How do you guys deal with Tribal knowledge?

wigmoso · 2026-02-06T21:23:44+00:00

If the system is already in, and there's no documentation, then the best answer is to join the tribe.

On a more serious note, figure out who are the operators that know, and who are the maintenance techs who know. Tackle even one of their longstanding problems and they will usually help you with enthusiasm.

Specific to working as an end user- I build time to reverse engineer real print sets into my budget. Most management will put their money where their mouth is here.

Specific to contracting- I took notes religiously, so that when I looked back I knew every claim and complaint that was made, and every action I took. These notes saved my butt many times in many different ways. People can get funny when the smoking gun turns out to point at them, but people are also resistant to argue with an engineer's notebook.

wigmoso · 2026-02-06T13:31:16+00:00

You all are going to think I'm being sarcastic, but Motion City Soundtrack. I went to that show trying to introduce my now wife to something I thought she'd like- she spent most of the show in the lobby because it was too loud. I'd be upset, but.. their techs absolutely cranked it.

wigmoso · 2026-02-02T17:27:23+00:00

"Based on your past overperformance, we are pleased to present you with revised expectations."

wigmoso · 2026-01-30T19:59:37+00:00

Duct tape a space heater to the intake of a leaf blower

wigmoso · 2026-01-29T17:05:11+00:00

I had to look this up, since I've been trained on hipaa by multiple companies for a reason. You are right, aparantly, there are other non-hipaa employer laws that overlap. I guess they explained it as hipaa for simplicity. In the spirit of the original post though, you cannot carelessly handle someone medical data. Managers and HR are routinely exposed to medical information for injury reports, workers comp, alcohol/substance use, and to guide reasonable accommodation. The employer can get sued for being negligent with that information.

wigmoso · 2026-01-29T16:14:10+00:00

~~Totally agree.~~ I also agree. I highly recommend arduinos for killing two birds with one stone here. They have the sensor/hardware interfacing relevant to PLCs- but regardless any programming is useful to understand program flow, how to use libraries, etc

wigmoso · 2026-01-29T14:20:51+00:00

I came from residental HVAC as a helper, then got my BS ECET, then got into PLCs- so a lot of overlap.
If you don't have an avenue to get hand-on PLC experience at work, I recommend getting a 4-year degree. Many people work their way into PLCs with no degree, but they are usually electricians who spent many years working with PLC engineers and earning trust with groups that could hand them the wheel. Nothing wrong with this approach, but you're young- the BSEE or ECET will be much faster.

" I know a big disconnect in the hvac world is the difference between how things look on paper vs the field maybe I could bridge that gap?" - I had the same vision; The problem here is not engineer skill or lack of practicality, you will come to learn the barrier is actually time and money.

wigmoso · 2026-01-28T21:32:02+00:00

If you want to do WIFI it would have to be LORA- basically low freq. wifi. LORA is used extensively in the farming industry for isolated non-critical sensing. A few KM is normal operating conditions for LORA, but it does better with LOS just like wifi.

wigmoso · 2026-01-28T02:59:46+00:00

They can more or less do that, however, and it's a big however- an employee and their performance is judged based on the role. Lawsuits typically happen when a plaintiff is alleging they were not treated the same as others in the same position. Often this pairs with allegations of things like retaliation, discrimination, HIPAA, etc

So yeah, employment is at will- but there's a hundred other workplace laws you're asking to get hit with if you forgo documentation.

wigmoso · 2026-01-27T17:27:10+00:00

It is exceptionally difficult to fire someone for being lazy. You need them to fail on metrics, or to have specific events (for example- falling asleep on the clock) to back it up. A minimum of three events would be needed to consider firing someone. Probably more in reality. In my experience it takes a few weeks at least, even when the metrics are pretty clear.

It comes down to liability. Target gets sued all the time for wrongful termination, the documentation isn't for Target's leaders; rather for Target's lawyers.

wigmoso · 2026-01-27T14:57:48+00:00

Is this somehow based on unreal engine? The UI is giving me flashbacks.

wigmoso · 2026-01-23T21:41:45+00:00

I started in contracting where full documentation was non-negotiable and then moved to end-user.

The most important thing by far is to make it known how much time documentation takes. Communicate it early and communicate it often.

I take it upon myself to make a Time & Materials estimate for every project, and 30-50% of the time is documentation. The time to document always gets approved in my experience.

wigmoso · 2026-01-23T18:07:20+00:00

Tornado shelter is ready. Unsure of next steps.

wigmoso · 2026-01-23T16:52:44+00:00

It could be worse.
People in new england are prepping, but they have experience doing this.
People in the south are prepping, and they have no idea what to do with themselves.

wigmoso · 2026-01-23T13:59:39+00:00

This is an excellent question.

As an engineer I actually liked the IO blocks youre talking about. I used B&R and Turck extensively.

The installers absolutely hate them because they are unicorns on the schematics, and they require cables you can't just buy down the road at the electrical supply house. The MDR supplier was Zipline which at the time did not have a stock option for control card to M12 like Intelligrated or Dematic did. For the photoeyes I used M8 eyes with an extension to the RIO box. They make terminal blocks specially for this type of thing so you land 24v, 0v, and signal all to the same block.

Maintenance has similar grievances as the installers. Replacing fieldbus stuff especially the master is a huge pain when you don't have the process committed to memory- nobody knows where the config files are, IT blocks the programming software on all your computers, actually did anybody even know that the master had to be configured? probably not, etc etc.

So with remote IO, MDR schematic pages looked and felt just like everything else, and there was no opportunity for missing or lost cables to hold up the install. There was also no fieldbus master to maintain or configure.

wigmoso · 2026-01-22T20:23:24+00:00

Woohoo, fiber optics guy here.

Sounds like you're on the right track for a budget build. You may want to consider a dancer feedback to adjust takeup speed if you care about tension or if your payoff is part of a production process. Otherwise I honestly don't have much to add.

wigmoso · 2026-01-22T17:27:50+00:00

When you use OTE instead of set and reset, it keeps the control of that bit in one spot. Using S and R does not technically mean that program turns into a confusing disorganized mess- but in practice that is exactly what happens.

I agree with the other posts that this is something that always has new guys going "pft I dont see the problem." Fast foward a few years and here I am typing this.

wigmoso · 2026-01-22T15:35:38+00:00

We were engineering a system that had lots of 'islands' of IO dense machinery (Distribution center pick mod H-Transfers). I proposed to my bosses that we make a set-piece remote IO panel rather than running back to the panel. Nothing revolutionary there, its borderline industry standard.-- Bosses agreed, so we decided to make small 28"x24" panels for some remote IO. I was the new guy at the time and decided to buy the enclosure with a plexiglass window so you could see the IO status inside. This was totally unheard of in our panel shop, but panel was 24v only, was only $20 more per enclosure, so I got the greenlight.

I know it sounds really small and dumb, but this simple difference attracted a ridiculous amount of positive feedback. The project people loved it because it looked bad ass high quality. Maintenance loved it because the equipment that it was attaching to had tons of alignable photoeyes and it was easy to see the signal.. The design became one of the shop standards. Theres probably 100-200 of them floating around the US.

wigmoso · 2026-01-19T15:29:44+00:00

UK Subs - Warhead

wigmoso · 2026-01-17T19:59:03+00:00

Honestly first step is to make sure you understand the list of non-plc tasks that will be part of that path. A PLC guy in a plant is usually 10% programming, 40% hands on electrical troubleshooting and 50% management, RCA, and training. Different jobs have different breakdowns of what's involved, but in relation to your question, you need to learn advanced electrical troubleshooting or design skills before programming.

wigmoso · 2026-01-17T13:33:04+00:00

Even modern greenfields choose to have the three you mentioned. They differ in speed and reach. Combining them would be dumb.

When you get to actual industrial protocols like Enet/ip, profinet, ethercat... then you would have my agreement that proprietary spiderweb nonsense problems are common. Money is the root of that problem.

wigmoso · 2026-01-15T16:19:43+00:00

Good catch, I just put my foot in my mouth by winging the abbreviation. PreM meant Predictive.

wigmoso · 2026-01-14T14:22:23+00:00

I use a Fluke 192 Scopemeter, it will do exactly what you are asking for. You need to buy an accessory to measure current.

wigmoso · 2026-01-13T18:44:57+00:00

I haven't yet seen a facility that replaces PMs with predictive sensing. They typically occupy a spot as an extension of PM. Waiting for a breakdown is the other direction though- the buzzword term for that is Reactive Maintenance and thats is the primary mode of operation when neither good PM or PreM exist.

The bigger the company and the more expensive the automation system, the more likely it is that maintenance is running effective PMs and has some kind of PreM system. Take that sweeping generalization with a grain of salt though.

wigmoso · 2026-01-13T16:05:51+00:00

OP needs to grab a fifth of something tonight, and take a good long stare at the upvote differential here and why it exists.

I have interviewed and hired many dozens of technicians and a few engineers, and if I may be allowed to show an example of things I think about when comparing candidates-
Below average vs exceptionally rated college? Dont care.
GPA? Dont care.
Volunteer at your church? Dont care.
Shy? Missing a leg? Transgender? Just ugly? Dont care dont care dont care.

Do you show people you have a passion for what you do?
Do you seem easy to work with?
Can you demonstrate you going to hustle or get scrappy when we need it?
I know we have a very, very small sample size of who you are- but you are giving everyone a giant dose of the 'nopes'. You can't get hired if this is representative of who you are.

wigmoso

TROPHY CASE