Beckhoff CX8110 Embedded PC

The 0 V of the power supply and the protective earth (PE) must be at the same potential (connected inside the control cabinet).

One side of the circuit (or a point of the power supply) must be connected to the protective grounding system.

Important operating rules:

When disconnecting the power supply, first disconnect the 24V line and then disconnect the 0V line, otherwise a current loop may be formed through the shielding layer.

The connected peripherals (such as the control panel) must have the same PE and 0 V potential as the CX8110, otherwise it may damage the device.

3.3 Power LED indicator light

Us 24V (green): CPU module and bus communication power supply are normal

Up 24V (green): The power contacts are supplying power normally

K-BUS RUN (green, only K-bus mode): Communication is normal

K-BUS ERR (flashing red): K-bus error (see diagnostic section for details)

L/A (green, only in E-bus mode): off=not connected; Always on=Connected with no data; Flashing=data transmission and reception

Interface Explanation

4.1 Ethernet interface X001

10/100 Mbit/s RJ45 port, used for device programming, configuration, and ADS communication. DHCP is enabled at the factory and can automatically obtain an IP address; It can also be set as a static IP in the operating system. The LED indicates:

Up LED (LINK/ACT): green constant light=connected, flashing=data transmission and reception

LED (SPEED): Orange=100 Mbit/s, Off=10 Mbit/s

The maximum cable length is 100 meters (CAT5). Supports all TCP/UDP based non real time protocols.

4.2 EtherCAT Slave Interface X101 (Input) and X102 (Output)

Speed: 100 Mbit/s

Maximum input/output data length: 480 bytes each (up to 256 variables)

Data alignment requirements for ARM processors: As Arm Cortex-A9 processors require aligned access, attention must be paid to the following when creating process data:

WORD (2 bytes) must be located at even address offset

DWORD/DINT/REAL (4 bytes) must be located at an address offset that can be divided by 4

It is recommended to use dummy variables or rearrange structure members to ensure consistent data structure length on x86 and Arm systems. Otherwise, it may cause the controller to crash.

4.3 microSD card slot

Located under the front cover, the factory comes standard with a 512 MB industrial grade SLC card. You can choose a 16 GB card (order number CX1900-0132). Replacing the storage card must be done in a power-off state. The recommended replacement cycle for CF cards/storage media is 10 years.

4.4 Reset button and configuration mode

Long press the reset button (located on the front of the device) and start the device at the same time to put the CX8110 into Config mode (ERR LED turns red first and then yellow). This mode is used to download new firmware or repair PLC programs that cannot be started.

4.5 DIP switch (S101) and explicit device recognition

CX8110 provides 10 DIP switches (switches 1-8 are available, switches 9-10 are reserved). The Explicit Device Identification value (0-255) can be set through a combination of switches to uniquely identify the slave station in the EtherCAT network. This allows for hot replacement of CX8110 at runtime without the need to reconfigure the main station.

Example setting: To set the value 67, turn DIP 1, 2, and 7 to ON (2 ⁰+2 ¹+2 ⁶=67). In TwinCAT, the "Using Dipswitch Value" option needs to be enabled first (see the configuration section below).

Software and Operating System

CX8110 comes pre installed with Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact 7. Attention: The support period for this operating system has ended and security updates are no longer available. TwinCAT only supports up to Build 4024.

In the factory state, CERHOST (remote display) and TELNET services are disabled. To enable it, you need to use a card reader to delete the CeRemoteDisplay_Sisable.reg and Telnet_Sisable.reg files in the RegFiles folder of the microSD card, and then restart the device.

5.1 FTP Server and Firewall

Starting from the mirrored version CX8100_WEC7_LF_v604h-TC31-B4022.20, the firewall is enabled by default and passive FTP connections (such as Microsoft clients) will be blocked. It is recommended to use active FTP mode and open TCP ports 20 and 21 in the firewall.

5.2 Web Services and Beckhoff Device Manager

CX8110 can be remotely configured through a browser:

Old image: HTTP port 80

New image: HTTPS port 443

Example of Access Address: https://169.254.136.237/config or https://CX ‑16C2B8/config

Default username: Administrator, password: 1

Remote Display can be enabled in Device Manager, and then the CERHOST tool (cerhost. exe) can be used for remote desktop operations.

TwinCAT project configuration process

6.1 Connecting to CX8110

Create a new XAE project in TwinCAT 3.

Click on SYSTEM → Choose Target → Search (Ethernet).

Enter the IP address or hostname of CX8110 (the hostname is composed of CX+MAC address followed by 3 bytes by default, such as CX aabbcc).

Add route, enter username (Administrator) and password (1).

Select the target system and confirm.

6.2 Scanning I/O devices

After connection, right-click on I/O → Devices → Scan. According to the actual type of bus connected, the system will discover K-bus interface (bus terminal) or EtherCAT interface (EtherCAT terminal). After confirming the scan, all terminals will appear in the tree view.