01-30-2019 11:08 AM
Hello,
I worked on a project (upgrade an old system) using two EtherCAT RIO slave chassis (NI 9145) with a cRIO-9047. I had successful experiences with it.
Today, a colleague from another department reached out with some questions about their application. I noticed that they are using Ethernet RIO expansion Chassis (NI 9149) for extended IOs. I thought they used EtherCAT as I did from conversions we had before. The project was outsourced to a 3rd party and they couldn't recall why Ethernet RIO expansion chassis was used other than EtherCAT chassis.
By searching the NI website, I couldn't tell how different the two expansion chassis are other than the users have to set them up differently in NI MAX. And also from the website, it says " The Ethernet RIO expansion chassis is intended to be connected to a switch, router, or existing Ethernet network; however, you can connect it to the secondary port of a real-time controller. Note that connecting an Ethernet RIO expansion chassis to the secondary Ethernet port of a real-time controller is not the intended use case for the Ethernet RIO expansion chassis. If you wish to use this configuration, you should consider using the NI EtherCAT RIO slave chassis. See more information on EtherCAT RIO. "
I actually care more about the function & performance of these two different expansion architectures. Based on what I read,
EtherCAT is only visible to the master cRIO controller, and time determinism can be ensured. (private?)
Ethernet RIO expansion chassis can exist in a network through a switch, and be visited by any controller in the network (public?)
Does anyone have experience with these two expansion systems? What are the major differences?
Thank you for your help.
Best Regards,
Yan L.
Solved! Go to Solution.
01-31-2019 03:45 PM
Hello TexasRock! (I think your nickname is awesome)
This whitepaper summarizes it all in one document. Here is the comparison I think is most useful.
I hope this helps clear it out for you and anybody else with this same questions.
Cheers!
01-31-2019 04:41 PM
Hi ARVega,
Thank you for the information, and comment on my nickname :).
This is exactly what I want to known.
Regards
02-01-2019 02:47 PM
For tracking purposes, could you set this thread as "solved" that will help our community that this question has already been answered.