Input Sensors with PLC: Sinking and Sourcing
22mBeginner2025-01-15
Authors

Zahraa Khalil
Engineering Instructor and Educator
Course details
In industrial control systems, sensors are used to help the controller programs perform their tasks and capabilities. Sensors are part of the industrial field level to check products, they are also used to ensure safety of the equipment, products, and operators. One of the common ways to connect digital input sensors to PLC is using sinking or sourcing wiring circuits. In this course, instructor Zahraa Khalil covers the basic differences between sinking and sourcing terminologies when working with PLC. She also gives an overview of PNP and NPN sensors when used in sourcing and sinking circuits, and shows some examples of the wiring.
Skills covered
Ladder LogicPLC Industrial Controls and ProgrammingHardwareOpen SourceOne-Off
Concepts
0. Introduction
- 01 - Sinking and sourcing for PLCs
- 02 - What you should know
1. Sinking and Sourcing
- 03 - Introduction to sinking and sourcing
- 04 - Sourcing (PNP) and sinking (NPN) circuits
- 05 - Construction of sourcing (PNP) and sinking (NPN) circuits
- 06 - PNP and NPN sensors overview
- 07 - Wiring a PNP device to a PLC sinking input module
- 08 - Wiring an NPN device to a PLC sourcing input module
- 09 - Using four-wire PNP and NPN sensors