PLC Programming: Ladder Logic for Beginners

Learn PLC programming and ladder logic from scratch in approximately three hours—without buying expensive PLC hardware or industrial software.

This beginner-friendly course takes you from understanding what a Programmable Logic Controller is to planning, building, simulating, and testing a complete automatic bottle-filling system.

You will begin with the foundations of industrial automation: PLC inputs and outputs, the scan cycle, ladder diagrams, rungs, contacts, coils, bits, tags, and addresses. You will then build your first working ladder logic program using a free PLC simulator.

Step by step, you will learn how to:

• Read and write PLC ladder logic

• Use Normally Open and Normally Closed contacts

• Build AND, OR, XOR, and NOT logic

• Create motor Start/Stop and seal-in circuits

• Use standard coils and Set/Reset instructions

• Detect rising and falling edges with one-shots

• Avoid duplicate output and double-coil problems

• Control processes with TON, TOF, and retentive timers

• Count products using CTU, CTD, and CTUD counters

• Use comparisons, range checks, math, and MOVE instructions

• Organize sequences with finite state machines

• Create clear PLC I/O lists and state diagrams

• Use Claude AI to draft, explain, and debug PLC logic responsibly

You will reinforce these skills through practical exercises, including a motor Start/Stop circuit, blinking oscillator, conveyor product counter, tank-level alarm, and traffic-light state machine.

For the final project, you will build an automatic bottle-filling station. The PLC program detects a bottle, fills it, allows the liquid to settle, applies a cap, ejects the finished bottle, and counts production until a complete batch is reached.

The course uses free tools such as PLC Fiddle and OpenPLC, allowing you to practice PLC programming on a normal computer without physical hardware. The concepts you learn are transferable to major industrial platforms such as Siemens TIA Portal and Rockwell Studio 5000, although their software and instruction names may differ.

You will also discover how an AI assistant can help create I/O lists, draft ladder logic, explain instructions, and diagnose programming problems. More importantly, you will learn the professional rule behind AI-assisted automation: understand every rung, simulate every program, test edge cases, and never treat AI-generated logic as a substitute for safety engineering.

Who this course is for

This course is designed for:

• Complete beginners interested in PLC programming

• Electrical and electronic engineering students

• Automation and control engineering students

• Maintenance technicians entering industrial automation

• Electricians who want to understand ladder logic

• Makers and programmers exploring PLC control systems

• Anyone who wants a fast, practical introduction to PLCs

No previous PLC programming experience is required. No physical PLC is required. You only need a computer, internet access, and a willingness to practice.

By the end of the course, you will understand the fundamental thinking behind ladder logic and be able to build, organize, simulate, test, and explain beginner PLC automation projects