Beckhoff CX Controller and AB SLC500 Data Exchange

I know there are not a lot of Beckhoff TwinCAT users on here, but I wanted to share this with anyone that may have a need for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZACerq8gs4k

I ported the DF1 driver into TwinCAT so a CX1020 (or any of the CX1000 series) can be integrated into a network of SLC500 processors. I'll share this function block with anyone who would like it and I hope to soon make a video showing how to use it.

It currently allows reading and writing of B (bit) and N (integer) data tables over the serial port on a SLC. It will also work with a micrologix.

Thanks for sharing. I am curiors about the CX1020, is the Embeded PC totally PC compatible, running Windows + TwinCAT, and can be equiped with keyboard and mouse and monitor, or you got to have special software and program and download to this embeded PC?

Congratulations Archie. I am guessing you are doing this out of pure self-interest. Super idea with putting it on Youtube.
Does it work with Win CE and/or Win XP embedded ?

halosome, the CX can be purchased with a card with USB slots and a DVI port. With that you can connect mouse, keyboard and display and then operate it as any other PC.

halosome said:

I am curiors about the CX1020, is the Embeded PC totally PC compatible, running Windows + TwinCAT, and can be equiped with keyboard and mouse and monitor, or you got to have special software and program and download to this embeded PC?

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The CX1020 that I am using for testing has Windows CE 5.0 and can run .NET Compact Framework 2.0 applications. You can also get it with XP embedded and it will run standard windows applications.

TwinCAT runs the same on both platforms. I prefer CE because it boots much faster and is a couple hundred dollars cheaper.

Both platforms accept a USB keyboard, mouse, and a DVI monitor if you order it with the USB/DVI option.

I had one of the CX1000's with XP embedded and hooked it up to my network along with a mouse and keyboard. I was able to do anything that I could do on a desktop such as surfing the internet or watch videos. The CX1000 was a bit slow at 266Mhz, but the CX1020 is a much faster processor.

JesperMP said:

Does it work with Win CE and/or Win XP embedded ?

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I actually did it for a project I am working on. I am adding the CX1020 to network of 5 SLC 5/04's. They are networked via DH+. I plan to connect the CX into the serial port of the main SLC and set the pass-thru bit. That will then allow me to read and write data from any of the SLCs.

Since I had written the driver in TwinCAT, it will work on any of the Beckhoff platforms whether its WinCE, XP, or their BX series with the proprietary OS.

Thanks, guys. Here's another question, does CX1020 come with K-bus (terminals KL****) or etherCAT （EL****)? or for each bus there would be different corresponding models?

halosome said:

does CX1020 come with K-bus (terminals KL****) or etherCAT （EL****)? or for each bus there would be different corresponding models?

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The bus for the terminals is determined by the power supply. You can get either one for the CX1020.

With the CX1020 you can also connect one of the Ethernet ports to an EtherCAT bus coupler for remote IO. You could even connect a BK9000 bus coupler to one of the ethernet ports and use K-Bus terminals for remote IO.

Not 100% sure where I saw it, but I'm quite sure I saw a terminal that changes over from EtherCAT bus to K-bus. That would allow you to start with EtherCAt termals (EL series) and change to K-Bus series within the same rack.

Archie said:

Not 100% sure where I saw it, but I'm quite sure I saw a terminal that changes over from EtherCAT bus to K-bus. That would allow you to start with EtherCAt termals (EL series) and change to K-Bus series within the same rack.

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http://www.beckhoff.com/english/busterm/bk1250.htm

Archie said:

Not 100% sure where I saw it, but I'm quite sure I saw a terminal that changes over from EtherCAT bus to K-bus. That would allow you to start with EtherCAt termals (EL series) and change to K-Bus series within the same rack.

Click to expand...

Hello Archie,

very interesting - the you tube video is great!

The module you mentioned was good as the E-bus terminals when first came out use to be much more expensive that the K-bus ones so it you didn't require the speed for some I/O, configure this I/O on the end of the bus and you could use this terminal to change the backplane from e-bus to k-bus.
Now the e-bus I/O terminals are cheaper, I would advise e-bus is speed is a requirement.

This is pretty cool. Did you also figure out how to talk DH+ in your software tool as well?

Thanks,
Joe_WaZoo

Joe_WaZoo said:

Did you also figure out how to talk DH+ in your software tool as well?

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I actually used it with a DL3500 from Equustek (datalink) and had it talk to DH+. The actually application it is going to be used on is using the DF1 port on a SLC 5/04 with the pass-thru bit set to allow it to talk over DH+ to other nodes.