Set up using AMC AB15A100 drives, brushed DC motor Prototrak Plus with Encoders

Todd Zuercher, thanks. I have not figured out where the last 2 wires go from AMC SW-1 to TB-5. This may be a AMC question.

Are you still talking about an AMC AB15A100 drive? If so you should double check your pin names/numbers. Because I don't follow what wire or pin you are referring to. The doc you posted for the AB15A100 lists two connectors one called P1 with pins 1-16 and one called P2 with pins 1-5. (SW-1 is a dip switch on the AMC drive not a wire.)

So if you could clarify what the wire you are unsure about is connected to, I think we could tell you where the other end should go. (If it even needs connected at all.)

I have mixed up SW1 with P1. Reference diagram at post on page 2, about 1/2 way down: 04 May 2022 19:10 - 06 May 2022 18:43 #241996

This has AMC connector P1, pin 2 Signal GND & pin 9 Inhibit/Enable without anything going to 7i77 card, connector TB5 pins 1 & 2.

Ok, sounds simple enough.

Does connecting P1-9 to P1-2 enable the drive? Does probing with a volt meter, red lead lead to P1-9 and black lead to P1-2, show positive voltage (probably about 5v)?

If the answers to both of those questions are yes then you would connect them P1-9 to TB5(+ENA) and P1-2 to TB5(-ENA)

Todd Zuercher, Many thanks. Yes, if meter is connected to AMC driver P1-pin 9 & pin 2 as per your request it reads 5.0v. So I did connect those to TB5(pin 2 +ENA) to AMC P1 pin 9 (Inhibit/Enable) and P1-2 to TB5(pin 1-ENA) to AMC P1 pin 2 (Signal GND).

Now as I powered up, all LEDs look correct (on the drives & 7i77), motors are in slow motion, this is with the F1 down ; I release F1 nothing noticeable happens, but as I press the F2 down the motors stop, but both red LED appear on the drives.

Many thanks.

I have been in contact with A-M-C engineer, and it was suggested to check voltage described here:

I attached the voltmeter to the pins coming out of the P1
connector on the AMC drive, pins 2 & 9. I checked the voltage coming
out of these as pressing F2 (as to start project).

Turn power on: The F1 is up, meter has a blinking "-" meter reading
0.00; press F1 (up now) still has blinking -; press F2 down & meter
for a short second, says 0.07 (no -) the joint error out appears on
the Linuxcnc screen.

This I have included as to be transparent on how & why.

(This post was written as a reply to your previous post and may not be pertinent)

Sounds like you need to switch the dip switch SW1-5 on the drive to the "on" position. But before you do that. A couple of questions. Right now it sounds like the drive enable/inhibit behavior is backwards to the desired behavior. You want the drive to be inhibited when Linuxcnc is not running, running and in e-stop, running with e-stop off (after pressing F1) and not enabled (before pressing F2). The drive should only be enabled when Linuxcnc is out of e-stop and machine enabled (after pressing F1 and F2).

When the drive is powered on, and Linuxcnc is not running, is the motor un-powered (no slow motion) and can be turned freely by hand? If that is true but the behavior is backwards when Linuxcnc is started, this means that you need to invert the signal polarity in Linuxcnc.

Having a joint following error almost immediately after pressing F2 would be expected behavior for a system that is correctly connected, but without a properly tuned PID loop in Linuxcnc.

In your ini file what are your min_ferror and ferror settings for the joint in question? Before you tune your PID loop you need to set these to a sufficiently large number to allow you to tune the loop. 5cm or a couple of inches is usually a good number.

Next study a PID tuning tutorial or two and start following the steps to determine the right PID settings for your machine.

Once you've tuned the PID set the following error limits to much smaller numbers such as 0.1mm for max_ferror and 0.01mm for ferror. (or what ever your machine's capabilities should allow.)

Todd Zuercher, many thanks. The dip switch SW1-5 on the drive is in the "on" position. Should I turn to off? Todd, I am receiving some questions from A-M-C, that I am working as well.
Thanks!