The invention discloses a method of recognizing secondary equipment. The method comprises steps: a logic node class of to-be-recognized secondary equipment is acquired through an IEC61850 standard, the function class of the to-be-recognized secondary equipment is determined, a gap included in the to-be-recognized secondary equipment is acquired, the gap class is determined according to the class attribute of a conductive device included under a gap element in the gap and a connection topological structure to which the class attribute belongs, and the class of the to-be-recognized secondary equipment is determined according to the function class and the gap class. Thus, the method is based on the IEC61850 standard, thereby avoiding the problem that the recognition method in the prior art is not unified; besides, a computer can automatically recognize each piece of information in the IEC61850 standard, artificial participation is not needed, and the efficiency of the recognition process is thus improved; and finally, the class of the to-be-recognized secondary equipment is determined through the function class and the gap class, the recognition process is simplified, and the efficiency of the recognition process is further improved. The invention also discloses a device for recognizing the secondary equipment with the same effects as the above.