cRIO ECAT S - EtherCAT Master (TwinCAT) with cRIO ECAT Slave

Introduction:

In order to generally check the connection to the slave, we suggest connecting the cRIO ECAT S to a (simulated) master in e.g. TwinCAT. To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Please start the cRIO ECAT S similar to the process mentioned in the GettingStarted manual .

   1. Run the programme „cRIO ECAT S Getting Started_DC(FPGA).vi“ from the project.

2. Start TwinCAT

3. Create a new project and navigate in the sidebar in I/O to Devices for scanning for Boxes.

4. Select the network interface which the cRIO is connected to. (opt. If unsure, please select all interfaces)

5. Set DC mode in TwinCAT.

   1. Change to Box and select the EtherCAT tab.

   2. open Advanced Settings...

   3. Select Distributed Clock and set it up as shown in the screenshot below.

6. Get back to Box and navigate to the online tab.

   1. In this tab the current status of the connected/selected slave will be displayed.

7. The slave device will be detected incl. its PDO configuration. If one expands the Box, all detected input PDOs and output PDOs will be listed there.

8. The master switches in Operational Mode. The green NET LED at the left side of the cRIO ECAT S indicates the established connection to the master.

9. Finally the slave vi shows the updated cRIO ECAT S properties and "Status Info".

   1. Open

      

       

10. Entries to the cRIO ECAT S would be displayed in the array “PDO-Data” and mirrored back.

11. The connection between cRIO ECAT S and master is been set up properly.