Thanks to our readers, this year The Automation Blog is on track to surpass its previous records for traffic, and it’s already served more unique readers in 2022 that any year since launching in 2013.

And thanks to the overwhelming support from the industry, this year we also worked with a record number of automation vendors to bring you first looks, in-depth updates, and new feature demos.

Now as we head into the final days of 2022, I wanted to share with you our Top Ten most popular articles that were published in the last twenty four months:


The Automation Blog:
Top Ten New Articles For 2022


#10: What’s New In FactoryTalk View Site Edition v13

Rockwell recently released version 13.00 of FactoryTalk View Site Edition, and below I’ll summarize the new and enhanced features, as well as any corrected anomalies…

Article Awards: Best Of 2022


#09: How To Migrate PLC-5 and SLC-500 Programs to Studio 5000 and Logix Controllers

Recently one of our readers submitted a question asking for help migrating from a legacy Rockwell PLC (aka PLC-5 or SLC-500) to their new PAC lines (ControlLogix and CompactLogix.)

In his email he went on to say he needed help because he didn’t have a copy of the Project Migrator, previously called the Translation tool…


#08: Common Data Types Used In Mitsubishi PLCs

As a PLC programmer or troubleshooter, you’re already be aware of certain things such as data types.

Sometimes they may be referred to differently depending on the platform, such as in one platform a floating point data type may be refereed to as a REAL, whereas in another it may be refereed to as a FLOAT…


Micro800#07: How to Message (MSG) data from a ControlLogix to a Micro800 over Ethernet

If you are implementing a Micro800 series PLC, there is a chance you are doing a small, standalone project that needs no communication with other devices or centralized control system, but that is not always the case.

The Micro820, 850, and 870 all come with an Ethernet port that will communicate with your existing ControlLogix or CompactLogix controllers, and allow you to integrate and share data with the rest of your system…


#06: Time Synchronization in ControlLogix Systems

Time in an automation system, or rather time synchronization, is an important detail that can often be overlooked until it is needed.

When a machine goes down and you are comparing alarms between systems to understand why it went down it is extremely frustrating to have time discrepancies between systems, so in this article we discuss how to use Time Synchronization in ControlLogix…

Article Awards: Staying Power (was #5 in 2021)



#05: What’s New in Studio 5000 Logix Designer v34

In March of 2022, Rockwell Automation released Studio 5000 Logix Designer version Thirty-Four.

As I tend to do with each release, I recently downloaded the software, read the release notes, and set out to install and test any new features that would be relevant to me in my process control endeavors…

Article Awards: Best Of 2022


#04: Timers and Counters Used In Mitsubishi PLCs

Like most programmable logic controllers on the market, Mitsubishi has its versions of both timers and counters.

These are similar but not necessarily set up the same as the other manufacturers…


#03: Converting a VMware VMX file for use in VirtualBox

In a previous article we created a virtual machine from a legacy windows 2000 computer to be able to run it on a newer PC using VMWare Workstation.

In this article, we present another option to VMware Workstation – running Virtual Machines using free software called VirtualBox.

Article Awards: #3 Overall, Staying Power (was #4 in 2021)


#02: Writing your first TIA code in SCL

Sometimes it’s hard writing PLC code in LAD (ladder logic) or FBD (function block diagram). Especially, if you have to do some math work or mass operations.

In these cases you can easily use SCL/ST (Structured Control Language/Structured Text.)

Article Awards: #2 Overall, Staying Power (was #2 in 2021)


#01: How to download RSLogix Micro, RSLinx, and Emulate 500 for free

RSLogix-MIcro-Starter-Splash-FiThe free “RSLogix Micro Starter Lite” software I show how to download in this article only works with the MicroLogix 1000, MicroLogix 1100, and free PLC Emulator.

The only other free A-B Programming Software is for the Micro800 series of PLCs, which you can learn about here.

Article Awards: #1 Overall, Staying Power (was #1 in 2021)


And those were the most popular articles on The Automation Blog for 2022! Huge thanks to all our readers who helped make 2022 our best year yet!

If you have your own favorite article you’d like to mention, or if you’d like to suggest we cover a new topic, please leave your comment below or use our contact form to get in touch!

That said, all of us at Insights In Automation would like to wish you a very happy, safe, and healthy Holiday Week and New Year!

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Have a question? Join my community of automation professionals and take part in the discussion! You'll also find my PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

If you found this content helpful, consider buying me a coffee here.

Shawn Tierney

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