[etherlab-users] Error in SII data (Baumueller bmaxx 5300)

[Frank Heckenbach]

Hi,

I'm trying to get Baumueller bmaxx 5300 servos running with the
EtherCAT master.

I had trouble getting PDO communication to work, since the master
would refuse to configure the slave. After some digging through the
sources and watching debug output, I found that in the SII data, in
the general category (0x1e), byte 5 (flags), bits 2 and 3 were not
set:

  slave->sii.coe_details.enable_pdo_assign =          (flags >> 2) & 0x01;
  slave->sii.coe_details.enable_pdo_configuration =   (flags >> 3) & 0x01;

So I downloaded the SII data ("sii_read"), set those two bits, and
wrote the data back ("sii_write"). Afterwards, PDO communication
worked.

I suppose this one of the cases you mention on
<http://www.etherlab.org/en/ethercat/faq.php>, and as you write
there: "Unfortunately, some slave vendors aren't aware, that they
have to provide their slaves' SII with nearly the same information
as in the slave device description XML files (see table below).
[...] This is actually the task of the vendor, an you should tell
him to do so in the future!"

Therefore, I'd like to know:

- Is this information actually contained in the XML file (or should
  it be)? In the XML file I got from Baumueller, I didn't find
  anything that looked like it (enable pdo assign or enable pdo
  configuration). What should I look for?

- I'd like to check if other information is missing in the SII
  data, so I tried to compare it with the XML file. On the
  above-mentioned web page you write:

  : A quick solution for the missing information is to generate the
  : SII contents from the slave description XML file using
  : Beckhoff's TwinCAT, and write them to the slave. [...] Add the
  : slave to a new project, then select "EtherCAT", "Advanced
  : settings", "ESC Access", "EPROM", "Hex Editor", "Save to
  : file...".

  I'm not familiar with TwinCAT, so I don't know how to do this. I
  installed the trial version from Beckhoff's web site, but I don't
  even know which of the several programs it installs I should use,
  and what to do then. Could you please describe it in more detail
  -- or could someone here do the conversion for me if I send you
  the XML file from Baumueller?

Regards,
Frank

-- 
Dipl.-Math. Frank Heckenbach <f.heckenbach at fh-soft.de>
Systemprogrammierung, EDV-Beratung
Stubenlohstr. 6, 91052 Erlangen, Deutschland
Tel.: +49-9131-21359