National Instruments Deterministic Ethernet Expansion Chassis NI 9144 - Manual (Page 9)

© National Instruments Corporation 9 NI 9144 User Guide and Specifications
3. Press down firmly on the chassis to compress the spring until the clip
locks in place on the DIN rail.
Caution Remove any C Series I/O modules from the chassis before removing the chassis
from the DIN rail.
Connecting the NI 9144 Chassis to a Network
NI recommends that you install a private network segment for your
deterministic Ethernet expansion devices. Slave devices cause network
flooding on a standard network. Non-EtherCAT frames jeopardize the
system performance and determinism on an EtherCAT network. Refer to
the EtherCAT Technology Group Web site at
www.ethercat.org , for
more information.
The following devices are required to connect the NI 9144 chassis to a
network successfully: a host computer, a supported LabVIEW Real-Time
target
1 with the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software
driver installed on it, and an NI 9144 slave device.
To have your LabVIEW target establish a connection with the NI 9144
chassis, connect the secondary port of the LabVIEW Real-Time target to
the NI 9144 IN port. Use a standard Category 5 (CAT-5) or better Ethernet
cable. Use the NI 9144 OUT port to connect to other NI 9144 chassis and
slave devices on the same segment.
Once the connection is established, install the NI-Industrial
Communications for EtherCAT software on the host computer and then use
Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) to install the NI-Industrial
Communications for EtherCAT driver on the target.
Caution To update your firmware on the NI 9144 chassis, refer to the Updating your
Firmware section of this user guide.
Caution To prevent data loss and to maintain the integrity of your EtherCAT installation,
do not use a CAT-5 Ethernet cable longer than 100 m. National Instruments recommends
using a CAT-5 or better shielded twisted-pair Ethernet cable. If you need to build your own
cable, refer to the
Cabling section for more information about Ethernet cable wiring
connections.
Note If you are not using a LabVIEW Real-Time target as the master controller, consult
your product documentation about networking connections.
1 Supported LabVIEW targets include the NI cRIO-9074 and PXI RT with the NI PXI-8231 Ethernet interface.