Control Panel Build Series Part 19- Wiring Analog Signals

Wiring_Analog_Signals_Panel_Build_Series_Part_19.pdf

Wiring Analog Signals

Read the hardware manual for the PLC to ensure that you are wiring everything properly - Double check your drawings and compare the manual to make sure it is correct - Follow your drawings, as wiring analog signals can be more labor intensive and tedious Depending on the hardware that is being used, you may to wire the PLC side of the signal, but in our case, we are using pre-wired harnesses that have the PLC side of the signal already wired. - We will only be wring the terminal block side of the signal Understand that analog signals will most likely use twisted shielded wire, and this can be different for standard wire. - Again, make sure to reference the PLC manual to determine if you need to land the shielded portion on the wire anywhere within the PLC or control panel. There are more conductors typically with analog signals, so it is easier to make mistakes - Take your time and follow your plans closely - Make sure not to fray or “birdcage your wires in anyway to avoid potential issues later on If jumpers are being used, make sure they are secured properly, as this can cause issues or short circuits later on if they are not installed correctly. Make sure that you have a complete loop in your wiring. - Ensure that the power is being distributed to the correct location, and either N or DC- is landed correctly. Go slow, review often.

Transcript:

[0m:4s] Hi I'm Josh Bloom, welcome to another video in the RSP Supply education series. If you find that these videos are helpful to you, it certainly helps us out if you could give us a big thumbs up and subscribe to our channel.
[0m:16s] In today's video, we will move on to the next step in building an industrial control panel.
[0m:21s] If you haven't already seen the other videos in this series, we encourage you to go back and watch from the beginning so that you might better understand the entire process.
[0m:30s] The step in which we will focus on today is continuing on in the wiring phase of the build, but focusing on wiring, analog inputs and outputs for their control panel.
[0m:41s] Now that we have completed the digital signal wiring, we can move on to the rest of the IO wiring in the panel.
[0m:48s] When wiring analog signals, it can be very tedious and easy to make a mistake due to the amount of terminations required for each signal.
[0m:57s] It is important to include your shielding when making terminations and to properly identify each wire. Unlike digital signals, which can be much more forgiving if mistakes are made analog signal wiring requires much more focus and time and can be very unforgiving when mistakes are made.
[1m:16s] As always, the process in which we'll discuss today it's just one method of many that can be performed to achieve the very same results. So let's get to it.
[1m:25s] When wearing analog signals, much like with digital signals, it's important that we take some time up front to review the hardware manual for our PLC to ensure that our drawings are correct and that we are wiring everything and all of our signals properly. Analog signals can be a little bit more complex than just a standard digital signal,

[1m:48s] and so we're more prone to make mistakes during the step. So again reviewing the manual and our drawing is a really good plan to make sure that we don't make any mistakes during this phase of the wiring process. We want to, again, make sure that we follow our drawings as we start very, very closely. Again, analog signal wiring is much more labor intensive can be very, very tedious, so we got to take our time. Follow our drawings,
[2m:19s] and we should be just fine.
[2m:21s] Just like digital signals as well, depending on the hardware that's being used, specifically the PLC,

[2m:27s] we may need to wire the PLC side of the signal. In the case of this particular build we're not going to have to do that because just like with our digital signals,

[2m:37s] we have a pre wired harness from the factory that are is provided our PLC

[2m:44s] that just plugs into the PLC itself, so we don't need to wire the PLC side of the signal.
[2m:49s] We're going to be just wiring the terminal block side of the signal. So for these analog signals, we are just using this prewired hardness, wiring those into our terminal blocks. So again, depending on the hardware that you use, in some cases you may need to wire that PLC side

[3m:5s] as well, which can increase the amount of labor in your wiring job. So keep that in mind, depending on the hardware that you use.
[3m:14s] Also understand that the wire that's going to be used with analog signal wiring is different than standard wire. Most likely we're going to be using a twisted shielded wire. This can be quite a bit different and we need to make sure again that we reference the PLC manual just to make sure that the shielded portion of that wire is landed in the right spot, or it may not be to be landed at all in between the Plc and our terminal block. It may be that it only needs to be landed from the instrument itself on the field side, but we need to make sure that we again reference the manual to make sure that it doesn't need to be landed

[3m:57s] between the PLC and our terminal block, and again, our drawings hopefully have this there as well. But again, it's something we need to double check. So understand that you're going to be using a different type of wire for this analog wiring portion of the build.
[4m:9s] Also, one thing to keep in mind is there are going to be quite a bit more conductors with analog students excuse me signals, so it's a lot easier, again, to make mistakes during this step. So we want to again take your time. Just follow your plans closely as you move along. Again, with any wiring, we want to make sure we're not fraying or bird caging our wires in any way so that we can avoid

[4m:34s] any potential issues or short circuits or hazards that might create. So take your time, do a nice job, we don't want to have any frying or bird caging on any of our wires. Just like with our digital signals, if we're using any jumpers throughout our analog wiring, we want to make sure that we secure those jumpers properly. Now, some of these are just going to be pushing jumpers, some of them actually get put into the terminal connection point and we secure them down with our little screwdriver. We want to make sure that those are secured properly because it's very common to see issues with signals related to jumpers that have not been secured properly. So again, take your time during that portion we'll make sure that those are all installed

[5m:17s] correctly.

[5m:18s] In referencing your drawings while you're wiring, you just want to make sure that you have a complete loop.

[5m:25s] This is very critical with analog wiring. So we want to make sure we have a complete loop so that we can read our signal when we go to startup and commission.

[5m:33s] So we want to make sure that our power is being distributed in the proper location. We want to make sure either neutral or DC negative, depending on if we're using AC or DC power, is landed correctly and in the proper location.
[5m:44s] If this is done right, we should have no problem in wiring our single loops and everything should function
[5m:51s] as expected. So,
[5m:53s] very much take your time during this analog wiring phase. Again, it's slower it's more tedious than the digital wiring portion. So just review your drawings often go slow take your time and you're going to be in good shape moving on to the next step in the build.
[6m:10s] As you can see, wiring analog signals takes a great deal of concentration and patience.
[6m:17s] Take your time during this portion of the build process so that you can avoid any headaches later on.
[6m:24s] As always, we appreciate your interest and participation in this series and hope you continue to join us throughout the remainder of the build process.
[6m:31s] In our next video, we will move on to wiring the PLC and any IO modules associated with it. So, make sure to join us next time as we continue to build. For a full line of industrial control panel hardware and thousands of other products, please go to our website. For more information or other educational videos go to RSPSupply.com, the Internet's top source for industrial hardware. Also, don't forget: like and subscribe.