You can easily get locked in. For anyone else who is just sort of lurking (you already know what i'll say).
Codesys is basically the standard here, and the way to "avoid" lock in - it has the most hardware support, and lots of vendors use it under the covers. This gives you some standard. It supports IEC 61131-3, happy to export it as text or whatever, and i've actually moved code between implementations.
You can use Codesys Control RTE on anything that runs windows or linux to get soft-realtime support.
Twincat is similar (it was based on codesys at one point but no longer).
Integration is, as you say, a pain outside of industrial land.
But i will admit i am amazed that i have an entire CNC machine built out of ethercat servo drives, I/O, VFD, vacuum pump, pneumatic valve actuators, limit switches, etc. They all are from different manufacturers. But damned if it doesn't work perfectly, and i only have an ethernet cable running between 99% of things where it used to require a metric ton of cables and you were just flinging bits and analog current around between things. 6 If i bothered to update the spindle to ethercat, the only real physical I/O would be brake power relays (unavoidable) and emergency stop. I do have one modbus thing (dust control flow monitor) i use as well.
It also is pretty good at hiding complexity - I can link a variable to an I/O input or analog value or VFD status word, know that it will deterministically update. I can set up a structure of bits for each pneumatic valve and map it to the manufacturer's single I/O word and again, get deterministic two-way updating and not worry about it.
Now, can i get status out of this thing? Well, no, to your point, either something else needs to speak modbus, ethercat, profinet, ethernet/ip, pure digital i/o to it.
These days i could publish status to MQTT, but something like "expose an HTTP port that outputs a bunch of JSON" is totally uncommon, and will net you strange looks. It's like you are asking about cold fusion.
Don't even get started on controlling it from the other side through something like that.
But yeah, otherwise paying 500 bucks for a license to ladder program a PLC is not a pleasant thing.
1. They're not properly licensed for other markets. Something equivalent to selling a radio transmitter in the US that's not registered with the FCC.
2. They price units outside of Asian markets much higher and don't want to allow/encourage arbitrage that they don't control.
This is definitely a case of "porqué no los dos" (or more).
> The contracts we sign with all dealers clearly stipulate that products that are not UL certified and listed by local power grid companies may not be sold or used in the United States, because the products do not meet US UL standards. If used in violation of this policy, the devices may pose significant-safety risks. To address this, Deye has built a verification mechanism into the devices. The pop-up alert is automatically triggered by the device’s authorization verification mechanism, rather than by any human intervention.