Hi Richard, First of all I'd like to thank you for your patience with me.
I agree that I will most likely see the working slave respects to INIT command. In fact, I already demonstrated to our customer that it works fine with our controller.
But unfortunately, I can't persuade our customer that the one I have in my desk is broken. Because I just connected it via twincat, it goes to OP mode and I can see the process data :(
Yesterday I asked the manufacturer about the model of the ESC used in this device. Not received a reply yet. Maybe it can tell us something?
Also I'll try the commands you sent, while the master uses the SII binary file instead of reading directly from the device.
Best regards, Oğuz. On 25-Mar-26 10:25 AM, Richard Hacker wrote:
Hello Oguz, As far as I can see, your slave is broken! You are not even at the application level. The "ethercat" commands I sent you show that the slave will not go to INIT even on an idle bus. Try those commands again with your working slave and you will see that it respects the INIT command. On Tue, 2026-03-24 at 12:31 +0300, Bilko AS, Oguz Dilmac wrote:Hi Richard, Here are the outputs of the commands after a fresh start. Noapplication is running.lynca@lynca:~$ sudo /usr/local/etc/init.d/ethercat restartShutting down EtherCAT master 1.6.8 done Starting EtherCAT master 1.6.8 done lynca@lynca:~$ ethercat slave -v === Master 0, Slave 0 === Device: Main State: PREOP Flag: + Identity: Vendor Id: 0x6167656d Product code: 0x00000000 Revision number: 0x00000000 Serial number: 0x00000000 DL information: FMMU bit operation: no Distributed clocks: yes, 64 bit DC system time transmission delay: 0 ns Port Type Link Loop Signal NextSlave RxTime [ns] Diff [ns] NextDc [ns] 0 MII up open yes - 811350812 0 0 1 MII down closed no - - - - 2 N/A down closed no - - - - 3 N/A down closed no - - - - Mailboxes: Bootstrap RX: 0x1000/1024, TX: 0x1400/1024 Standard RX: 0x1000/1024, TX: 0x1400/1024 Supported protocols: CoE, FoE General: Group: SSC_Device Image name: Order number: Megatec_ESC_NLCH Device name: Megatec_ESC_NLCH CoE details: Enable SDO: yes Enable SDO Info: yes Enable PDO Assign: no Enable PDO Configuration: no Enable Upload at startup: no Enable SDO complete access: yes Flags: Enable SafeOp: no Enable notLRW: no Current consumption: 0 mA lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0000 0x98 152 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0001 0x01 1 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0002 0x0001 1 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0004 0x08 8 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0005 0x08 8 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0006 0x08 8 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0007 0x0f 15 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0008 0x01cc 460 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120 0x0002 2 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130 0x0002 2 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134 0x0000 0 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat state -p0 init lynca@lynca:~$ ethercat slaves 0 0:0 PREOP E Megatec_ESC_NLCH lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120 0x0001 1 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130 0x0002 2 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134 0x0000 0 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat state -p0 preop lynca@lynca:~$ ethercat slaves 0 0:0 PREOP + Megatec_ESC_NLCH lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120 0x0001 1 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130 0x0002 2 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134 0x0000 0 lynca@lynca:~$The documents of the slave is mostly focused on the application. Iscreen copied the Ethercat related section below. The rest describes the content of the PDOs---- 1 IntroductionThis document describes a communication protocol between the CNC and the processing optic using the EtherCAT bus. All information is transferred inside cyclical process data objects (PDO). Specific data in PDOs is referenced as following: TxPDO 4 – TxPDO, word 4 TxPDO 2/3 – TxPDO, word 2, bit 3 Words and bits are counted from 0. After the power is switched on the processing optic’s controller is booted up and references the lens motor. This takes approx. 10 seconds. Afterwards that the optic is ready for operation and does not need any additional initialization. 2 EtherCAT protocol description The processing optic is an EtherCAT slave device. The minimum cycle time is 1 millisecond.------- Below that point, the document describes the PDO content... By the way, I will ask which ESC controller is used. What else do yousuggest to ask?Best regards, Oguz. On 24-Mar-26 11:23 AM, Richard Hacker wrote:OK, the slave does not transition to INIT, regardless (0x130 shouldmatch 0x120). Next test: with a fresh restart (no application running) ethercat slave -v ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0000 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0001 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0002 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0004 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0005 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0006 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint8 0x0007 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0008 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134 ethercat state -p0 init ethercat sl ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134 ethercat state -p0 preop ethercat sl ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0120 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0130 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x0134 The important address is 0x0134 (AL Status code). Can you check in the documentation what the manufacturor writes about the status code On Tue, 2026-03-24 at 10:36 +0300, Bilko AS, Oguz Dilmac wrote:Hi Richard, Graeme,I was out of the office. Thank you for the suggestions. Graeme I'll try to look into it. Mr Richard, here are the outputs of the commands after I powered both PC and the slave: lynca@lynca:~$ sudo /usr/local/etc/init.d/ethercat restart Shutting down EtherCAT master 1.6.8 done Starting EtherCAT master 1.6.8 done lynca@lynca:~$ ethercat slave 0 0:0 PREOP + Megatec_ESC_NLCH lynca@lynca:~$ ethercat slaves 0 0:0 PREOP + Megatec_ESC_NLCH lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat state -p0 init lynca@lynca:~$ ethercat slave 0 0:0 PREOP E Megatec_ESC_NLCH lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat state -p0 preop lynca@lynca:~$ ethercat slave 0 0:0 PREOP + Megatec_ESC_NLCH lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint32 0x900 0x0af50b04 183831300 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint64 0x910 0x00000051a7927504 350703744260 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x120 0x0001 1 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x130 0x0002 2 lynca@lynca:~$ And these are executed while the application is running: lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat slave 0 0:0 PREOP E Megatec_ESC_NLCH lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x120 0x0001 1 lynca@lynca:~$ sudo ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x130 0x0002 2 The installed ethercat master is 1.6.8 with Mr James Benway's patch for reading sii from a file ( https://github.com/DSI-Gleeble/ethercat/tree/sii-from-file). But I removed the binary sii files so that the master can read from slave as normal. Can you see something? Best regards, Oguz. On 20-Mar-26 6:34 PM, Richard Hacker wrote:My suspicion is that your problem is way before the master--tries to configure the slave, as I have said before. When the master is activated, it jogs the slave through the INIT, PREOP, SAFEOP and eventually OP states. A slave gets configured (SDO parameters, PDO setup) between the PREOP and SAFEOP state -- but your slave never gets there. Your slave might go into INIT, but somehow the master does not get this state change. Can you change the slave state from the command line? With your slave attached but without your application running (i.e. idle free- run bus), what is the output of: ethercat slave ethercat state -p0 init ethercat slave ethercat state -p0 preop ethercat slave ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint32 0x900 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint64 0x910 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x120 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x130 Now start your application and: ethercat state ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x120 ethercat reg_read -p0 -tuint16 0x130 -p0 assumes the affedted slave is the first slave in the network. Adjust accordingly if that is not the case. On Fri, 2026-03-20 at 00:02 +0000, Graeme Foot wrote:Hi Oguz, If this is a potential fix for your slave, you would requiremore separation, plus I’m not sure you got your reads vs writes assigned quite right. i.e. from your log 0x6000:01 is being assigned to domain 0 when it looks like it should be assigned to domain 1.The issue with the Texas Instruments ESC’s in particular isthat if you use one domain the writes (control) and reads (status) are too close together for the ESC’s syncs to handle gracefully. E.g.:+ domain 0 -------------------+[slave 0 write][slave 0 read]|If you split them into two domains you get: + domain 0 -----+ domain 1 ----+[slave 0 write]|[slave 0 read]|Which timing wise is no real difference and still a problem. But if you add a few more slaves (they don’t even need to beonline) you get:+ domain 0 -------------------------+ domain 1 ------------------ ---- --+[slave 0 write][slave 1 write][...]| [slave 0 read][slave 1read][...]| You can see you now have more separation between the slave 0write and read.In your example (apart from the potential incorrectallocation which could itself cause issues) I don’t think the EL2008 would be enough to give a big enough separation (only 1 byte?). Try adding two or three more of your problem slaves (they’re around 78 bytes each).Here’s some background info on the Texas Instrumentsissue: https://www.ti.com/lit/an/spracj7/spracj7.pdf?ts=1669243747147 * section 3.1.3 describes the TI ESC not working with non- overlapping PDOs * Section 3.6 describes a malformed packet issue and its workarounds, due to overlapping PDOsIn our cases where we’ve had problems with slaves oursymptoms were: 1. On assigning the FMMU configuration the slave would stop forwarding on frames 2. I think we had one that got stuck in INIT, but can’t remember for sureRegards,Graeme.From: Bilko AS, Oguz Dilmac <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 19 March 2026 23:49 To: Graeme Foot <[email protected]>; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Etherlab-users] Timeout while setting state INIT.Hi Graeme,I connected a EK1100 bus coupler and a EL2008 digital output card. The first slave is the EK1100, and my device stay at the end. I created two domains Unfortunately the device still don't go to INIT. Here, I put my test code and the dmesg output: https://we.tl/t-Dj1MtId6LA Best regards, Oguz.On 19-Mar-26 1:16 AM, Graeme Foot wrote:Hi Oguz, It’s not looking likely to be an SII problem then. From the log it looks like you’re using a single--Read/Write domain. I don’t recall if you mentioned, have tried putting it in separate read and write domains? If you try this, also ensure that there are at least two other separate read and write domain slaves also configured in your system.I’ve had a few slaves in the past (generally with TexasInstruments ESC’s) that work well with overlapped PDO’s in a single Read/Write domain (TwinCat’s default method), but fail when the PDO’s are not overlapped (EtherLab’s default). If this is the case you can put them in separate read and write domains to separate them within the EtherCat frame. But, you need to ensure there’s a couple of other read and write domain devices also configured to ensure there’s enough separation in the frame.Graeme.From: Bilko AS, Oguz Dilmac<[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 19 March 2026 02:33 To: Graeme Foot <[email protected]>; Richard Hacker<[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Etherlab-users] Timeout while setting state INIT.Hi,I noticed, the correct path with option is: "--enable-sii- override=/lib/firmware" This way, the master can find my ec_xxx.bin file. But still at the end, slave doesn't respond to go INIT command. Here is the dmesg output: https://we.tl/t-BGDmNzZv2b Best regards, Oguz.Oguz DilmacBilko AS, R&D Manager==================================== Perpa Ticaret Merkezi B Blok Kat 13 Nr. 2536 TR-34384 Okmeydani Istanbul Turkey Tel : +90 212 563 00 00 e-mail : [email protected] web site : http://www.bilko-automation.com https://www.youtube.com/@LyncaCNCOguz Dilmac Bilko AS, R&D Manager ==================================== Perpa Ticaret Merkezi B Blok Kat 13 Nr. 2536 TR-34384 Okmeydani Istanbul Turkey Tel : +90 212 563 00 00 e-mail : [email protected] web site : http://www.bilko-automation.com https://www.youtube.com/@LyncaCNC
-- Oguz Dilmac Bilko AS, R&D Manager ==================================== Perpa Ticaret Merkezi B Blok Kat 13 Nr. 2536 TR-34384 Okmeydani Istanbul Turkey Tel : +90 212 563 00 00 e-mail : [email protected] web site : http://www.bilko-automation.com https://www.youtube.com/@LyncaCNC -- Etherlab-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.etherlab.org/mailman/listinfo/etherlab-users
