CLICK PLC Software Overview: The Best Value PLC for Everyday Control Systems at AutomationDirect

The CLICK Micro PLC, should be the first choice any PLC beginner. It has a simplified Instruction list and easy to navigate user design, which really reduces the learning curve in becoming a proficient PLC technician. Even better the CLICK software is free. There are no contracts, no up sale. Feel free to download it now from the link above. This feature really makes the CLICK shine. For most operations in CLICK, you will only need to interface with these 3 places of interest. The Startup wizard, quickly puts you on the right path in your project. Let’s select a new project and then choose the CPU. If you are just trying to follow along, select one of these down here, this way you will be able to see the Ethernet and analog functions later, in this video. Next is the navigation pane which has three tabs. First is the program tab. This tab will be used to create portion of your ladder code like, Subroutine programs and interrupts, also selecting the addressing picker to verify input and output assignments. Also in the program pane is the monitor function.. Selecting here on the data view allows you to create watchlists of input and output addressing for monitoring or editing in your program testing. The next is the function tab, which gives you a quick access point to configure the settings of your PLC. The System configuration gives you a straight forward interface to add modules or configure their settings, all from one location. Also, another really nice feature here is that this display shows all the address assignments for each module, in one place. Here are you inputs, Analog inputs, outputs and then the analog output addressing. Here you can configure your com ports, and once you set this here this becomes part of your PLC project. No losing your com port settings. Another important spot to highlight here is the CPU Built in I/O. The general tab shows all the input and output assignments. Then you have the input and output tab. Here you can make adjustments to the input assignments and also if you have an analog CPU, you can change the scaling and change the assigned Data Register. The last tab, comes down to connecting to the PLC, writing your data to the PLC, setting the real time clock and calender, that is only for units that have a backup battery. You can also access you error history, PLC modes, be able to clear your Memory, Update your Firmware and reset back to factory default. Last is my favorite feature of this PLC, the instructions. The CLICK programming software does a such great job of simplifying the instruction list and organizing them in a way that really reduces your learning curve. For example, under Compare, this is actually 6 instructions in one. You have equal to, greater than, greater than and equal to, you see where I am going here. All you need to remember is that you have to compare data values and this instruction is your go to. Another example, of how organizing like this is simpler is the timer. Here you can select on or off delay and if you want to retain the count until reset. Notice here the wave pattern. If you are unsure of what action you need for your output, just verify with this graphic. I love this design, it really reduces the option overload for beginners and makes it simple everyone else. If you have some features that you would like covered, please feel free to leave those requests in the comments below. If you have any technical questions please feel free to comment below or call our Free technical support. Also please subscribe here to our YouTube channel for upcoming products and solutions.