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I am a beginner in PLC/SCADA and IIOT. I plan to use Siemens PLC S7-1200.

I need to make a very simple application in which I will read analog output from 4 sensors and store it.

I don't need to use any other feature of SCADA like graphical interface, etc.

I am unable to understand if NodeRed is an abstraction over Siemens' SCADA i.e. WinCC

OR

Using this node of Node Red, is it an open source alternative to read/write to Siemens PLC.

My point is: Do I still need to invest in a SCADA license if I use Nodered?

halfer
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Lakshay Dulani
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3 Answers3

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Technically YES. There are all tools needed for that. There are MQTT, OPC, Modbus, ... nodes and there are Node Red UI modules that can help to build responsive UI.

I would say Node Red is a SCADA, but is not called so because it is generally used for none-industrial applications. I know cases where Node Red was installed directly on Linux based PLC and was used as Visualization Web Server.

I do not see any reason why Node Red could not be used as SCADA.

But there is always a but. Since it is not SCADA but rather can be used as SCADA, there are number of limitations and shortcomings. There is not alarm manager for example. It would be hard to create mnemonic automation diagram. There are no tools like pipe, tank, scale, ... all those tools that are traditionally be in SCADA.

On the other hand, if you think philosophically if there would be HTML based SCADA, it might miss all those tools too. The UI uses different technologies than all other desktop SCADAs.

So basically, you can add control or view of any elements of your automation system, but in a conceptually different way to organize presentation.

Sergey Romanov
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Short and clear answer: No

NodeRed is open source, free to use and created by IBM (Yep, this is wikipedia). You just need to communicate with it (MQTT, TCP, UDP, OPC UA (This might be what you want for PLC applications), ...)

Many tutorials on using and connecting a Siemens PLC are available. Just search for "node red siemens s7-1200" and look for whatever tutorial suits you!

NodeRed and SCADA dont have anything to do with each other directly!

Markus Schmidt
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As they told you before[you can add control or view of any elements of your automation system]. What they tell you about alarms. yes, its so different the way you can handdle something similar to the ones known on wincc. But if you are able, to keep "control" of them, under step7/Tia, easy to show on screen, keeping different ranges as (New Alarm Present, Alarm Resetted but Still Present, Resetted) I use an endpoint connected to a PLC, just to keep a record of different alarms and warnings active. y use csv format to save them. Needed two endpoints,to read about 3300 different bits (Alarms). much easier to read, and save on a excel file, using Node-red +(Sending an email, upload to dropbox, alerts by Telegram...)

When you discover, node-red-contrib-ui-svg, for building your HMI, and if you do homework before starting to create your layouts, do a "google" and you will find almost all images needed (Valves, Fan, Motors, Tanks...) so it becomes almost same difficulty as creating them by WinCC.

Aradoom
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    As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Sep 03 '22 at 19:35