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Lessons · Industrial control · what a broken wire does

What a broken wire does

Wired and written correctly, a break stops the machine. Wired normally open and written [/Stop], the same break leaves it running with a dead stop button.

Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

One of those two failures is a production problem. The other is the one that hurts somebody.

How to think about it

Compare the two directly. The input sits at 0 either way; what differs is whether the rung reads 0 as 'stop' or as 'nothing is wrong'.

Worked example

{ [Start] | [Motor] } [Stop] (Motor)
Correct. Running, then the wire breaks on scan 4. Motor: 0 1 1 0 0
{ [Start] | [Motor] } [/Stop] (Motor)
Wired normally open instead. The same break. Motor: 0 1 1 1 1

Your turn

A protection nobody exercises is a protection nobody knows they have

The trap

The second version passes every test anybody runs, because everybody tests by pressing the button, not by cutting the wire.

Practise what a broken wire does on HoneA question on it now, a coding challenge where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.