There was no positioning timeout tests for Axes positioned by the XL that receive their positions from the PLC. In other words, the PLC provides positions for Axes that the XL actually controls, the XL is slaved to the PLC.

This test has now been added.

SERCOS drives have the ability to have configurable levels of precision (number of decimal places) for each type of parameter, depending on the parameters units, i.e. velocity units.

The XL needs to know the precision of the units in order to correctly interact with the drive and scale the value it sends and receives from the drive.

The XL has always set the precision of the velocity units for example so that they would be in a consistent known format.

A tech in the field experienced an issue where the chosen precision was limiting the speed that could be used by the Axis. The motor was capable of running faster but the precision of the velocity units places an upper limit on how fast the drive would run the axis.

In order to allow the precision to be changed to suit the techs installation without affecting legacy installs, the XL software was modified to read the precision setting out of the drive and to use it to do its conversions rather than set the precision. This was only done for Multi-Axis drives. Feeder and DA drives still function and use the precision configured by the XL.

SERCOS drives don't use the Drive Enable output from the XL. They are enabled through the SERCOS communication to the drive. The drive also reports back its enabled status through the same communication.

This change expands upon the change that was made in SCN 4583 where the enabled status from the drive was monitored to terminate Multi-Axis moves. Now all SERCOS drives are monitored.

As long as SERCOS communication is fully active, in phase four with full cyclical data transfer we can monitor the state of the drives enabled status.

If we attempt to enable the drive and it fails or if the drive loses its enabled state for external reasons we will display an error message informing them that the drive failed to enable or became disabled and to check the state of the drive for faults or any condition that prevents normal operation.

Closed Loop Feeders and Die Accelerators using SERCOS or Analog also have a Loop that gets enabled when the drive gets enabled. SERCOS has additional feedback that can be monitored to determine if the Drive has disabled itself.

This change ensures that the Loop on the XL gets disabled when the loss of enable is detected through feedback from the drive or when loss of communication to the drive is detected.