PD4-EB-MA EtherCAT Online Manual

EtherCAT

Software connection

Tip: The following description assumes that an EtherCAT master from Beckhoff with the TwinCAT software is used.
  1. Connect the EtherCAT master to the controller, see .
  2. Supply the controller with voltage.
  3. Obtain the ESI file that corresponds exactly to the used firmware version from the following sources:
    1. From the Nanotec website us.nanotec.com. The current version of the firmware and the ESI file can be found in the Plug & Drive Studio download folder.
    2. From Nanotec support.
  4. Close the TwinCAT system manager if it is open.
  5. Then copy the ESI file to the TwinCAT subfolder:
    • If you use TwinCAT version 2, use folder <TWINCAT INSTALL DIR>/Io/EtherCAT
    • If you use TwinCAT version 3, use folder <TWINCAT INSTALL DIR>/3.1/Config/Io/EtherCAT

    Example

    Example: If TwinCAT 2 is installed on your computer under path C:\TwinCAT\, copy the ESI file to path C:\TwinCAT\Io\EtherCAT\.

  6. Open the ESI file with an editor. Find the AddInfo parameter. Enter:
    • the value "2" if you would like to integrate the controller as Box (factory settings)
    • the value "0" if you would like to integrate the controller as NC-Axis
    Save and close the file.
  7. Now restart the TwinCAT system manager. The ESI files are read in again following a restart.
Note:

The cycle time of the sync signal must always be set to 1 ms. You can set the bus cycle time (and, consequently, the interpolation time in 60C2h) to integer multiples of 1 ms.

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