Mailbox

Mailbox Polling

• Cyclical
  If this checkbox is selected, the master cyclically reads the mailbox of the EtherCAT slave.
• Cycle time (ms)
  If the checkbox Cyclic is selected, this value specifies how often the master reads the mailbox of the EtherCAT slave.
• State Change
  If this checkbox is selected, the master checks a state bit of the slave in order to determine whether unread data are available in the mailbox. In this case the master reads the mailbox. This mode is more efficient than cyclic mode, because the master can check the state of the mailboxes of several EtherCAT slaves with a single EtherCAT command (LRD).

Mailbox Configuration

• Special Bootstrap Configuration
  Normal: for process data traffic or mailbox protocols
  Bootstrap: for firmware download
• Out-Adr.
  Physical start address of the output mailbox in the slave controller.
• In-Adr.
  Physical start address of the input mailbox in the slave controller.
• Out-Size == In Size
  If you select this checkbox, Out Size and In Size are identical.
• Out Size
  Size of the output mailbox in bytes.
• In Size
  Size of the input mailbox in bytes.

Mailbox protocols

• Ethernet over EtherCAT (EoE)
• Ethernet over EtherCAT (EoE)
  If this group is enabled, the EtherCAT slave supports the mailbox protocol Ethernet over EtherCAT (EoE).
• Configuration
  This button opens a dialog for configuring the mailbox protocol Ethernet over EtherCAT.
• CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE)
• CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE)
  If this checkbox is activated, the EtherCAT slave supports the mailbox protocol CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE).
• SDO Info Support
  If this checkbox is activated, the master can load the object directory of the EtherCAT slave.
• File access over EtherCAT (FoE)
• File access over EtherCAT (FoE)
  If this checkbox is activated, the EtherCAT slave supports the mailbox protocol File access over EtherCAT (FoE).
• Servo drive profile over EtherCAT (SoE)
• Servo drive profile over EtherCAT
  If this group is enabled, the EtherCAT slave supports the mailbox protocol Servo drive over EtherCAT (SoE).
• Configuration
  This button opens a dialog for configuring the mailbox protocol Servo drive over EtherCAT.

ADS-Info

ADS identification of an EtherCAT slave.

• The ADS Net ID is the same as the NetID of an EtherCAT device.
• The ADS port is the same as the fixed address of an EtherCAT device (see EtherCAT Adr).

ADS enables communication with the mailbox of the EtherCAT slave (e.g. SDO Upload Request).