Ethercat HAL driver

Hi all,

well apparently rewriting the .xml esi file for TwinCAT by putting the required parameters for Velocity command did the trick. So far, only the original file in pos command had been used and had been working so far to initialize the EtherCAT ability of the IndraDrives.

But apparently for this one, it required the vel command version of this drive to get the EtherCAT ability and get the drive moving from linuxcnc. Not sure exactly how and why but happy to discuss if some people have been facing the same issue.

Thank you,

Nicolas

Hello ,
i installed linuxc and EtherCAT and i can connect to the servo driver.
I'm trying to control the servo motor from the terminal, but I have a problem. The driver responds to these commands:

ethercat slaves

ethercat download -t int8 0x6060 0 3
ethercat upload -t int8 0x6061 0

I can change operation mode from terminal . but when I try to get information about the position of the axis I get 0x000000000 0

I think the problem comes from here:
The PDO is distributed in the CoE communication protocol area. In the EtherCAT system, the
master-to-slave data is transmitted using RxPDO (0X1600). The data length is 14 bytes and the
sub-index is 0x00~0x0D. The slave-to-master data is transmitted using TxPDO (0X1A00) and the
data length is 14 bytes.

How can I send / receive a larger data length (type). Now I can only upload/download commands type int8

Thansk!

Hello,

you can't access pdo communication from terminal.
Ethercat download/upload is sdo communication, which is not realtime.

For getting access to your pdos you would have to setup an read/write function in an realtime task.
In an linuxcnc environment you can do this with the linuxcnc-ethercat hal driver.
Using lcec_conf with an ethercat_config xml file created by you for your application, sets up this communication in your ethercat master and maps your pdos to linuxcnc hal pins.

the realtime part lcec read and write then reads and writes the pdos to/from your halpins.

read through this thread how to create an ethercat config xml file, also take a look at the example folder in linuxcnc-ethercat and the linuxcnc wiki.

Thanks ,
I tried to deal with the problem myself, but I can't handle it. I attach the configuration files. I'm trying to make one driver work with LinuxCNC. There can be a lot of nonsense inside. I'm just new to the world of Linux / LinuxCNC

Hello,

i am not completly shure whats wrong, how die you linuxcnc 2.9.(master) install? deb package ?

-first change the haltypes "special32" to "float" in your ethercat conf.xml . There exists no haltype "special32", haltypes are "bit,s32,u32,float,float-unsigned,complex" ...

if this not works, remove in your halfile the path before lcec_conf , if you have installed linuxcnc-ethercat correctly this is not neccesary.

post dmesg and linuxcnc output again....

Nothing changes

hmmm,

please go to your linuxcnc-ethercat folder, do an make clean and then
make install again.
are there any errors at compiling?

this is a little bit strange in dmesg :
[ 352.618901] lcec_conf[1094]: segfault at 5 ip 00007fd2b0e32fca sp 00007ffd37755b28 error 4 in libc-2.28.so[7fd2b0d1e000+148000]

thanks for the help . I'm uploading new files. I did a new installation linuxcnc ethercat
There is no change.
I start LinuxCNC from the icon


PS: I make a new installation of LinuxCNC from this link Debian witch Ethercat
But I have new error again.

Debug file information:
Note: Using POSIX realtime
/usr/share/linuxcnc/hallib/core_sim.hal:29: Pin 'joint.1.motor-pos-cmd' does not exist
3330
Stopping realtime threads
Unloading hal components
Note: Using POSIX realtime

/usr/share/linuxcnc/hallib/core_sim.hal:29: Pin 'joint.1.motor-pos-cmd' does not exist
3330

This is a hal message. It says the stepgenerator position command pin does not exist. I expect you edited hal files.

If you start the linuxcnc axis build in example from the linuxcnc config picker, check if this works.

Then for ethercat you should start with something very minimal in hal. Like only adding the lcec to the servo threat.
Step by step you gonna build it up. Attached a hal files that you can strip down and then try ant load it.

These lines should be your starting point for succes :
And edit the attached xml file to your needs.

Hi,

remove the calls to the unneccesary hal files in the ini file HAL Section .
core _sim.hal should not be loaded.

and load your halfile with the ethercat lines as normal hal. not as postgui hal file.