Add Third Party EtherCAT Modules

Modules can be added to third party MDP (Modular Device Profile) EtherCAT devices in the Project view.

This helps to pre-configure the EtherCAT network in the project before connecting to the controller.

Procedure

  1. Right-click a MDP EtherCAT device and select Add Module... from the menu. (Figure 1)

    2. Figure 1: Right-click menu - Add Module... selected

  2. Select a module from the EtherCAT Module Selector dialog box.
  3. Click OK to save the changes or selections and close the dialog.

The module is added to the project under the selected EtherCAT device.

Limitations

When adding modules from the Project View, there are limitations:

  • Modules cannot be manually added to devices that are mapped to physical devices.
    • Modules are only added to an unmapped, manually added MDP device.
  • Manually adding a MDP device does not automatically add mandatory modules.
    • Either:
      • Consult the device documentation to identify the mandatory modules and add them manually.
      • Discover the mandatory modules under the physical MDP devices, using the EtherCAT network scan.