Ken Roach
Lifetime Supporting Member + Moderator
I have inherited a system that uses a Parker ACR9000 motion controller with the Ethernet PowerLink option that it uses to control five Parker Compax3 servo drives.
Each device has a two-port Ethernet Powerlink option board. Today, they are set up in a simple Port 2- > Port 1 "daisy chain".
The ACR9000 has a separate Ethernet port that it uses to talk to ACR-View 6 software as well as a custom Windows application. That separate Ethernet port is connected to an ordinary unmanaged switch.
According to my research, the Compax3 can actually communicate over both Ethernet PowerLink and TCP/IP via that same EPL port on TCP ports 44821 and 44822, in addition to via RS-232 and RS-485 on its serial port.
I don't have any experience with Ethernet PowerLink. I've read that it's fast and easy and basically CANOpen over Ethernet. I've read that you can use ordinary Ethernet switches with it.
But what I don't know is if it uses Ethernet frames that are going to get propagated to the rest of my network if I go ahead and plug that Ethernet PowerLink daisy-chain into my unmanaged switches. Every diagram I've seen about it either restricts itself to the realtime domain or hand-waves about separating realtime domains from one another with "gateways".
So the question is: if I plug this Ethernet PowerLink network into my unmanaged switch, am I going to choke the normal Ethernet TCP/IP computers and PLCs with Ethernet PowerLink frames ?
If so, what really is a "gateway" that I can install so that I can have TCP/IP access to that Ethernet PowerLink network without passing all the realtime traffic onto a LAN ? Do I just need a switch with VLAN routing ? Does Ethernet PowerLink even respect VLAN tags ?
Each device has a two-port Ethernet Powerlink option board. Today, they are set up in a simple Port 2- > Port 1 "daisy chain".
The ACR9000 has a separate Ethernet port that it uses to talk to ACR-View 6 software as well as a custom Windows application. That separate Ethernet port is connected to an ordinary unmanaged switch.
According to my research, the Compax3 can actually communicate over both Ethernet PowerLink and TCP/IP via that same EPL port on TCP ports 44821 and 44822, in addition to via RS-232 and RS-485 on its serial port.
I don't have any experience with Ethernet PowerLink. I've read that it's fast and easy and basically CANOpen over Ethernet. I've read that you can use ordinary Ethernet switches with it.
But what I don't know is if it uses Ethernet frames that are going to get propagated to the rest of my network if I go ahead and plug that Ethernet PowerLink daisy-chain into my unmanaged switches. Every diagram I've seen about it either restricts itself to the realtime domain or hand-waves about separating realtime domains from one another with "gateways".
So the question is: if I plug this Ethernet PowerLink network into my unmanaged switch, am I going to choke the normal Ethernet TCP/IP computers and PLCs with Ethernet PowerLink frames ?
If so, what really is a "gateway" that I can install so that I can have TCP/IP access to that Ethernet PowerLink network without passing all the realtime traffic onto a LAN ? Do I just need a switch with VLAN routing ? Does Ethernet PowerLink even respect VLAN tags ?