Yes, and the comparison belongs in the PLC. Read the C0-01DR-D's real-time clock into data registers, let the EA1-S3ML C-More Micro write operator-entered start and stop times into other registers, compare the numbers in ladder logic, and drive the output through the existing permissives. Test every case with the output inhibited before the first live run.
Yes, and the comparison belongs in the PLC. The C0-01DR-D CLICK has a real-time clock, and the EA1-S3ML C-More Micro can put operator-entered numbers into PLC registers with its Numeric Entry objects. Read the clock into data registers every scan, let the panel write the schedule into other registers, compare the two sets of numbers in ladder logic, and drive the output coil from that compare. The Micro in this pairing has no built-in date-and-time display, but dates and times are only numbers: the PLC keeps them, compares them and controls the output. The panel is only an editor. Unplug it in the middle of a window and the schedule keeps running, because nothing in the timing depends on the panel.
What you need
- The C0-01DR-D CLICK PLC and its programming software. The CLICK PLC hardware user manual covers the clock instructions, the register tables and the error codes.
- The EA1-S3ML C-More Micro panel with its project software, plus the cable that programs it if the project changes; the choice between the serial cable and USB is covered in D2-DSCBL vs USB cable for programming a C-More Micro Touch.
- A panel-to-PLC link on the port your panel driver supports, with the driver set to the CLICK in the panel project's PLC settings.
- A pilot lamp or a spare status bit, so the schedule bit has something to drive while the real output wire stays disconnected.
Read the clock into registers first
The CLICK software's date-and-time instructions copy the clock's fields, year through weekday, into consecutive data registers on every scan. The CLICK PLC hardware user manual lists the fields and their order; those registers are the schedule's only time source.
Prove the clock before any logic uses it. Set it, put hour and minute on a panel screen or in the software's watch table, and check them against a watch across a full day. The CLICK family's clock is battery backed, so it keeps time through a power cut; one wall-clock check after the next power-up confirms it came back right.
Prove the panel link the same way: display one scratch register on the panel, write a harmless value back from a test Numeric Entry object, and confirm both directions before any schedule work starts.
Put clock and schedule in the same units
Compare numbers, never display text. The common unit is minutes since midnight: hour × 60 + minute. Hours run 0 to 23 and minutes 0 to 59, so a time value spans 0 to 1439, far inside the -32,768 to 32,767 span of a 16-bit signed register, which is what a CLICK data register is. One register per value: start, stop and now.
For a one-time event, add the date as separate year, month and day registers. A four-digit year fits a 16-bit register. A combined year-month-day number for June 12, 2025 would read 20,250,612, which runs past the 32,767 ceiling, so the combined form is out.
The weekday arrives from the clock as a number. Take its mapping from the manual once, print it next to the panel screen, and use the same numbers in the day check.
Give the operator's entries their own registers, separate from the clock registers, and point every Numeric Entry object at a schedule register. The representation travels well: how DL06 lights get scheduled from the real-time clock runs the same compare on a different PLC.
The steps
- Read the clock into registers and confirm the values against a watch.
- Prove the panel link with a scratch read and a harmless write.
- Add Numeric Entry objects for start hour, start minute, stop hour and stop minute, each writing its own schedule register.
- Add the enable bit as a toggle object, and show the entered times and the live clock on the same screen so the operator sees target and now side by side. If you need a record of who changed the schedule, logging operator name, button and time for every HMI press shows the pattern.
- Convert clock, start and stop to minutes since midnight, and range-check every operator field; hold the schedule off until all four are legal.
- Build the compare rung: now at or after start, before stop, weekday allowed, enable on, feeding the schedule bit. The day-and-time compare patterns are covered in scheduling PLC outputs by day and time from an HMI panel.
- Route the schedule bit through the machine's existing permissives and stop logic to the output coil.
- Run every test case from the checklist below with the output wire disconnected and the schedule bit driving the pilot lamp. Connect the output after the list passes, then watch one full window start and stop against a watch.
Worked example: a conveyor that runs 06:30 to 14:45, Monday to Friday
Inputs, chosen as a typical weekly schedule: the operator enters 06:30 start and 14:45 stop through the Numeric Entry objects, toggles enable on, and the clock reads 07:10 on a Wednesday, inside the allowed days.
Rule in words: the schedule bit is on when now is at or after start, before stop, on an allowed weekday, with enable on.
Arithmetic: start = 6 × 60 + 30 = 390 minutes. Stop = 14 × 60 + 45 = 885 minutes. Now = 7 × 60 + 10 = 430 minutes. 430 is at or after 390 and before 885, so the window is open and the schedule bit is on; the coil follows through the permissives. At 15:00 the same day, now = 15 × 60 = 900 minutes, past 885, so the bit is off.
The decision hangs on one threshold: stop 885 is later than start 390, so this is a same-day window and the straight compare is correct. An entered stop equal to or earlier than the start wraps midnight and takes the wrap logic below.
Overnight windows and one-time events
An overnight window needs one extra branch: the bit is on when now is at or after start OR before stop. A 22:00 to 06:00 window lights the bit late in the evening and again before 06:00, and the daytime hours stay off. Write the wrap once, as its own branch, and test it on purpose. Some PLC families pack the band check into a single instruction, such as FX1S real-time clock schedule using the TZCP compare; on the CLICK the two-compare branch does the same job.
A one-time event compares year, month and day first, then the minutes, and fires at or after the target. Set a done bit in the same scan the event fires, so the completed event cannot run again on a later scan.
How to check it worked
Run these with the pilot lamp and the output wire off:
- Start later today, enable on: lamp off until the start minute, on from it.
- Stop minute passed: lamp off, and it stays off until the next allowed day.
- Enable off: lamp off at any time of day.
- Hour entry of 25: the PLC range check fails and the schedule holds off until all four fields are legal again.
- Stop earlier than start: lamp on after midnight, off in daytime.
- Panel unplugged mid-window: schedule and lamp unchanged, because the timing lives in the PLC.
- PLC powered down and up: clock returns correct, and the schedule bit returns to the state you designed; the safe design comes up off until an operator re-enables it.
- After a daylight saving changeover: set the clock again before the next window; setting a PLC clock from the operator panel for daylight saving time covers the steps, and one watched window confirms it.
Safety note: the schedule bit only requests a run. Manual stops, guards and the machine's own permissives stay in the coil's path and stay authoritative; force the schedule bit on once and confirm they still stop the machine.
Recommendation: keep the compare, the weekday check and the output coil in the C0-01DR-D, and let the EA1-S3ML handle numbers only: four Numeric Entry objects for the time fields, a toggle for enable, data displays for the clock and the entered times. If the stop time can ever be equal to or earlier than the start time, add the wrap branch and prove it with the output disconnected before the first live run.
Questions
Does the C-More Micro have a built-in date and time display?
No, not in this pairing. The 3-inch Micro panel has no built-in date-and-time object like the larger C-More panels have. Read the CLICK's real-time clock into data registers every scan and show those registers with ordinary data display objects. The clock then lives in the PLC, so the displayed time stays right even while the panel is powered down, and one set of clock registers feeds every screen that wants it.
Can operator entries overwrite the clock registers?
They can if a Numeric Entry object points at them. Give the clock read its own consecutive registers and give the schedule its own registers for start, stop and enable. Point every entry object at a schedule register only, then open each panel screen once and check the target address: an entry aimed at the clock registers would corrupt every comparison the PLC makes, and the displayed time with it.
Does daylight saving time shift the schedule?
Yes, by one hour if nobody re-sets the clock. The clock runs on whatever local time it was last set to, and a 06:30 start compares against the clock's own 06:30. After the spring changeover an unchanged clock leaves the equipment starting an hour late against the wall clock; after the fall changeover, an hour early. Set the clock again after each changeover and check one window against a wall clock before relying on it.
Why not compare for an exact match to the entered time?
An equality compare is true only for the width of the field: one minute for a minutes compare, one second for a seconds compare. After that it goes false on its own, so the event has run with nothing latched to show for it. A slow scan at second width can miss the one-second window entirely. At-or-after with a done bit fires on time, stays latched afterwards, and gives you the restart behavior you designed.
Planning information, not legal or engineering advice. Rules differ by place: check codes and permits with your local authority and your licensed trades.