ABB Drives

ABB Drives

We found on some applications that the ABB drives work better when the first drive in the network is the Distributed Clocks master. Our default is that the controller is master. The ETHERCAT command function $93 is described thus:

Function $93: EC_SET_1STDC_ENABLED_AS_MASTER

Set the EtherCAT master to enable the first DC enabled node to be the Distributed Clocks master. Use with Trio Motion Coordinators that have standard Ethernet hardware for the EtherCAT port. For best performance use either the Flex-6 Nano or MC6N-ECAT as the EtherCAT master. When used on MC464, MC4N-ECAT or MC664(X), the slaves will sync to the first DC master, but the Motion Coordinator cannot Synchronise to the DC master device due to the EtherCAT port hardware. Only the Motion Coordinator can be the master for full synchronisation.

Example: Set the first drive with DC capability to be the Distributed Clocks Master then start the network.
'Use first DC enabled drive as master clock
ETHERCAT($93, 0, 2, -1, 0)

' Start EtherCAT network
ETHERCAT(0, 0)

We have seen that the e180 and e190 preform better with the 1st drive as DC master. The older e150 was OK with the Controller as master.

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