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PLC foundations
One PLC from scratch, the networks it talks over, the HMI on the door and the panel it lives in. The four things a maintenance engineer meets on day one.
Step 1PLC programmingBeginnerSiemens TIA Portal
From zero electrical knowledge to a working, simulated S7-1200 program, for nothing.
- Read a ladder rung and predict what the PLC will do with it
- Wire sinking and sourcing sensors to an S7-1200 without guessing
- Build timers, counters and comparators into working interlocks
Step 2Industrial networksIntermediateIndustrial Communication: Serial, Fieldbus, Ethernet, Modbus, PROFINET and OPC UA
Every network a PLC engineer meets, from RS-485 and Modbus to PROFINET, EtherNet/IP and OPC UA, with hands-on PLC-to-PLC and Modbus configuration in TIA Portal.
- Explain the OSI model, Ethernet, IP addressing and subnets
- Wire RS-485 and read a Modbus frame, function code and address
- Place PROFIBUS DP and PA, DeviceNet, AS-i and IO-Link
Step 3HMIBeginnerHMI Design and Programming: Siemens WinCC and FactoryTalk View ME
What an HMI is and how to design one well, then two mainstream tools end to end: Siemens WinCC in TIA Portal and Rockwell FactoryTalk View Machine Edition on PanelView Plus, with WinCC flexible for the legacy base.
- Design a high-performance HMI: grey ground, colour for abnormal, screen hierarchy
- Build a WinCC TIA project with templates, connection, tags, screens, animation, text lists, pop-ups
- Configure alarms, trends, recipes, users, scripts, libraries and languages in WinCC
Step 4ElectricalBeginnerElectrical Control Panel Design, Building and Testing
What is inside a PLC panel and why, components, wiring diagrams, 2-wire and 3-wire control, sensors and commons, building a UL 508A panel step by step, workmanship, cooling and factory acceptance testing.
- Name every part of a PLC control panel and what UL 508A covers
- Choose relays, contactors, overloads, transformers and terminal blocks, and state the SCCR
- Read a PLC wiring diagram and wire 2-wire and 3-wire control
How the path works
Join the path and every course is added to your account at once, each with its own progress, notes, quizzes and final. Take them in the order shown: each assumes the one before. Module quizzes are five plain questions and the final is twenty, pass mark 50%, with unlimited retries, so the assessment checks that you followed the lessons rather than testing exam nerves.
Questions
- Is the PLC foundations free?
- Yes. Every course in the path is free in full: lessons, notes, practice tasks and assessments. Joining the path adds all of them to your account in one step. The only paid item is the optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion for each course.
- In what order should I take the courses?
- In the order listed: each course assumes the one before it. Every course keeps its own progress, quizzes and certificate, so you can also take one on its own.
- Do I get one certificate for the whole path?
- Certificates are per course, issued when you pass that course's final assessment and bought only if you want them. Finishing every course in a path gives you one certificate per course.