Connecting Your PC to the Spider Front-End

You can connect the Spider modules to your PC either through a LAN (Local Area Network) or directly using an Ethernet cable. There is an Ethernet port on the rear of the Spider modules for connection.

Each Spider module supports up to 8 input channels. Multiple Spider modules can be “daisy-chained” in a network configuration to support applications requiring more than 8 channels.

To detect the Spider module, the PC must be on the same network as the Spider(s). Two IP addresses are “compatible”, or on the same network, if the first three numbers are matching but the fourth number is different. We strongly recommend our users to set compatible static IP addresses for both their PC and Spider units.

The Subnet Mask should be 255.255.255.0, and the Gateway should be either empty for all devices, or another shared compatible IP address for all devices.

Below is a sample configuration for a PC connecting to two Spider modules:

The M/S switch on the back of each unit is used to control whether it is configured as a Master or a Slave.

For a system with multiple units, exactly one unit should configured as a master. All units must be set as slave.

Connect the power adapter to the power jack on the rear of the device and to an AC power source. The power adapter is an AC to DC converter that accepts 100 – 240 VAC and outputs 15 VDC. The total power consumption is less than 10 watts during full operation.

OUT 1 is the drive channel. Connect it to the input side of shaker power amplifier (if you are using our hardware to control a shaker, skip this step if you are just acquiring data)

CH1 – 8 are input channels. Connect these channels to the sensor outputs.

After the Ethernet cable and power adapter are connected to the Spider, press the Power button on the front of the unit. The LAN LED will illuminate.

Warning: Never press this button to turn the power off while the controller is running. In the case of emergency, press the Stop button on the front, or use the Abort contact switch connected to the back. 

To connect to the Spider, we need to set the PC and Spider to compatible static IP addresses.

To configure the Spider static IP address, open the Front-End IP Address Setup Tool that was installed with EDM. This tool is located in the EDM installation folder. Alternatively, it can be searched using the Windows search feature.

Each connected hardware module will be listed by serial number. To change settings, select a module, enter the desired IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway, and click Set IP Address.

Sometimes, the Spider device cannot be detected, and we need to reset the Spider back to factory IP conditions.

To reset to the factory default IP address of 192.168.1.153 for the Spider-80X:

1. Press and hold the Reset button on the back of the unit for 4 seconds.

For the Spider-81, it is recommended to use the front panel LCD and menu buttons to make changes to the IP settings.

If the above reset fails, there is a more aggressive reset function that resets both the IP and DSP settings:

1. Turn off the Spider
2. Press and hold the reset key
3. Then, press and hold the power key, while the reset key is still pressed
4. Press and hold both the buttons for about 10 seconds
5. The Play and Stop button LEDs will blink alternatively if the reset was successful

For Windows 10 or Windows 11, type in the Windows search bar “View Network Connections”

Right-click on the Ethernet connection to the Spider, click “Properties”. Then, select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” and click “Properties”. Then, select “Use the following IP address:” and enter in the desired static IP address values.

The PC IP address, Spider IP address, and gateway should all share the first three numbers, while having a unique fourth number. The subnet mask should be “255.255.255.0”.

To verify the network connection, use the PING command in the Command Prompt window on the PC. In the Windows Start Menu, select Run, type ping 192.168.1.101 (or whatever the Spider IP address is), and press enter.

If it is correctly configured, the ping command will receive responses, as shown below.

EDM supports hardware systems with multiple front-end modules, which can be configured under Tools > Spider Configuration. All modules must be on the same IP network, connected by a Spider-HUB or chassis.

Running EDM