Introduction

In this post, we are going to explain how to do the basics in order to work with the analog inputs of Industrial Shields Raspberry Pi programmable logic controllers. By reading this post, you will be able to understand how to connect, configure and work with the inputs of your industrial Raspberry Pi PLC controller.

Previous readings

We recommend you read the following posts to understand the programming of this blog. We have used the following blog posts for this example:

• How to access the Raspberry Pi based PLC   Read >>

• How to change the IP in Windows and Linux     Read >>

Requirements

To work with analog outputs, you will need any of our industrial controllers for industrial automation:

• Raspberry Pi PLC

• Analog/Digital Shields

> cd /home/pi/test/analog

• Relay Shield

> cd /home/pi/test/relay

The get-digital-input script will show the value of the selected input pin. Only the pin we are going to work with will be provided. The return value will be in the range of 0 (0Vdc) to 2047 (10 Vdc). In order to call the function, we will do the following:

> ./get-analog-input <input>

Example for the I0.12 input returning a True value if it's receiving 10Vdc:

> ./get-analog-input I0.12
2047

How to work with Python

The bash commands are the base for working easily with the industrial Raspberry PLC. In order to work with python files, if you want to interact with the IOs of the PLC, you will have to call these scripts.

To edit the files you will work with the Nano editor included by default and Python3.

nano analog_inputs.py

Python allows you to execute a shell command that is stored in a string using the subprocess library. In order to work with it, you will have to import it at the start of the file.

import subprocess

In this example, you will be going to read the input given of the pin I0.12 of the Raspberry Pi PLC. In order to do it, you will implement a loop that will be constantly reading the input value.

import subprocess
import time

def str2dec(string):
	return (string[0:-1])

def adc(value):
	return (10*int(str2dec(value)))/4096

if __name__ == "__main__":
	print("Start")
	while True:
		try:
			x = subprocess.run(["./get-analog-input","I0.12"], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, text=True):
			print(adc(x.stdout))
			time.sleep(1)
		except KeyboardInterrupt:
			print("\nExit")
			break

> python3 analog_inputs.py