Programmable logic controllers

**cncezee** · 02-11-2010

:naughty: I have a garage full of these http://www.usedplcs.co.uk/usedplcs/m.../sattcon05.pdf:confused:
I have the main units SDA i have the SD32D, i also have programming heads and a few other bit n bobs.
THOUGHT.....it's rare for one of my age but here we go!!!
Can these be used to etend I/O capability with Mach3 or EMC
Can they be used at all with a cnc setup??

Comon all you brainy wizos:question:

**Gary** · 03-11-2010

If it has Modbus then yes, but having a skim through the manual, i cant see that it does.

**ecat** · 03-11-2010

Good news! I've tracked down one of the programming manuals :)

http://www.usedplcs.co.uk/usedplcs/m...s%20Manual.pdf

Bad news! Even if you can get past the instruction set it looks to be a bit of a dog :(

Following Gary's comment I though it may be possible to write your own Modbus protocol handler, the ASCI version is quite simple. Looking at the programmers manual I can see no way of accessing the COM port directly, I can see a way of possibly sending messages, I cannot see a way of receiving them.

The Satcon05 range included a fancy basic module which may provide more flexibility, which CPU modules do you have?

Another possibility would be to link the parallel port inputs and outputs directly to one of the digital I/O modules. You could perhaps interpret the intentions of Mach3 or EMC and perform some additional processing before passing on the drive or returning the input but I don't know what this would achieve.

One last worry, the maximum speed of the 'fast' inputs appears to be 2kHz and the few scan times mentioned are in milliseconds, I suspect these old units are too slow to do anything meaningful?

To end on some good news, the controllers do have built in PID support. Perhaps useful for spindle speed control but again old hardware that may be better suited to controlling the temperature of your home-brew.

**cncezee** · 03-11-2010

Hi Gary,
Thanks for your input, perhaps i should also have given this link http://www05.abb.com/global/scot/sco...Data_Sheet.pdf
Which deals with the as i have called the programming head, in there it mentions somthing like Sattbus is this like modbus??

**cncezee** · 03-11-2010

Hi Ecat, thanks but i was afraid that i had a dozen or so boxes of dogs

Last hope before i scrap them is the link i posted below again

http://www05.abb.com/global/scot/sco...Data_Sheet.pdf

**ecat** · 03-11-2010

SattBus appears to be a highly specialised protocol, I doubt anything other than these controllers understand it.

The other protocol supported be these controllers is COMLI which again appears proprietry though there is little information. It is possible to communicate with a modem using CHA and TXT, the latter allows for the transmision of text strings - this is good, the former may allow you to read incoming characters - little information available so you would need to try it to see if the controller can keep up with an incoming message.

If the controller you have is an OP45 then that is a very nice keyboard and display, it would be a shame to waste it. My 1st thought was trying to interface with a set of digital calipers :) but I don't think the controler is fast enough :(

http://pcbheaven.com/exppages/Digita...pic=chinesebin

Certainly you can display messages on the LCD screen and switch digital signals and analogue values from any connected I/O modules in response to key presses... Perhaps you should stay the trip to the skip (1) for a couple of days and see if any use comes to mind.

(1) It is of course frowned upon to throw any sort of tech. item in your general rubbish bin. They call it recycling but after much though I've realised this green ideal is nothing but a smoke screen to hide the real reason: You throw your old pocket calculator in the rubbish bin and a week or so later it ends up at a landfill site. See where I'm going with this? Landfill sites are always heavilly populated by seagulls, only now, thanks to your pocket calculator, they are seagulls with the ability to do trigonometry! Ha! What next? An old PC set-up and they're on the internet, an old mobile phone and they are making annoying phone calls, all powered by half dead batteries. Seagulls are frightening enough, but now armed with D.I.Y death-ray plans from the 'net and advanced communication devices so they may plan their attack I fear the days of mankind would be numbered! It may be a smoke screen but recycle I tell you, recycle now or the dinosaurs will once again be masters of the Earth.

well, its a theory, lol