BECKHOFF ET1100 - Manual (Page 10)

General Issues
6 Slave Controller – Application Note FAQ
3.12 Frames are lost / communication errors are counted
During power-up, it is a normal behaviour of the ESCs to count a few communication errors. You can
typically ignore them, only new errors which occur during operation are significant. An exception is the
PDI error counter, which is expected to be zero after power-up.
Generally, no real bus system is completely error-free, i.e., the bit error rate (BER) is never zero. A few
individual errors over time are tolerated by EtherCAT. It needs several errors or lost frames in a row to
interrupt the operation of a part of the network. Again, the PDI error counter is an exception, it has to
be zero all the time.
If frames are lost or error counters are increasing, configure TwinCAT to show the ESC error counters
and use the error counter interpretation guide in this chapter.
Refer to the ESC datasheet section I and II for more information on the ESC error counters.
3.12.1 Configuring TwinCAT to show the ESC error counters
Refer to the appendix (chapter 6.1) for details on configuring TwinCAT for displaying all the ESC error
counters. This helps in identifying the problem.
3.12.2 Reduce the complexity
Try reducing the complexity of the problem, which helps in localizing the problem cause:

Try reducing the network size to a minimum, while the error is still present.

Disable Enhanced Link Detection for testing to improve error visibility.

Swap devices in the network to isolate the error source.