Electronic Access To The Bic (Ebic) - Beckhoff EP4378-1022 Manual

7.4.4

Electronic access to the BIC (eBIC)

Electronic BIC (eBIC)
The Beckhoff Identification Code (BIC) is applied to the outside of Beckhoff products in a visible place. If
possible, it should also be electronically readable.
The interface that the product can be electronically addressed by is crucial for the electronic readout.
EtherCAT devices (IP20, IP67)
All Beckhoff EtherCAT devices have an ESI-EEPROM which contains the EtherCAT identity with the revision
number. The EtherCAT slave information, also colloquially known as the ESI/XML configuration file for the
EtherCAT master, is stored in it. See the corresponding chapter in the EtherCAT system manual (Link) for
the relationships.
Beckhoff also stores the eBIC in the ESI‑EEPROM. The eBIC was introduced into Beckhoff IO production
(terminals, box modules) in 2020; as of 2023, implementation is largely complete.
The user can electronically access the eBIC (if present) as follows:
• With all EtherCAT devices, the EtherCAT master (TwinCAT) can read the eBIC from the ESI‑EEPROM
◦ From TwinCAT 3.1 build 4024.11, the eBIC can be displayed in the online view.
◦ To do this, check the "Show Beckhoff Identification Code (BIC)" checkbox under
EtherCAT → Advanced Settings → Diagnostics:
◦ The BTN and its contents are then displayed:
◦ Note: As shown in the figure, the production data HW version, FW version, and production date,
which have been programmed since 2012, can also be displayed with "Show production info".
◦ Access from the PLC: From TwinCAT 3.1. build 4024.24, the functions FB_EcReadBIC and
FB_EcReadBTN for reading into the PLC are available in the Tc2_EtherCAT library from
v3.3.19.0.
• EtherCAT devices with a CoE directory may also have the object 0x10E2:01 to display their own eBIC,
which can also be easily accessed by the PLC:
EP4378-1022 Version: 1.4
Appendix
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