Product Description:

The EL2564-0010 is a four-channel LED driver terminal manufactured by Beckhoff within the EL EtherCAT Terminals series. Mounted next to other EtherCAT I/O slices, it converts fieldbus commands into pulse-width-modulated output signals so that machine-mounted indicator lamps or light bars can be dimmed or flashed under PLC control. By handling the modulation in the terminal itself, it reduces controller CPU load while maintaining deterministic timing on the network.

The default modulation frequency is 5 kHz, which is high enough to avoid visible flicker while keeping switching losses low. Each channel can sink or source up to 3 A, making the terminal suitable for high-brightness LED strips or clustered emitters. The output resolution is 15-bit, providing 32,768 duty-cycle steps for fine brightness adjustment. Internal electronics draw a typical 70 mA from the E-bus, so additional supply planning is usually minimal. Separate power contacts can carry up to 10 A to the load side, isolating heavier LED current from the communication backbone. The housing is rated IP20, which provides finger-safe protection when the assembly is installed inside an enclosure and still allows convection cooling of the terminal stack. The terminal supports PWM output only and is intended for ohmic LED loads wired with a common cathode topology, and all four outputs appear consecutively in the process image for straightforward PLC addressing.

Field wiring follows a 2-wire scheme that simplifies connector selection and helps minimize panel space. The module snaps onto a 35 mm DIN rail and occupies 12 mm of width, with overall dimensions of 12 x 100 x 68 mm. Power for the onboard drivers is supplied at 24 V via power contacts, which keeps distribution consistent with other DC devices on the rail. The housing is made of polycarbonate, the LED polarity is common cathode, and the load type is LED (ohmic), while the four outputs allow independent light zones to be controlled from a single EtherCAT node.