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Another thing to keep in mind is that since there is no STEP7 software for the S5 Logi PLC there is nothing to upgrade to once you get past the Lite version. To my knowledge the only other STEP7 software supported by Siemens PLCs is the S7-300 and I would recommend going the full STEP7 route as the S7-300 is the oldest of the Siemens PLCs. I personally do not know of any software for the C7 or the ET200, so if you are trying to develop software for those PLCs you will need to research that on your own. At least you will know what to look for if you find any such software.

If you are a beginner to Siemens PLC programming then for simplicity of learning and ease of use it is hard to recommend anything other than the regular STEP7 software. However, if you already program with Siemens PLCs and have a specific need for your software to interface with some Siemens PLCs then the Lite version could be a useful way to start and then as your software requirements increase you can upgrade to the official STEP7 software. I personally see the biggest advantage of Lite software as being able to quickly build a PLC application without having to purchase the STEP7 software.

Summary:

If you are a beginner try out the STEP7 Lite version. The software is free, easy to learn, and the only limit is that the software is only supported for Siemens PLCs with the S7-300, C7 and ET200.

If you have programming experience and can use any Siemens PLC you wish, then the STEP7 is the only version of programming software that lets you do so.

The only downside to the Lite package is that it is only available for the S7-300, C7 and ET200. That said I do not see why anyone would want to program with any other Siemens PLC, so this is a rather minor limitation.

If you decide to build your own package, then you will have to do it from scratch. While this is possible I strongly advise to start with the STEP 7 Lite since it provides the same functionality as the full version.

As I have mentioned above, the current version of SIMATIC STEP 7 Lite is already available for free. However, the possibility of downloading the step7lite.zip and simaticsimpexl7.zip packages from the Siemens website is restricted to customers of the Step 7 software; Siemens has no intention to change that. This is why I am not planning to provide a similar SimaPro Lite version (with STEP 7 Lite) any time soon. One of the first things I intend to do after the 1.0 release of SIMATIC Step 7 Lite is to move the SimaPro Lite package to the SimaPro website to provide a free download.

In the next part of this series we will discuss some of the potential issues that we have identified with the Siemens SIMATIC Step 7 Lite package and what we think of the future of this package. Stay tuned. 827ec27edc