Solexy ethernet I.S isolator - comm issues

[radfahrer]

Does anyone here on the forums have any experience with Solexy I.S. ethernet isolators? The model we are using is BXF3S010N0018.



Issue we're having is with a small portable skid which has Point I/O (1734-AENT) and a Powerflex 525 VFD (1 hp). System runs fine if we connect directly to the AENT with ethernet cable, but as soon as we put the Solexy in line, then we lose comms within a few seconds of starting the VFD. Comms are fine without the VFD running going through the Solexy. If we leave the Solexy floating (not grounded or touching the enclosure (which is stainless) then it runs without issues as well, as soon as we connect ground to the SOlexy it faults out fairly soon. We see both AENT and the VFD faulting.


In the comm diagnostics of the AENT, we're getting MAC receive errors and FCS errors as soon as the SOlexy is grounded...the system can handle a few of those but as long as those are incrementing it eventually faults out.


Just curious if anyone else has used these, and if so did they have any similar issues with noise.grounding.


-G

 

[PreLC]

Does anyone here on the forums have any experience with Solexy I.S. ethernet isolators? The model we are using is BXF3S010N0018.



Issue we're having is with a small portable skid which has Point I/O (1734-AENT) and a Powerflex 525 VFD (1 hp). System runs fine if we connect directly to the AENT with ethernet cable, but as soon as we put the Solexy in line, then we lose comms within a few seconds of starting the VFD. Comms are fine without the VFD running going through the Solexy. If we leave the Solexy floating (not grounded or touching the enclosure (which is stainless) then it runs without issues as well, as soon as we connect ground to the SOlexy it faults out fairly soon. We see both AENT and the VFD faulting.


In the comm diagnostics of the AENT, we're getting MAC receive errors and FCS errors as soon as the SOlexy is grounded...the system can handle a few of those but as long as those are incrementing it eventually faults out.


Just curious if anyone else has used these, and if so did they have any similar issues with noise.grounding.


-G

Seems like a classic ground fault loop to me. Most likely your switch's ground is not the same as your client device's ground. I would suggest putting this device upstream inside the source panel if you have one, gets rid of the grounding issues for me.

Keep in mind, this would only work in case the solexy unit itself isn't already a wiregapped(Inductive isolator) circuit. If the Solexy is an inductive isolator, then most likely your cable isn't up to spec and isn't supplying enough current to cause the proper transmission. This is unlikely.

EDIT: It also might be that your LV Electrical circuit isn't grounded properly and is leaking current into where you are grounding your solexy. I doubt this also but worth a probe.

 

[radfahrer]

E-Net Solexy comms cont'd

PreLC


Thanks for the info and the link to the isolator product. I've been trying to see if the Solexy is galvanically isolated, but they don't have the schematic on their site, their docs just call it an I.S. barrier, and don't specify exactly how they do the isolation. For this system, the skid vendor spec'd the devices and is responsible for sorting this out. Their current plan is to put a filter between the Solexy ground connection and the skid ground, since from what we observed as long as the Solexy is floating, we didn't have any comm issues.


So thanks for the tips, and if the filter doesn't fully solve the issue, I'll pass on the link for the in-line isolator to the skid vendor and that will be one more thing we can try.


-G

 

[PreLC]

Thanks for the info and the link to the isolator product. I've been trying to see if the Solexy is galvanically isolated, but they don't have the schematic on their site, their docs just call it an I.S. barrier, and don't specify exactly how they do the isolation. For this system, the skid vendor spec'd the devices and is responsible for sorting this out. Their current plan is to put a filter between the Solexy ground connection and the skid ground, since from what we observed as long as the Solexy is floating, we didn't have any comm issues.


So thanks for the tips, and if the filter doesn't fully solve the issue, I'll pass on the link for the in-line isolator to the skid vendor and that will be one more thing we can try.


-G

"Galvanically isolated" was the exact term I was looking for, sorry I'm a mechanical engineer lol.
Devices which usually require grounding on one side for LV applications are likely not galvanically isolated, at least for low voltage.

With situations like this where the networking ground is in question, I anticipate that your vendor will go back and forth a little bit before fixing the issue. One more note I had was that since the galvanically-isolator from Tripp Lite is RJ45-RJ45, it would be really easy to get a tiny Cat6 cable and plug this into your network switch, the other end to the tripp lite, and your current RJ45 start to the other end of the trippLite isolator. I think this is what you'll need at the end:

PlantSwitchRJ45female->MaleRJ45TinyCableMaleRJ45>RJ45FemaleTrippLiteRJ45Female>MaleRJ45CurrentCable>M12D-CodedSolexy

Regards,
-PreLC