PLC came in and as soon as I pulled it out and looked at it, I realized I need a 24 vdc power supply. I had looked at many versions and more than half will run on 12 or 24 vdc but this one's only 24 vdc. I have plenty of sources for 12 vdc power but the more powerful PLCs require the higher 24 vdc only.
Looked around for something I could use. I keep old AC adapters but none were quite enough. My old Thinkpad AC adapters put out 20.3 but the PLC needs 20.4 - 28.8 vdc. As luck would have it, my Porter Cable cordless drill battery charger charger puts out 20.7 volts +- 0.1. Hard to tell if it's plus/minus or both. My old multimeter has two dead lines on the right side of the LCD display.
I know this is 20.7 volts. (my old Panasonic Toughbook rugged tablet is the only thing I have with a serial port to connect to the PLC)
I don't know if this is 20.6 or 20.8 or or if it varies between 20.6, 20.7 & 20.8. Either way, I can tell it's not 20.1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 so it's above the minimum 20.4 requirement and powers up the PLC. (note to self: get a new multimeter)
Never did get to upload the new start up screen; Little Bitty Acres. Having communication issues. Rewatched a Unitronics video this morning and I think I know the problem. Waiting for the boy to wake up before I turn on bright lights in here though.
I think it's a com port setting but it may just be that it needs something closer to 24 vdc for comms to work. If I had two loose car batteries not installed in vehicles, wiring them together for 24 vdc would be easy. I'm not pulling batteries out of vehicles though. I'll just buy a proper power supply from ebay and wait for it. I'm waiting on a soil moisture sensor anyway.
Major chore for today is swap to the new IBC water tank(s). Not sure if I want to replace the 220 gallon tank with a new IBC 275 gallon tank on my trailer that I pull with my little tractor. The little tractor weighs 1,268 lbs. The 220 gal tank plus trailer and gennie to run the pump already weighs about 2,200 lbs and the bigger tank would add 460 lbs to that. 2,300 lbs of water plus trailer/gennie would be about 2,800 lbs behind my 1,300 lb tractor. I have a big hill on the gravel road to come up with the freshly filled tank. There's already some rear tire slippage on a freshly graded road with lots of loose rocks.
It was tricky getting the 220 gal tank positioned right to make enough tongue weight on the tractor hitch for traction. That first trip up the hill with a full tank was a real butt puckering experience. Wish I had a bigger tractor or an extra pickup truck to use as a water truck.
This will eventually become the water truck. It does/did run and I did use it to get water with the 220 gal tank once. Needs a carburetor though and it is work to drive it but I could put two 275 gal IBC tanks on it and it would handle the load easily.
It's got some springs on it LOL - 13 leafs plus another 8 for the overload springs.
It's got a two speed rearend too so it's geared down enough to pull a house. Four full 275 IBC tanks would be almost 10k lbs lbs and I think it would handle it. Having to make a water run only 2-4 times a year would be nice.
8am and the boy's finally up. Long post is his fault. Yeah, that's the ticket.