The XB6S-EC2002 EtherCAT coupler supports alarm uploading functionality. If a module alarm occurs in the EtherCAT bus, it is immediately reported to the PLC alarm interface, providing real-time I/O module status monitoring and detailed coupler diagnostics.
Supported Error Codes:
Example using TwinCAT:
When the XB6S-EC2002 is connected to TwinCAT under normal operational status:
A load-side voltage alarm triggers the following alert:
The XB6S-EC2002 manual details byte-specific definitions for such alarms:
Historical alarms can also be queried in the coupler's diagnostic log:
Case Study: Reading Diagnostics via SDO
EtherCAT Diagnosis is a channel for slave devices to report errors, with three severity levels: info, warning, and error. Based on CoE protocol, Index=0x10F3:
10F3:01
: Max 64 entries
10F3:02
: Latest message index
10F3:03
: Acknowledged message ID (write to confirm)
10F3:06
: Detailed diagnostic message
Sample Message Analysis:C5 00 00 00 01 03 C5 00 37 6E DA CB 11 03 00 00 05 00 03 05 00 FF 05 00 01
C5 00 00 00
: Diag code = Load-side power supply failure (per error code table)
01 03 C5 00
: Module 3 reports load-side voltage alarm (info level)
37 6E DA CB 11 03 00 00
: Timestamp
05 00
: Followed by unsigned 8-bit data
03
: Module 3
FF
: Channel-level event
01
: Active alarm (changes to 00
when resolved)
Reading Index 0x10F3 enables real-time module status analysis.
Critical Notes:
EtherCAT uses a ring-buffer message pool:
Overwrite Mode: New messages overwrite oldest entries when full.
Acknowledge Mode: New messages replace acknowledged ones; unacknowledged messages block new entries.
Mapping alarms to PDOs achieves real-time coupler monitoring.