Hi everyone,
For a plastic recycling factory that we'll create for an association (small project, non-professional), I am looking for the easiest way to wire all of our machines in a PLC. Given our staff and scale, cost-effectiveness and simplicity is a must. So is node-red.
Industrial Shields looks like a strong contender, but of they are very active as a company, I just cannot find any actual projects done with them.
Has anyone with experience with them and is willing to share ? If anyone with similar hardware requirements has recommendation of tools or such node-red based PLCs, it would be great to hear to.
Thanks,
In the past, I have used Node-RED alongside an OPTO22 controller which, although not strictly a PLC, was easy to work with once the communication protocol was understood.
Your question is very open...
If you were to state which PLC you are trying to use, along with the intended interface method (RS232, USB, Network), then people might be able to help at least point you in the right direction.
It's very broad indeed as nothing is set yet, it's all mostly a blank sheet as of now. We've been doing things on the go for the past few years and finally got a proper place for our activities and will restart from scratch.
I will not need necessarily a PLC in it's strict classical sense. More specifically, I want a easy-to-use small edge device that fits on a din rail, that has at least 8 analog inputs and 8 digital outputs, that is fully integrated with node red for ease of programming and UI. It needs to be CE certified with EU regulation, no need for fully safety graded like an actual PLC for our use case. It would be mostly a SCADA system, with some extremely basic automation with some actuators for fans and visual alarms. We'd mostly use network.
Fitting this description best in our price range seems to be Industrial Shields. Another option we're considering is a Controllino as we have someone who could develop an interface with a direct raspberry for node-red Integration. RevPi looks great and more serious but is too expensive for our use case (yup, we're that short on cash), same with UniPi whose cost/IO ratio is not very competitive. Groove looks great too but we cannot afford it either, especially since the Rio model isn't available in Switzerland.
But more broadly, I figured that since there are no discussions on that subject, any general feedback is welcome !
Not being affiliated with them at all, I'd propose to look at SferaLabs' StratoPi products, e.g. the StratoPi Max. You can customize this to your demands & they actively maintain a suite of node-red nodes to interact with the peripherals. Not sure yet if it fits into your budget...
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A lot of people use RPi with ESP8266 style devices, or perhaps, Sonoff or Shelly devices. Many people do not use the IO pins of the RPi due to their reliability, and if they do fail, they can cause problems with the 'brain' of the whole setup. However, you state that you need all the approvals for your device, so 'Home Brew' is probably not your best route.
As @ralphwetzel has said, there are devices out there that are improvements to the RPi original construction to help mitigate these problems and offer industrial ruggedness. There are also many SCADA Nodes written for Node-RED, not that I have used any of them, but there are Topics within the Forum that discuss it.
This time of the year is when many people are with their Families and take a few days off, so hopefully, come the New Year, more people will be around to offer further advice.
