Basic 2DOF Configuration and FAQ

check your (disconnected) pots with a 5V source and mulitmeter.
-5V to + GND to -
-Red measuring tip conntected to W and black one to GND
-turn the pot from one end postiton to the other, and check if you are able to measure 0...5V output.

Sounds like a dead MosFet to me...

Regards

thanks egoexpress...I will check the mosfet...good that I bought a few extra
I downloaded X-Sim Setup 2.1.0.2, I think that is the latest and best version, right?

regards
Caue

Before you go off on a wild goose chase, did you follow the procedures I outlined with the test attachment? Did you follow Thanos' video and the suggestion to observe the Satus LEDs? Leave the software out of the equation for now, until you are positive the hardware is functioning correctly! Post a closeup picture of the heatsinks you have attached to the MOSFET.

Explain how you are going to test the MOSFET to know if they are good or damaged.

R-eng

I just tested my second H-bridge and it worked perfecty!! amazing!! hahaha I used the 3 leg connectors on this board instead of soldering the mosfet direclty on the board. Much better I think...
PS. the guy who first mounted my board said it was not good to use 3 leg connectors for Mosfet...any comment on this???

Guys..thank you so much for the help so far..I am learning a lot with you guys..one month ago I did not know what a potenbtiometer was still dont know how to use the multimeter very well , but I am google a lot of things and learning with that...


R-eng, About the tests , I am not very good with multimeter and testing components yet, I got a little confused...but I will google and research to learn how to test that for sure..The LED lights are blinking like in the video guides...the motor is running smothly...I will prepare some pics and videos and post for you guys this afternoon

regards
Caue

Just make shure the screws are well tightened ... then the connectors are no problem at all.
Check the screws after some use. By getting hot and cold afterwards they may become lose

hey guys...I will change all the mosfet from the board that is not working properly and check, I am sure they are the problem...

the board that is working I just added the heatsink and tested, it worked fine. Now I added the cooler..it is working very good

let me know if the position of the heatsinks are ok

I am waiting for the second motor to place on the structure and start testing.. I think I should start reading x-sim documentation deeply now..right??

thanks
Caue

Before you start, you should try to locate the proper circuit, instead of replacing all MosFets. Try to point out if it is the M1 or M2 circuit at least.

Keep in mind that the MosFets are active elements, and they dont like heat for longer periods. That means every solder action shouldnt take more than 3 secs. After 3secs, you have to wait some time until the MosFet is cold again. Placing them with already connected heat sink may help as well, to reduce the risk of overheating while soldering.

If you havent soldered before, you probably should try to find someone, who replaces them for you.

Otherwise it may happen, that you will burn some additional ones whithin the replacing procedure.

And you should wait for Thanos' opinion imho.

But from my pov it is a defective MosFet.

Regards
Christian

Btw, heatsinks ar ok, as the are connected seperately anyway.

Btw, could you upload a vid to youtube, which shows the LEDs on the h-bridge and the slider movements in the Profiler at the same time?
Ensure the pot rests in center position, or connect it to the motor while capturing the video.
Perhaps the pot has been simply set to an endpostion, which causes the motor to rest in position when moving the slider to the corresponding side.

well ..here is the video testing the H-bridge..sorry for the low quality but for video I only have my cell phone...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60viPuAXXvc

the bad news is that 2 seconds after I stop recording, BUM..smoke, bad smell..all of those things you dont want to see... I think I burned one of my Mosfet...do they get burned with a few smoke and bad smell?? Yesterday I tested for much longer time than that and nothing happened...
I hope the problem happened because I was moving the boards around trying to get a good angle and two things just touched causing a short..I hope nothing major ..lets face positively, now I realy need to learn how to check Mosfet
the current situation now is that my h-bridge is not turning my motor and no leds...

One thing I noticed is that the heatsink of one of my mosfet was almost nearly touching the screw holding the cooler...perhaps moving around the board to film, they touched and burned..heatsinks are very close to each other as well...what your guys tought about it??

UPDATE:
REALLY BAD NEWS...I think this board is gone, I had the courage to take a closer look behind the board and the picture shows the mess...I think there is no way to fix that..correct?? please also help me with the possible cause so I dont do it again.. tks

That's not so bad, you can fix it.
Look at the picture! Cut off the tracks which are burned and taken off. Remove the paint from the remaining tracks (yellow in the picture). Then take a piece of wire (copper, at least 1,5mm² - red in the picture) and solder it to the tracks.

Have a look at your good one to see where the tracks are connected.

Thank you Krumel..that is great..I had that frustration feeling after that but I will try to fix asap..good I have another board to keep testing..

The heatsinks cannot touch each other, correct? And if they are too close and I put some thermal paste between them?? does it help?
I noticed also there were a few sparks when I pluged the gnd cable from the power source. (even with the power disconnected)...perhsps the problem is on the connector not on the mosfets..what do you think??

PS. the second motor just arrived..need to buy second power supply now...100US$ here..a little salty

Thermal paste is not for isolation but it helps leading the heat from an electronic part (here MOSFET) to the heatsink.
I would either use one big heatsink and screw the 4 MOSFETs in one row on it. These must be isolated i.e. by pads of silicone. You can buy these pads matching to your MOSFETs in every electronic store.
Or if you want to use your heatsinks as they are now, I would cut some pieces of thin polycarbonate and glue it between the heatsinks so they can't touch each other. Usable polycarbonate films are available in 0.6 or 0.8 mm in nearly every DIY-store for small money.

Kruemel, thanks a lot
I think my basic soldering skills are not helping...I tried to get the copper wire to 'solder' on the board track as you instructed but it does not stay man..I am doing something wrong for sure...how about 'soldering paste' ?? any special instruction for soldering the wire there?

In the meantime I will do some Mosfet tests on my second board..

Boy, what a FAIL !!!!!! MegaFAIL !!!! That dumb professional you have hired to make them, is really dumb!!! He should know that these track can't handle currents larger than 10 Amp !!!! And he used solder MASK over them???? This prevented the chance of beefing them later with lots of solder as I clearly suggest on my instructions!!!!!! :thbd:

Maybe you should do this to fix it:

(Just an example of how to place a thick wire replacing the tracks!!)

Good luck !!! :gl:


Thanos

damn that is getting complicated..I really wasted some money with his 'service' I know, I´ve been pissed off for that since the problem with the LCD..that is why I am learning how to do everything so I won´t depend on nobody else to fix the problems later on...

So I should apply some Solder Mask over the tracks on the H-bridge, right? I noticed also that the connector for the power supply was 'moving', it was not very well connected on the board...

What? No the Solder Mask is that green overlay over the tracks on your boards. They do this in professional boards, to prevent rusting of the copper tracks and allow the user to apply solder only to certain points (that the part legs are).

Hey, secure the power source cables because if any of them is disconnected from the h-bridge while in operation, the remaining current will have no way back to its source and will damage the mosfets eventually. Perhaps that was the reason of the overload current peak that blown up that track !!!

Thanos

NO! The mask is the green paint all over the board. There you can't solder at all.

Do it as shown in Thanos' picture, that should be the easiest way.
Bend the wires and solder it to the points, where the MOSFETs are already soldered. After bending tin the points of the wire where they were soldered afterwards. Use some flux (every acid-free no-clean-flux will work, ask in your electronic shop) that will make soldering a lot easier.

Pay attention with the two (in Thanos' pic yellow) isolated wires, they must not touch any other line!

This is just an example photo !!!! Its not the DSMhb1.2 board !!!!! Its a fix that a friend (Jim) used to fix his ocean's h-bridge (KT-xxxx , I really don't remember the model exactly)

Anyway, I hope you get the idea...

thanks for the help..I got the idea for soldering the wire... sorry for the dumb questions..I started from zero and I am trying to take very large steps here..

I will try to get the tools to fix the board..I was thinking about ordering a new one from PCB express just in case I cant really fix this..
Is there a PCB Express H-bridge file out there for uploading and ordering?

One thing I would like to understand...I tested my board yesterday for longer periods and no problems...
Right now...I removed all the mosfet from the Burned board and placed on the other board (the one which moved the motors only to one side) to do some testing..
when I turned it on ..the motor moved to one side, then moved to the other side as supposed to.. but just after that it also burned the tracks.. F****.. this time the tracks for gnd and +5v are damaged...

The Mosfets were ok from the burned board..Do you think the problem is only with the non reinforced lines??

F*** 3 steps forward yesterday...and 2 steps back today... : :?

All the power tracks need reinforcing before using them with the motors since most car wiper motors use 6ampere current just to rotate unloaded!!!!!! (and around 10Amp under load)

So Beef up all the thick tracks you can see with think wire before doing any more testing. It will save you time from repairing things and save you some burned mosfets.

I have blown a pair of mosfets on my DSMhb1.2 just once. This was during the Athens Digital Week show when I was giving interview to a TV station. They wanted to use one from their team (I thing the boom man) to sit on it and take a video with him driving it. But he was a little more heavier than he said and the position feedback sensor detached from the proper position resulting the motor axis pushed over the limits taking down 2 mosfets. Anyway. If you take the proper measures, the mosfets will handle very hard load conditions.