Siemens LOGO Starter Kit – PLC Programming for Beginners
New to PLC programming? Here’s the starter kit that will teach you the basic fundamentals of PLC programming.
With its small size, user-friendly software, and low price the Siemens LOGO Starter Kit is absolutely perfect for beginners.
One of the flagships from Siemens is the LOGO PLC. Not too long ago they released the latest version of the LOGO series called Siemens LOGO! 8. A perfect mini PLC for smaller projects. A perfect mini PLC to start learning PLC programming.
Despite its small size, the Siemens LOGO! 8 PLC is actually capable of doing a lot of advanced things.
This is the other reason the PLC is so good for beginners. You can dig into not only the basic PLC programming.
But also more advanced concepts like analog signals, PID control, data logging, and HMI programming. You can even control the PLC from your smartphone.
You can even connect and integrate the LOGO PLC with other Siemens PLCs like the S7-1200. This makes the LOGO PLC very powerful.
Thereby, you are able to use it in bigger systems. If you are already familiar with the LOGO PLC, I would strongly recommend continuing with the Siemens S7-1200 Starter Kit.
It’s the perfect starter kit to learn PLC programming with the popular S7 platform.
The only problem with the S7 starter kit is that it’s a bit expensive. Much cheaper is the Siemens LOGO Starter Kit.
Siemens LOGO! 8 PLC’s
As said before the latest version of the LOGO PLC is version 8, and so is all the starter kits.
The starter kits come in different variations including different types of the LOGO PLC and with or without HMI. But before going into the different starter kits you can get, let me introduce you to the different types of LOGO PLCs.
The Siemens LOGO! 8 PLC’s comes in different variations. With different input supply voltage, with or without a screen, with relay outputs, and so on. When you choose your starter kit it’s important to know which type of LOGO PLC you want.
Siemens LOGO! 8 Supply Voltage
First of all the LOGO PLCs comes with different input voltages. This will decide whether you have to supply it with 230V AC or 12/24V DC.
To differentiate between these types Siemens has named the LOGO PLC’s regarding their input voltage. The two types are as follows:
- LOGO! 8 230RCE
- LOGO! 8 12/24RCE
The biggest difference here is if you have to use a power supply or not.
If you have a 230V AC supply you can just connect that supply direct to your LOGO! 8 230RCE PLC.
But if you don’t have a 230V AC supply you most likely want to go with the LOGO! 8 12/24RCE PLC.
Then you will be able to transform your supply voltage to 12 or 24 volts DC to supply your LOGO! PLC. 12 and 24 volts are standard voltages, so it will be easy to find a power supply for the PLC.
LOGO! Power 24V
In fact, with the starter kits, you won’t even have to look for a power supply. The Siemens LOGO! 8 Starter Kit 12/24 includes a 24V DC power supply, capable of supplying 1.3 amperes. The power supply is called LOGO! Power 24V/1.3 A.
The power supply from Siemens is a module just like the LOGO PLC. The module is the same height but a bit thinner than the PLC itself.
You should keep in mind that if you choose the 24V LOGO PLC, you will have to use a few centimeters of extra space on the DIN-rail.
The Siemens LOGO! Power can be bought separately. You can of course use other 24V DC power supplies, but be aware that this power supply is a stabilized one. That can be crucial since the Siemens LOGO PLC needs a stable supply.
Siemens LOGO Programming Software
Let’s take a closer look at the software included in the Siemens LOGO Starter Kits. This is the software you have to use in order to configure and program the PLC and HMI.
Two pieces of software are included in all of the starter kits. One for LOGO programming and one for programming the HMI.
LOGO! Soft Comfort v8 Download and Install
The first piece of software you have to install is the LOGO! Soft Comfort v8. This is used to write the logic and program it on the LOGO PLC. It is fairly easy to install and use the software.
In the starter kits, the software is included on a CD, but you can also download the software from the Siemens LOGO website. If you have an older version of LOGO! Soft Comfort you can download and install upgrades:
Download LOGO! Soft Comfort 8.3
Installing the Soft Comfort is very easy. You just have to open the installation program and follow the steps.
Getting Started with Programming the LOGO 8
Included in the Soft Comfort 8 are a lot of sample programs. You can learn a lot from those programs.
Just try to open one and try to see if you can understand the logic and how the program works. You can even download and run it on the LOGO PLC.
To open the sample programs you have to first click the open icon (Ctrl + O or File -> Open) and then go to the folder where you’ve installed LOGO Soft Comfort. The program is typically installed in C:/Program Files/Siemens/LOGOComfort_V8.
In that folder, you will find another subfolder called “Samples”. This is where all the example programs for the LOGO PLC are located.
When you open one of the sample programs you will see that there are both some logic and some text explaining the logic.
This is one of the smart features of Soft Comfort, that you can make text fields for comments without interfering with the actual program.
I made a little video on how to open sample programs and start the simulation with LOGO Soft Comfort V8: