Product Description:

The EL1918-0000 is a safety input terminal produced by Beckhoff within the EL EtherCAT Terminals series. It couples field-level sensors to an EtherCAT network and participates in the decentralized safety logic executed by a TwinSAFE controller. By translating discrete signal states into the cyclic process image of the network, the terminal allows machinery builders to implement emergency-stop chains and guard monitoring without separate wiring back to a central panel.

This unit provides 8 fail-safe inputs that accept either 1- or 2-wire connections, so single-channel and dual-channel sensors can be mixed on the same slice. The terminal electronics are energized from the system bus, while the input circuits draw actuator voltage from a 24 V DC supply routed through the power contacts. Each scan transfers data into a 7-byte input image; status and diagnostic bits are returned for every channel, plus a checksum that validates the frame in accordance with the TwinSAFE protocol. Safety-related acknowledgments travel in the opposite direction as a compact 6-byte output image, enabling the host controller to reset latches or mirror feedback without allocating additional bandwidth.

The spring-clamp power contacts can carry up to 10 A power contacts, allowing several terminals to be daisy-chained before a separate feed is required. Functional insulation between the safe I/O domain and the EtherCAT backplane is rated at 500 V DC insulation, and an automatic shutdown occurs when the board temperature reaches 110 °C switch-off to prevent damage. Installation depth is held to a compact 12 × 100 × 68 mm footprint, and the housing meets IP20 with Overvoltage Category II classification. Sensors may be cabled up to 100 m using 0.75 mm² conductors, giving designers flexibility when routing wiring inside large machines.