EtherCAT Editor: MainDevice Tab

To access this window: In the EtherCAT Editor, in the EtherCAT Explorer pane, click the EtherCAT MainDevice in the list, then select the MainDevice tab.

The MainDevice tab provides the following configuration options:

Cycle Time

The Cycle Time matches the RMC’s Loop Time and is not configurable on this tab.

Cable Redundancy

Enable or disable cable redundancy.

If redundancy is enabled, the Out port of the last device in the EtherCAT network must be connected to the ECAT2 port on the RMC EtherCAT module.

If redundancy is disabled, the ECAT2 port must not be connected.

Performance Measurement

Enable or disable performance management. When enabled, the EtherCAT Diagnostics Performance tab will display the times of various EtherCAT processes.

Startup State

Specify the Startup State. Typically, this is Op mode.

To change the mode after the network starts up, write to the ECAT MainDevice Target State register.

Fault Recovery Mode

This defines the behavior after the network faults.

Disabled: No automatic attempt will be made to restart the network.
Restart Cyclic: The RMC will attempt to restart the network by transitioning it to Pre-Op. If the transition to Pre-Op is successful, the RMC will transition to the Target Master State (typically Op). This option is useful when a user wants the EtherCAT network to automatically return to Op state after a slave is power-cycled or disconnected/reconnected on the network. Transitioning to Pre-Op allows the network to recover from most errors.

For more details, see EtherCAT Troubleshooting.