[etherlab-users] Writing to a blank EEPROM

[Florian Pose]

Hi Aaron,

On Thu, Nov 15, 2007 at 06:00:18PM -0800, Aaron Edsinger wrote:
> Is it possible for the Ethercat Master to write to a blank slave EEPROM. 

Yes. I never wrote data to a blank EEPROM, but it should be possible.
As far as I know, there are no restrictions to write EEPROM data.

> Is default EEPROM data required to bootstrap the slave and allow the 
> Master to recognize it?

Yes. At least the first 40 words should be filled with the specified
information. Especially the ID object (vendor Id, product code, etc.) is
necessary to recognize the slave. If the slave has PDOs (almost
certainly), the EEPROM must contain at least the sync manager
configurations. If the PDOs are fixed, and the slave does nut support
CoE, then the PDO mapping information must be in the EEPROM either. If
they are variable, the master can read the mapping out of the CoE
dictionary.

> I ask because I am developing a custom ET1200 slave board and am not 
> sure if I need to pre-burn the EEPROM before soldering it to the board. 
> Any general advice for this application would be very much appreciated.

No, the master should be able to write it to the device.

-- 
Best regards,
Florian Pose

http://etherlab.org