Using two W5500 module in the same system

Question

I am using 2 separate W5500 chips with different IP addresses assigned in a single system. Both are set up as their own TCP server. Both run the same code base with the exception of using different IP addresses. I have a separate application that starts up a client for connecting to each chip. When individually connecting to a single W5500 chip, I have no issues and my application works normal. When I introduce a second W5500 chip into the system, my application starts hanging when trying to connect to the second chip. It does eventually connect, but it takes 10+ seconds (seen cases of > 1 min). I have run the system with each chip individually without issue. I can start either chip first and then whichever is the second to connect, the hang up occurs with that specific W5500 chip/server. I have multiple other servers running in the system (not run on a W5500 chip) that I have no issue connecting to. I have even tried turning off all other devices and only running the two W5500 chips, but the problem persists. So it does not seem like an issue of bandwidth. Very little communication actually happens between these two chips and the separate clients in my application. Are there specific settings that need to be set to run two different boards in the same system? It seems the like they are competing for the incoming messages even though messages sent out are specific to a server IP address. They are both initialized with the following: wiz_NetInfo wiznetNetworkConfig = { .mac = {0x48, 0x3F, 0xDA, 0x54, 0xD3, 0x2E}, .ip = CAMERA_BOARD_ADDRESS, .gw = GATEWAY, .sn = SUBNET_MASK, .dns = {0, 0, 0, 0}, .dhcp = NETINFO_STATIC }; Again, the only difference is the IP address. Does the gateway or mac have to be different? UPDATE: I have updated the MAC address on each board to be different by just changing the last octet for one of them. I believe this fixed the issue, but am verifying…

Matthew · Answer

Typically, you can use two W5500 chips in one system, each with a different IP and MAC address. I’d need to know more about the ins and outs of your system to solve your problem.