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Resolved SMC3 Utility Not Working

Discussion in 'DIY Motion Simulator Building Q&A / FAQ' started by Daniel Nagay, Feb 12, 2023.

  1. Daniel Nagay

    Daniel Nagay New Member Gold Contributor

    Joined:
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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    I am currently building a 2 DOF Racing simulator and am currently testing out the motors and the program before the full build to make sure it works. I am following the thread
    https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...3dof-motor-driver-and-windows-utilities.4957/
    I got to the part where I use SMC3 Utility to make sure motors work and to properly tune it. I was increasing my PWMmax up and the motor never ended up spinning and I was already around 100. Not sure why that is. I would love to see if someone knows why it would be like that.

    Xnip2023-02-11_21-11-19.jpg

    Something that I noticed is that my potentiometer (green) is at a very low position and not towards the middle. After I got to 100PWMmax I decided to twist the potentiometer and see if its working still but it will only have movement in the last 90% of the twist and spike up like in the image. The potentiometer I use will be linked below. Has anyone used these potentiometers?
    https://a.co/d/5BuOYUE

    Also I am pretty sure I burnt out both of my motor controllers after twisting the potentiometers because they smelled burnt. This is how I had everything for testing.

    Xnip2023-02-11_21-20-35.jpg

    Thank you.
  2. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Was the code set to Mode 2 for the IBT2s?

    Are the pots connected to the motors?
  3. Daniel Nagay

    Daniel Nagay New Member Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Yes the I changed the mode to 2.
    They were not attached, I am going to 3d print mounts later for them.

    I kept messing around and twisted the pot to show the green line above the motor line and it worked for motor 2. I am almost positive somehow the first motor controller ended up frying itself.
  4. Allwin Joseph

    Allwin Joseph ajstan

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    What motors are you using?, are they ground isolated? if not the IBTs will burn out quickly ( especially with wiper motors),
    check if any of the motor's wires are connected to the motor housing, you can do this with a multimeter in continuity mode.
  5. Daniel Nagay

    Daniel Nagay New Member Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    I am using the 12v crab pot motor from Canada. The motor that DMax was using in his video

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/3540520763...TLzj8WYgAqYAnAlc6dvNC5RkY=|tkp:Bk9SR4aKoe3IYQ
  6. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    Innovative tech specialist for NGOs
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    Balance:
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    Ratings:
    +10,741 / 52 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
  7. Mattlekim

    Mattlekim Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    Arduino
    Swap the h-bridges around. If the problem persists it's not the h-bridge that's burnt out.
    • Agree Agree x 1
  8. Daniel Nagay

    Daniel Nagay New Member Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    Thank you everyone for your help. I figured out the issue. I was being dumb. So if anyone stumbles upon this post and they have the same issue that I did, this is how you can fix it.

    What went wrong: It's always the darn wiring. The way the potentiometer works is it has the positive/negative leads on the end and the range pin is in the center. I was being dumb and the potentiometer that I bought as shown in the picture isn't wired that way. I assumed that maybe there is a reason why black was in the center and yellow was on the edge so I plugged negative to black and Pin A0 to yellow.(WRONG)

    What to do: In fact now that I read some more about the potentiometer I decided to plug the black wire(center wire) to A0 and it worked.

    Lesson Learned: Never trust the wire color from manufacturer!

    Attached Files:

    • Informative Informative x 2
    • Agree Agree x 1