General notes on marking

Name

A Beckhoff EtherCAT device has a 14-digit technical designation consisting of

Example	Family	Type	Version	Revision
EL3314-0000-0016	EL Terminal 12 mm, fixed 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 stated above result in the technical designation. EL3314-0000-0016 is used in the example below.
EL3314-0000 is the order identifier, for “-0000” usually abbreviated to EL3314. “-0016” is the EtherCAT revision.
The order identifier is composed of
- family key (EL, EP, CU, ES, KL, CX, etc.)
- type (3314)
- version (0000)
The revision -0016 reflects the technical progress such as feature enhancement with regard to EtherCAT communication and is managed by Beckhoff.
In principle, a device with a higher revision can replace a device with a lower revision, unless otherwise specified, e.g. in the documentation.
There is usually a description (ESI, EtherCAT Slave Information) in the form of an XML file which is associated and synonymous with each revision, and this is available for download from the Beckhoff website.
Since January 2014, the revision has been marked on the outside of the IP20 terminals; see Fig. “EL2872 with revision 0022 and serial number 01200815.”
The type, version, and revision are read as decimal numbers, even if they are technically saved in hexadecimal.