General notes on marking

Designation

A Beckhoff EtherCAT device has a 14-digit designation, made up of

Example	Family	Type	Version	Revision
EL3314-0000-0016	EL terminal 12 mm, non-pluggable connection level	3314 4-channel thermocouple terminal	0000 basic type	0016
ES3602-0010-0017	ES terminal 12 mm, pluggable connection level	3602 2-channel voltage measurement	0010 high-precision version	0017
CU2008-0000-0000	CU device	2008 8-port fast ethernet switch	0000 basic type	0000

The elements mentioned above result in the technical designation. EL3314-0000-0016 is used in the example below.
EL3314-0000 is the order identifier, in the case of “-0000” usually abbreviated to EL3314. “-0016” is the EtherCAT revision.
The order identifier is made up of
- family key (EL, EP, CU, ES, KL, CX, etc.)
- type (3314)
- version (-0000)
The revision -0016 shows the technical progress, such as the extension of features with regard to the EtherCAT communication, and is managed by Beckhoff.
In principle, a device with a higher revision can replace a device with a lower revision, unless specified otherwise, e.g. in the documentation.
Associated and synonymous with each revision there is usually a description (ESI, EtherCAT Slave Information) in the form of an XML file, which is available for download from the Beckhoff web site.
From 2014/01 the revision is shown on the outside of the IP20 terminals, see Fig. “EL5021 EL terminal, standard IP20 IO device with batch number and revision ID (since 2014/01)”.
The type, version and revision are read as decimal numbers, even if they are technically saved in hexadecimal.