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AMC-AASD15A servo controller

Discussion in 'SimTools compatible interfaces' started by Thanos, Nov 6, 2019.

  1. Thanos

    Thanos Building the Future one AC Servo at a time... or 6

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    I'm not sure what you are talking about, maybe a short video to see and reproduce?
  2. JerryS

    JerryS New Member Gold Contributor

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    Hi,
    My AMC controller has stopped working, specifically - the port servo number 3 is not responding, when I connect DB25 cable to it it doesn’t want to park or calibrate, the servo drive only displays X. The rest of the ports are fine. I suspect its because some motherboard connector is lose, as when I try squeezing the AMC controller it sometimes shows the park position. It is definitely not the fault of an actual DB25 connector, it is something else. Can you guys please help me somehow to find the fault and fix it ? :sos The AMC controller is only 3 months old :(
    Thanks
  3. Thanos

    Thanos Building the Future one AC Servo at a time... or 6

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    Use a powered USB hub. Some new motherboards with USB 3.0 have complex PD (power delivery) negotiations now, and they probably limit the current needed for the AMC-AASD15A and dropping voltage as consequence...

    Use something like this:
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083XTKV8V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_N1L2Fb8S3HX7F
  4. JerryS

    JerryS New Member Gold Contributor

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  5. Thanos

    Thanos Building the Future one AC Servo at a time... or 6

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    One of the pins is not touching correctly it seems.


    1. Can you carefully pull apart the two boards (smaller Atmega1280 board that has the usb connector, and the top pcb that has the db25 connectors) ?

    2. Then take a photo of the bottom of the larger board to see if the db25 connector is missing any solder on its pins.

    3. Plug them back together and test again...
    • Informative Informative x 1
  6. frsim09

    frsim09 Member

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  7. Thanos

    Thanos Building the Future one AC Servo at a time... or 6

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  8. C1500

    C1500 Active Member

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    Hi @Thanos
    can you please explain how to set the speed of the spike filter?
    IMG_20201225_111421.jpg
    What does "Esc" and "Fine" mean?

    Thanks in advance
    Peer
  9. Thanos

    Thanos Building the Future one AC Servo at a time... or 6

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    Under Spike Filter speed menu:

    ESC sets the "Escape" speed that the actuators move during the spike filter trying to reach the real time target.

    FINE sets how close to real time motion data targets the actuators need to be to jump to live data. It defines the smaller distance before that actuator "locks" into the target position and jumps only if ALL the rest axis are also in locked distances... its less complicated that it sounds, lol.



    The servomotor speed is proportional to the rate of the pulses it receives. So the AMC sends the pulses with max rate possible to be able to synchronize the motion to all actuators and keep the positions as close to real time with the game motion cues.

    Less pulse rate is used when spike filter is active for example where the controller is not reacting real time but "following" slowly the real time positions, to create artificial motion instead the huge spike jump. But the slower motion is lagging behind, so its temporary until it catches up with real time positions again.

    So anything less than full speed pulses, will be lagging behind in normal use and will clip out vibration details of the road etc... you could use the pulse filter parameter in the AMC, which adds some ramping in the accelerations, to make motion a bit more smooth, but as I said will filter out some of the details.
  10. Ole-Martin Fetveit

    Ole-Martin Fetveit New Member

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    Hi.
    I was told to use the thanos to drive my 6DOF
    So I looked up the website for purchase and my question was, is it possible to get 7 axis?
    The seventh for direct drive steering wheel?
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2021
  11. Thanos

    Thanos Building the Future one AC Servo at a time... or 6

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    No, the 7th axis is for additional actuator for seatbelt tensioner...

    The Direct Drive steering wheel needs entirely different controller here:
    https://www.thanos-motion.com/products/thanos-tdd-controller/


    Thanks
    Thanos
  12. mark_44

    mark_44 New Member

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    Hi Thanos,

    Since updating my AMC to 2.11 beta fix 5, my 'traffic light kill' switch has lost its LED's. Not sure if it is related.

    Regards

    Mark
  13. mark_44

    mark_44 New Member

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    Was coming from v2.10 which was not recognized in SRS 2.0
  14. Thanos

    Thanos Building the Future one AC Servo at a time... or 6

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    Just make sure the DIP switch #2 is ON

    IMG_20210113_091404.jpg

    Thanks
    Thanos
    • Informative Informative x 1
  15. mark_44

    mark_44 New Member

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    Ah yes, that was it. I turned it off during the update

    :rolleyes::blush
  16. cfischer

    cfischer Active Member Gold Contributor

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    Hi Thanos,

    I just ordered a bunch of parts to build continuous yaw on my rig. My plan was to use your controller but I just realized your controller is not really setup for that. I thought I would ask if you can see a way to implement a mode on your control that would allow continuous yaw. This mode would be a dumb mode that doesn't keep track of the steps generated. Just sends it on its way. Also I suppose it would have to wrap 360 to 0 and 0 to 360 or in the case of your 16bit controller, wrap 0 to 65,535 and 65,535 to 0.
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2021
  17. song120

    song120 New Member

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    Hello Thanos,
    maybe you can help me:
    I don't seem to have any communication between bff motion software and AMC-AASD15A (new board V2.11 beta fix 5).
    One servomotor + controller is connected for test purposes.According to the display, the servomotor is in the park position.The motor can be moved with the test button, then it moves back to the park position - so that's ok.
    But nothing happens with running FSX and running BFF motion software.My settings in the BFF config file for communication are:port = COM4 Baud = 250000 Mode = BIN2TH
    There is no error message when starting the Motionsoftware.
    Do I have errors in the comm settings?
    Or do all 6 servomotors have to be connected?
    My previous 6dof setup with Kangaroo + Sabertooth still works fine!
    Maybe you have an idea!
    Best regards
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 18, 2021
  18. gigi

    gigi Active Member

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    Goodmorning everyone. reading the thread I understand that to connect the thanos AASD15A board it is very important to use a good quality USB cable (A / B) and also a performing USB socket. Right now I am testing my first actuator and I have found that the card does not work with any USB cable on all my USB ports. In some cases the card does not connect, in some other cases it connects but in the test phase on simtools it loses the signal and game engine crashes. Yesterday using a USB cable I think cheap (the blue one that comes with the arduino boards and is 30cm long) and connecting it to a usb 2 on the motherboard the AASD15A works well without any crash. I would kindly like to know if you can suggest me a good quality USB A / B cable (3m long) to use. I was also reading that it would be appropriate to use a powered usb hub. Which one do you suggest? Thanks. Gigi
  19. song120

    song120 New Member

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  20. song120

    song120 New Member

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    Hello,
    I found the problem:
    It was due to my older BFF version 3.411.
    With version 3.502 (and WideFS for LAN operation instead of the motion bridge) everything works fine!
    Best Regards
    • Like Like x 2