04-19-2017 06:22 AM - edited 04-19-2017 06:29 AM
Hello everyone,
For a project, I'm looking to control third-party Ethercat devices directly with a cRIO on RT Linux.
I'm doing research online, but I cannot find the answer I need.
Is it possible to install NI Ethercat RIO on an RT Linux cRIO with two ethernet ports, so that I can use one port for programming and configuring the RIO and the other one for the Ethercat communication with the third-party devices? If not, how would I want to do this then?
To be clear, I'm not interested in the NI-9144 Ethercat Expansion Chassis because of space limitations. If I'm correct this chassis is for connecting Ethercat directly to the FPGA?
Thank you in advance and kudos will be given!
Solved! Go to Solution.
04-19-2017 08:12 AM
I know the cRIO-9068 can handle EtherCAT. I have not used a third party EtherCAT device though.
I want to say the cRIOs with a second Ethernet port support EtherCAT on that second port. But I will not swear by it.
04-19-2017 09:24 AM
Yes you can do 3rd party EtherCAT on any cRIO with two ethernet ports. You must install NI-Industrial Communications driver besides the normal drivers you install for cRIO. NI-Industrial Communications driver 16.0 driver is the latest but you should pick a driver version that matches your RIO version.
Once you done with SW installation you can use this KB to tell you how to add your 3rd party EtherCAT ESI file into LabVIEW project.
One thing to keep in mind when working with 3rd party EtherCAT slaves, NI EtherCAT driver was mostly written for NI EtherCAT 9144/5 chassis and therefore do not expect all bells and whistles you would see in full-fledged EtherCAT editors (dynamic SDO, PDO creation etc) for EtherCAT slaves. However, if your EtherCAT slave conforms to EtherCAT specs then you will be able to do most of the stuff you want. I know there are many people who were successful using 3rd party EtherCAT slaves with cRIO.
For any questions regards to EtherCAT post it to Industrial Communications forum.
04-19-2017 09:27 AM
Thank you Miro_T,
I was hoping this was possible!
Cheers.
09-28-2018 10:12 AM
Hi Freel,
Did you ever get this working? I tried doing this (Linux EtherCAT card talking to cRIO) several years ago but I never succeeded.
Steve
10-01-2018 01:54 AM
Hello Steve,
No, I'm sorry. The project got cancelled by the customers customer. Never got to test it.
Best,
Pascal
10-03-2018 01:31 AM
Hello Steve,
Does cRIO ECAT S by KUNBUS GmbH suit your purpose?
10-03-2018 07:01 AM
Interesting - didn't see this back when we were looking into this.
Hmm, it isn't listed in here: http://www.ni.com/product-documentation/2726/en/
But now also NI has their own slave module apparently: https://www.ni.com/en-us/shop/select/c-series-ethercat-interface-module
If I have the need in the future I will look into there modules.
Thanks!
Steve