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Tronic's AMC motor motion-controller with pwm/servo output

Discussion in 'SimTools compatible interfaces' started by tronicgr, Aug 30, 2007.

  1. wimpo`

    wimpo` Member

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    hey thanos i would be willing to send you one from the netherlands.
    i would need your adress to send it to.
    i will order it from this site http://www.eztronics.nl/
    they will send it to greece with Insured trackable shipping - EU
    They use TNT parcel service for sending it.
    So just pm me if youre interested.
  2. tronicgr

    tronicgr

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    @ Wimpo,

    You have PM ;-)
  3. robervalllll

    robervalllll New Member

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    I'm crafting my plate this week AMC's enough of the rest
    missing components, I am so anxious to finish, this additional
    weeks I found that my PC does not output serial: (, can someone give me a
    clue what I do? I use a USB adapter to program and use
    or some other way?
  4. wimpo`

    wimpo` Member

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    there is a page somewhere in this topic about usb to serial converter or else you could buy something like this http://www.perle.com/products/multiport-serial-card.shtml
    But are you sure that you're computer doesn't have a COM port on the motherboard.
    it looks like this [​IMG] and often the name COM1 or COM is written there.
    I have to mother boards who are just 3 months and 1 month old and they still have at least 1 COM port.
  5. Frakk

    Frakk Active Member

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    If you don't have a COM port at all you can use a USB-Serial converter. Look for one that is based on an FTDI FT232xx chip.
    I use this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/PC-USB-RS232-Module ... 2730wt_981

    It is great because you can directly connect it to the microcontroller, there is no need for a MAX232 level converter circuit, so you can completely take it off from the AMC board. You can also use the USB port as your power supply, so you won't need the 6V+ supply and the regulator with the connector. All in all you are saving about 30% of the components.
  6. Gianni

    Gianni New Member Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, 4DOF
    Hi all, Back again with good news... once the Mosfet changed to the 'N' type, everything is gone back to normal...
    Now I need to start learning our to profile the 2 wiper motors. Is there a already some simple profile available applicable to the wiper motors and the latest V2.089 that i can learn from? The manual is not very helpfull...
    Thnaks
  7. tronicgr

    tronicgr

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    Hi Gianni,

    I'm glad it works now. Can you say again what mosfets are you using now with the N type??? :brows:

    To clear this matter once and for all... IRFZ44 and IRFZ44N mosfets are not the same! The IRFZ44N has ultra low ON-resistance (R DS{on}) only 17.5 mOhm!!! I've been using these for years with out having one burned during normal loaded operation, except from one time that there was a mechanical failure (a fat TV reporter tried it and got it stuck the towers together... :lol: )

    I know that these mosfets are not that much efficient and may produce lots of heat, but hey! What mosfet would stay cool when used in applications like this, were we exceed most of the time the limits to pump some muscle out of it? The original h-bridge design that this project was based on, was intended for small loads (10A) and non switching applications (Single speed ON-OFF control of the motors). It was evolved to be used here as variable speed - instant change of direction - position holding - servo control of motors!!! And all this on the cheap! :D

    Back to Gianni other question:
    You don't need to do any particular mixing profile on the Profiler side. Just assign normal Y-X axis for motion and set the jumper on the AMC to mix the two motors motion to SFGT type ... its simple as that! Don't forget to assign the same KP values to both motors!!

    Regards, Thanos
  8. Frakk

    Frakk Active Member

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    You can check the differences:
    http://skory.gylcomp.hu/alkatresz/irfz44.pdf
    http://www.irf.com/product-info/datashe ... rfz44n.pdf

    The 44N is an improved version of the 44, probably just a better quality silicon and more optimized manufacturing process. There are only minor differences, like Rds(on) of 24mOhm vs 17mOhm, the rest is pretty much identical for all you need to care.

    The main thing: You have to get the IRLZ44N Logic level one, the IRFZ 44(N) is just going to keep overheating and blowing every time, doesn't matter if it has the N at the end or not.

    A lot of the heating in the circuit is due to switching losses. Theoretically, drawing 20A of current @12, the mosfets will produce ~7W in heat, which is really not much. The problem is the inherently low driving currents and low turn on/off times of the circuit. The frequency from the AMC is about 18kHz, so the mosfets will spend a lot of time in the linear region where they have very high ON resistance. This will significantly increase the amount of power wasted, and will cause a lot more heat.

    BTW 17.5mOhm is not that low, maybe it was 10 years ago.:) Now you can easily buy N-Fets with Rds(on) well under 3mOhm. 1mOhm is where ultra low starts.;)
  9. Gianni

    Gianni New Member Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, 4DOF
    The Mosfet used are : IRLZ44NPBBF and IRF4905PBF (code 8651418 and 8648190 on Farnell catalogue).
    The 2 wiper motors used are working very well, no overheating and low Amps at full load, the 12V car battery also very good.
    Just to advise new user, when progtamming the ATMEGA8535 with the Pony program, I had to use a different older computer, no problems for the KP.
    Thanks to you all!
  10. robervalllll

    robervalllll New Member

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    Hello I am trying to find difficulties ceramic capacitor 100nF x 100 volts /
    18PF / 100 volts, unfortunately here in my country Brazil can only find
    ceramic capacitor 100nF / 18PF and 50 volts / 50 volts, I could be
    using these capacitors? or give any significant difference in the project?
  11. Frakk

    Frakk Active Member

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    Since there is only 5V used on the AMC, anything more than 5V will work. I believe 16V is the lowest you can get, so that will be fine.
  12. robervalllll

    robervalllll New Member

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    Frakk Thanks, I'll ride with the capacitors that I have here so I can test, missing very little to finish my plate this week I post the photo montage, I'm just a bit of doubt in the same lineup with more prog Ponny there I shot more questions for now thanks to you.
  13. estanislaolopez

    estanislaolopez Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, SimforceGT
    Hi all
    After working enough you can build the AMC 1.5, I program the Atmega (firmware crystal 14.7456) but could not achieve via hyperterminal communication, I read in the lcd AMC 1.5 setup kp TIP: use terminal but nothing in the window the hyper, follow the steps in the video tutorial to configure the port, change the max232, check the tracks on the pcb, but I could not make the communication ...
    Differences in the components are (for not getting here)
    Change LM2940 for LM7805
    Change 1n2 for 1n
    Change 10 uH coil for 12uH
    Some more data
    9v Power Supply, Windows XP SP2

    Maybe someone can help me with this
    Regards
  14. benefie

    benefie New Member

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    Hi
    I have the same problem as estanilaolopez. I already tried it with 24 MHz and 18.XX MHz, but it seems that the AMC is not recieving any data. I can control the motors with the pot, programming went fine too. No shorts on the board, tried different PCs (XP Pro and Win7) with and without USB adapter. Im using some different components, but their specs are identical to the ones thanos uses. Im becoming desperate here.

    I guess i have to check if something was overheating while soldering.
  15. banquer

    banquer New Member

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    Hello everybody.
    After received the irlz44n mosfets, I have worked in my blackbox and this is the result.

    [img600px]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_sfQNIN9uWpc/TCpjv2IVABI/AAAAAAAAA4w/efO8EYwH2xA/s720/R0014351.JPG[/img600px]
    [img600px]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_sfQNIN9uWpc/TCpjxJpDAFI/AAAAAAAAA40/YNwkuZfUATo/s720/R0014354.JPG[/img600px]
    [img600px]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_sfQNIN9uWpc/TCpjuMrgLKI/AAAAAAAAA4o/-uOCbtctY8o/s720/R0014347.JPG[/img600px]
    [img600px]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_sfQNIN9uWpc/TCpjvE91GcI/AAAAAAAAA4s/XeN8v3gNbsY/s720/R0014349.JPG[/img600px]

    Now I have a big problem programing the ATMega chip. Me system is a Windows 7 64 bits and PonyProg 2000 V2.xx isn't compatible with 64 bits systems. The old version of PonyProg (1.17) is still compatible with windows 7 64 bits, but it's say me when programing the chipset Write Error 21.
    Any alternatives to program the chip in windows 7?

    King regards from Spain.
  16. RaceRay

    RaceRay Administrator Staff Member SimAxe Beta Tester

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, SimAxe, SimforceGT
    Hi there is a solution:

    Rename com1 port into com2 in the system configuration and it should works fine.

    Please tell me if that works!

    Btw. that is the most attractive AMC BlackBox i´ve seen here yet.

    regards
    René
  17. RaceRay

    RaceRay Administrator Staff Member SimAxe Beta Tester

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Where did you get that case and whats the price for?

    Thanks!

    Ahhh, and do not forget to use admin privileges to start pony.exe ... right mouse click -> run as admin
  18. Landkrabba

    Landkrabba Live 'n' Kickin'

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino, SimforceGT
    I must be blind... Where do I find the firmware for different crystals to program the AMC? :sos: :blush:
  19. RaceRay

    RaceRay Administrator Staff Member SimAxe Beta Tester

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, SimAxe, SimforceGT
    Yes, you are blind, but i ´ll help blind man often over the street :) Look at the first page of that thread:
    download/file.php?id=613

    Best regards
  20. banquer

    banquer New Member

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