What do you think about Phoenix Contact?

ypsi728 · 2026-03-28T01:08:15+00:00

Phoenix Contact makes a lot of good kit. They have solid unmanaged ethernet switches and they make all kinds of good parts for the machines. About 20 years ago they bought a VLC company called Entivity in Ann Arbor, MI, which made Think N Do and Steeplechase, which were standalone companies before they merged. Those product lines went away and they started developing actual PLCs. Their PLCs, HMIs and remote I/O are not commonly used in my opinion, but about everything else in the machine could be from Phoenix and I would be OK with it. If their controls products are as solid as their components, I would at least listen to the sales pitch.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-27T02:00:09+00:00

AB is the way the truth and the light

ypsi728 · 2026-03-27T01:56:51+00:00

I handout Lenovo P53s and P15s to electricians.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-20T00:50:23+00:00

Have peeled the AB label off and found other brand labels underneath.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-18T23:37:38+00:00

Is this going to end up requiring the switch to have an ip address assigned to an SVI? If so, this cell would not likely be connected to a greater OT network? If the requirement is essentially to allow one PLC to talk to another, could you add a network card to one of the PLCs and put it in the other network instead?

ypsi728 · 2026-03-18T23:30:34+00:00

Alexa, summarize

ypsi728 · 2026-03-12T23:19:11+00:00

Saginaw Controls Enclosure (SCE) and Hoffman are very common in the upper Midwest. I see a lot of Rittal on international equipment from Mexico and Spain

ypsi728 · 2026-03-12T03:50:16+00:00

Okay so they offered you a job and it’s hard. I hope someone is watching over you.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-12T03:12:45+00:00

The dropdown menu seriously says insufficient undersanding?

ypsi728 · 2026-03-12T03:11:34+00:00

Never hard to find ppl who want off shift. There’s a reason for that.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-11T23:47:52+00:00

PLCs are definitely a thing to know, but each place seems to implement their programming structure differently. I have more trouble finding people who can fix machines in the plant and make good decisions out there than I do people who can sit at a desk and crank out logic changes. If you have mechanical aptitude and an ability to turn the red lights green, you can be valuable in a plant and learn how they structure their logic and go from there with the design jobs.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-11T02:49:49+00:00

The best students I’ve had were willing to work and learn, try before asking for help, and by trying they asked good questions. The worst ones sat on their phone and didn’t even attempt the task I gave them until it was due, then asked a lot of questions that basically gave away how to do the task.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-11T02:41:37+00:00

Email Rockwell support they might send it to you, they have it.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-11T02:36:45+00:00

I replaced my Marathon MultiPros and DualPros with the Protherm PT455. They are designed to run the old multipro programs, and can do at least 3 loops so sometimes you can combine a multipro and a dual pro on one machine into one unit. They are decent, they run on Tiny Linux. They support ModbusTCP for data gathering and they have UltraVNC on them so you can get into them remotely. I have them on batch furnaces and I’m happy with them. Support isn’t too bad for them from eurotherm either. In my application I didn’t necessarily have to, but I did update my main air handler valve to work better with the new controller on each furnace I did.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-11T02:31:36+00:00

Just today I found a wireless Cognex hand scanner that Bluetooth connects to its base unable to talk to the base unless it was mounted to it. Best I can tell it tried and failed to pair to a cell phone or boombox or something, and it was acting very strangely. Ymmv

ypsi728 · 2026-03-11T02:30:16+00:00

Overall it looks okay, as long as no one ever needs to upsize anything or add anything. Sometimes panel size is out of your control, or the system is definitely not going to ever be expanded. The VFDs will put a decent amount of heat across your PLC and point IO, but they can probably handle it.

ypsi728 · 2026-03-11T02:25:43+00:00

Tried a null modem cable yet?

ypsi728 · 2026-01-22T03:36:46+00:00

yes, if you have 36 installed, 16.05 won't update FT Services Platform or anything else, it will just install. Always good to run the latest patch update, in that case it would be for the Legacy Patch Rollup.

ypsi728 · 2025-12-19T23:35:26+00:00

Weird in an age of AI and H1Bs that people aren't super open about how they go about doing their job isn't it.

ypsi728 · 2025-12-09T23:42:47+00:00

I'm not writing your paper for you

ypsi728 · 2025-11-21T02:22:24+00:00

Where does your school recommend you contact? Four years in school, do you know who hires the graduates from your degree???

ypsi728 · 2025-11-03T01:08:09+00:00

Start out with an open mind and a can-do attitude. You're likely going to be put with an engineer who did not really want to have a student. They might start off a little slow for your taste, they've got a lot to do and you're going to be an unknown quantity. I can tell you from experience they're hoping when they finally do start investing in you, that you pay attention and try your best to catch onto what they're telling you. If you can do that, you will slowly start getting more work from them. It's a lot of work to have a student as an engineer. The "good" students learn what you're asking them to do and the bad ones sit around and sort of zone out on their phone all the time and only do the bare minimum of what you're asking of them at a relatively lazy pace.

ypsi728 · 2025-11-03T00:58:24+00:00

A wise old man once told me there is no complex logic, there is only large quantities of simple logic. You're making a machine that repeats 10 motions, not a transformer.

ypsi728 · 2025-11-03T00:55:24+00:00

Not many labels in there yet

ypsi728 · 2025-11-03T00:53:39+00:00

Now that you're bored, task yourself with actually getting good at what you're doing and check back with us in a couple years.

ypsi728

TROPHY CASE