Get the Big Picture on PLCs Fast, in 8 Printable Pages You Can Keep in Your Toolbag.
What you'll get
- What a PLC is and the 3 parts every system has (processor, inputs and outputs)
- How a PLC thinks, explained with a 27-step dishwasher cycle
- Discrete vs. analog I/O, common signal ranges, and sinking vs. sourcing settled
- The 6 instructions you'll use again and again (XIC, XIO, OTE, OTL/OTU, TON, CTU), with real Studio 5000 screenshots
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What's inside the cheat sheet
What a PLC is
From relay cabinets before 1968 to today's PACs, and the three categories that cover almost everything.
How a PLC thinks
Read the inputs, run the logic, drive the outputs. Thousands of times a minute.
The dishwasher, step by step
All 27 steps of a wash cycle. Each one is an input being checked, a timer running or an output switching on or off.
The processor (CPU)
Logic, memory and communications, plus the Allen-Bradley controllers you'll run into: PLC-5, SLC 500, ControlLogix and CompactLogix.
Inputs and outputs
Discrete vs. analog, common ranges like 4-20 mA, protocols like Modbus and EtherNet/IP, and sinking vs. sourcing.
Ladder logic
The six instructions that get you a long way, and a seal-in rung growing into a real program with a timer, a counter and a reset.
Where you go next
What to practice once you have the foundation.
Is this cheat sheet for you?
This is for you if...
- You're an electrician, maintenance tech or instrument tech who works around PLCs and wants the big picture in one place.
- You're an engineer who wants a quick refresher on Allen-Bradley hardware and ladder logic basics.
- You learn better with something printed in front of you that you can mark up.
- You've watched YouTube videos on PLCs and want the pieces tied together.
This is not for you if...
- You're already an automation pro looking for advanced, expert-level material.
- You want hands-on software training. This is an 8-page primer, not a course.
- You're looking to train a whole team. For that, email us at mark@myPLCtraining.com.
Meet Your Instructor
Stephen Gates
Stephen spent about 10 years as a controls and automation engineer at a switchgear company in Omaha, Nebraska. That role was mostly PLC programming, day in and day out.
In 2016 he started myPLCtraining to help electricians, techs, and engineers learn PLC programming and move up in controls and automation, so they could work more with their brain and less with their back, without going back to college.
Today myPLCtraining is an IACET accredited training provider. It has helped over 4,000 electricians, techs, and engineers learn PLCs, HMIs, and VFDs, and coached hundreds of students into new roles in controls and automation.
Students we've trained now work at companies like:
Weststream
Still got questions?
Yes. Fill out the form and you can download it right away.
8 pages: what a PLC is, how a PLC thinks, the full 27-step dishwasher cycle, the processor, I/O, the 6 ladder logic instructions you'll use most, and a seal-in rung that grows into a real program.
No. It starts with what a PLC is and uses a dishwasher to explain how one works.
Yes. It's a letter-size PDF. Print it, mark it up, keep it in your toolbag.
Fill out the form. You can download it on the next page, and I'll email you a copy too.
Get the big picture on PLCs in 8 pages.
Free PDF from Stephen Gates. Print it, mark it up, keep it in your toolbag.