Scan Engine & EtherCAT Custom Device Feedback

[joshe]

Hi Outlaw,

Let me discribe my system.  I am on VS and LV 2011 SP1, I have an 8110 card with 2 8231 ethernet cards configured for ethercat in a 1042 chassis.  I am seeing the 9219 card switch between max high and low limit only when I am using both ethercat masters.  I see this result if I have an 100 ohm RTD plugged in or not.  When I use only one master the 9219s works fine, so there isn't a grounding issue.  I have the cyclic data BW set for 45% with 2 ecat masters and 90% for one ecat master. 

I did as you said and installed 2 masters, but only put the 3 chassis on the 1st master.  The Scan engine only detected the 1st master and its cards, but I still saw the alternating high low limits even with RTD's connected.  I am running at 500hz and this project dosn't allow me to run slower (I was suppose to be at 1000,but the ethercat wont support it).

Do you have any other suggestions?  Would it help to switch the slots of the ethercat cards(they are in 2 and 3)? Please call me if I can help (1997999 is the service request number)

Thanks,

Josh

[MPCC]

I'm using Version 3.7 for NIVS 2011.

When I try to Auto-Detect the EtherCAT I get an Error 1003 VI not executable error.

It's pointing at; 'Main - Auto Detect EtherCAT.vi'

I'm running Veristand 2011, RIO 12.1 and Industrial Communications for EtherCAT 2.5

(I upgraded to 2.5 after reading in the manual that it requires 2.5. Although the download page states 2.3 and it didn't work with either.) I also originally had RIO 4.0 and upgraded to 12.1 in an attempt to correct the problem.

I am under the assumption that this error occurs when attempting to run the VI locally on my machine and I am not yet far enough to consider it being an RT issue.

I searched for the nemstr.dll", "neviapi.dll", "niecatsv.dll", "nNIBlueBus_nCrioFixed.dll" and "nNIBlueBus_nCrioFixed_nRefnum.dll" files and they don't seem to exist in the Veristand directory so I believe that I am OK there.

[Jesse_D]

Hi MPCC,

Without looking too far into the problem I would expect an error if the CD were set to run locally. We don't have a windows master for ethercat and I assume that the discovery is trying an invalid call.

I would try deploying to RT and post back here if the problem remains.

[MPCC]

I think I worded that unclearly. I'm not attempting to run the custom device on a windows target. The target is a PXI chassis with an EtherCAT chassis attached via an ethernet cable.

The Autopopulate Chassis button is available from the system definition editor and that can only be accessed while you are undeployed. My point is that since it is a tool that runs undeployed, the VI must be trying to execute in Windows and would (i suspect) not be related to any drivers installed on the RT chassis at this point.

Regardless, I'm seeing this error when I try to autopopulate.

[StephenB]

Hey MPCC,

That is strange. We have changed the name of that VI to 'Main - Auto Detect Modules.vi'. So I'm not sure why you're getting this error.

Can you try closing NI VeriStand, deleting all of the scan engine components from your custom device directory. In particular, make sure you dont have any xml files with "scan engine" in the name. Use the windows search to clear out all of these files.

Then reinstall the custom device.

If that still shows the problem, can you try this on a new system definition?

Thanks,

[MPCC]

That Fixed it!

I must have had some relic files left in there. Thank!

Now my problem is related to the RT Target as I'm not seeing the chassis when I Auto-Detect. I'm going to do some debug based on information in this forum and get back with you if I can't figure it out.

*EDIT*

Got it. I just needed to install the I/O Variable Remote Configuration Web Service as noted on page one.

Thanks again!

[Aaron_Smith]

Hey Stephen,

We noticed again today that our calculated channels are affected when we expand the module list in the Scan Engine and EtherCAT Custom Device.  We have updated to the latest version.  I will continue to monitor and verify that its a repeatable issue.

Aaron

[StephenB]

hmm, I can't reproduce that. Can you tell me your exact configuration or share it?

[Will_T1]

Hi Devin,

I was wondering if there is an update to the Scan Engine & EtherCAT Custom Device that includes the setup for the 9220 C-module. If not, how much trouble would it be to create one?

In addition, I need to manually add a EtherCAT configuration as I cannot directly connect to the cRIO with the Full Development License machine. It is unclear to me how this would work in the Custom Device. Do I just keep the local chassis setup, claim a Master chassis (really the custom device), then just include the one slave chassis as Slave 0? Or is the 'local' chassis now Slave 0 and the one connected on the secondary Ethernet port Slave 1?

Also, upon setting the Master chassis' second ethernet port to EtherCAT, the slave chassis is not found in MAX or DSM. Any suggestions here? I have NI Industrial Communications installed and Scan Engine 4.0, among other things. I figured I should at least be able to see the modules.

Thanks,

Will

[Devin_K]

Hi Will,

Unfortunately the 9220 is not currently supported in scan mode, so it's not possible for me to add it to the custom device.  If and when the module is supported, it should be relatively simple to add it to the custom device.

If you have EtherCAT with your cRIO, the "Local Chassis" will still refer to the modules in your cRIO.  To add the EtherCAT, just click the "Add EtherCAT Master" button on the main page.  This will create a master and a slave.  The default ID for the master will be 0, and this needs to match up with what you defined for the port in MAX under the Network Settings tab.  The slave ID will be 0 by default, which is fine if you just have one 9144 chassis.

If you're using the latest version of the custom device, you should be using more recent drivers than RIO 4.0.  Check the add-on page for recommended software versions.

Regards,

Devin