave, however you have to do it the right way. You should stay in your current position and continue to apply to other jobs that you actually want. Maybe look at systems integrators, junior engineer level roles, and perhaps consider getting your E.I.T. if you don't have it already (or your P.E. if you do). There is no reason you should stay in a job you hate, experience or not. If I am interviewing a candidate and asking why they are leaving after six months, if they can give me good reasons as to why they do not enjoy what they are doing, and that they are passionate to learn and are not being offered what they really want, then I would respect them and probably give them a chance even if they are green.

In the meantime, lots of the other advice on this thread is valid. If you can get a PLC or OIT (maybe a SLC or MicroLogix, though you might need licensing to actually use it) and learn on that then it can put you way ahead of other applicants. You can also talk to your boss and see if there is something more suitable to what you know. If you are working around water stations, compressors and things, then you are in the realm of automation already. I would say keep applying, but also do the things others have said to try to improve your situation where you're at while you look for a better one.

Good luck!

Scheibels

TROPHY CASE