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Tutorial SPS - Sabertooth Packet Serial PID motor driver sketch w/SoftStart

Discussion in 'SimTools compatible interfaces' started by BlazinH, Nov 10, 2016.

  1. Mauro

    Mauro New Member

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    Hello guys,
    I did some tests changing the settings and with the pid at 30 it moves a little better but I still am not happy with the result, it does not simulate the braking and still moves in steps
    I do not understand why the motor number 3 becomes very hot.
    I posted the screenshots of my settings so I hope you can give me some good advice.
    Thanks. Happy weekend

    Attached Files:

  2. Mauro

    Mauro New Member

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    Hello,
    no idea?
    I have done other tests and now it seems that with pid a 30 is a bit better but the engine number 3 is jerky and overheating.
    good night
  3. BlazinH

    BlazinH Well-Known Member

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    One thing is your force settings in axis assignments are to high. Each axis totals 200 when they should be 100 or slightly over if you wish. 100 is equivelant to 100% of the range of the actuator. On motor 3 does it lift more weight than 1 and 2? That's all that come's to mind atm. Also stop using axis limiting.
    • Like Like x 1
  4. Evan Rowlands

    Evan Rowlands EMR Industries

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    yeah found the issue it was a -power supply

    ive got the 2 dof side fired up everythings fine in SMC3 but in simtools when im in output testing when i sway or surge a red light flashes on the sabertooth and the motors centre..then other times i can sway and surge back and forth but it if click the CLR the red light comes on again and the motors centre ..
    cheers

    ive never had red lights come on a sabertooth before the fan runs also when the light flicks on
    im useing 200watt motors 600watt power supply
  5. Evan Rowlands

    Evan Rowlands EMR Industries

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  6. Evan Rowlands

    Evan Rowlands EMR Industries

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    low power is what ive found on the net regrading the lights flashing
    • Informative Informative x 1
  7. kwannania

    kwannania New Member

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    Just would like to share the experience of initial setup.

    I followed the step until step#6 "run SabertoothArduinoLibrary.exe" but after that I do step#8 " upload arduino sketch" before step#7 "Power sabertooths".

    Not sure that what cause the problem, after I powered sabertooths both of the motors was shaking severely, my understanding it should stayed still. What I did to fix this shaking at initial was i need to open the scm3 utility without power the sabertooths(arduino connected) and adjust all value (Kp,Fpwmmax,etc) to be zero then turned on the sabertooths.

    Not sure anybody has the same issue? or what did I do wrongly?
  8. bruce stephen

    bruce stephen Hammer doesnt fix it, must be electrical

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    set your pid. improper pid settings can cause erratic behavior.
  9. insanegr

    insanegr !N$@n€

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    the same thing happened to me last night when i did my first motors test.
    what did we do wrong? didn't follow all steps as we should do:D
  10. Blame73

    Blame73 Well-Known Member

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    What potentiometers are you guys using?
    Have you also tried increasing the deadzone?
    If it could help I lowered the motors' noise by raising the fpdid
    • Agree Agree x 1
  11. Evan Rowlands

    Evan Rowlands EMR Industries

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    did you change the port baud rate to 115200?
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2018
  12. Evan Rowlands

    Evan Rowlands EMR Industries

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    ive solved the power issues with battery setup i only used a 12vlt 7ah APS series 1270s
    it doesnt have enough power tho and the light comes on after half a lap on roller coaster sim
    also motor ones harness is get hot where motor is cold
  13. SeatTime

    SeatTime Well-Known Member

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    Don't know if it will help :think, I run 6 x 40 amp 12VDC LED power supplies and a 2 x 140 (280) AH deep cycle battery bank (kept topped up by a 60V/8amp solar array) to run my 4 x '2 x 60' Sabertooths. Sabertooths power supplied via two switched 6G cabling circuits with 8G out to the motors. Works well - nothing gets hot, or fails.
    • Informative Informative x 2
  14. Evan Rowlands

    Evan Rowlands EMR Industries

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    ive just installed the 2 9 ah batterys in was running ok still getting hot on motor 1 then it stopped and now in smc 3 if i have the power turned on the pots dont work i looked and the arduino hadno lights on something very wrong all ive done is change batterys
  15. kwannania

    kwannania New Member

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    @Blame73 I use Hall effect pot from TT electrnic
    @Evan Rowlands Yes, I did use 115200

    @bruce stephen It's true that wrong PID or Fpwm will give this issue.

    But why would all those setting are in a brand new sabertooth? I'm not sure that these setting are store in sabertooth, arduino or PC? or I really doing something wrong.

    By the way, my 2dof sabertooth 2x32 motion is currently running and I'm very happy with it.

    Cheers
  16. BlazinH

    BlazinH Well-Known Member

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    @kwannania, Hall pots are long lasting when attached properly and noiseless so therefore are a good choice but they do have some hysteresis (drift). But this can be filtered by increasing the deadzone and adjusting pid settings.

    A sabertooth stores its baud rate on its own eeprom and pid settings are stored on the arduino. But since the sabertooths eeprom is powered by a built in 5v voltage regulator thats powered from the motor input voltage it must have power applied to it at least once before running the sketch because the sketches initiation sequence changes the sabertooth from its factory baud of 9600 to 115200. After this is completed power up sequence is irrelevant.

    Also Fpwm has no effect when using a sabertooth because it is not controlled via pwm.
    • Informative Informative x 3
  17. kwannania

    kwannania New Member

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    @BlazinH really appreciate your feedback. So it really clear my mind for what happened. Thank you for clarification. It is totally my fault for not following the step.

    Cheers.
  18. Evan Rowlands

    Evan Rowlands EMR Industries

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    so turns out one of my brand new motors has a buggered gearbox so i causing the motor to draw big amps
  19. Evan Rowlands

    Evan Rowlands EMR Industries

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    can anyone help please ive change the broke gearbox and motor all the wiring to 10G installed 2 batterys
    fuses and a circuit breaker. on a brand new motor its getting hot after 3 laps on iracing its only one motor terminal thats getting hot ..could it be the connection or solder joint to the motor causing it ?

    cheers guys
  20. kwannania

    kwannania New Member

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    @Evan Rowlands could you share the photo of connection point that get hot?

    Seem to be a connection issue as it's hot only on the connection not the motor. But could be others too.

    Cheers