jbeasley

I had a power clipper do something like this to me one time a few years back. I made notes at the time but can't seem to locate them. Long story short the filesystem was corrupted by a power surge/short. The unit was unstable and flaky. I could telnet but couldn't ssh and some other weird things like couldn't save configuration changes. I used the serial port to get to a shell and then if memory serves I had to remount the filesystem rw and then used fsck to fix the disk issue. After that I used the usb method to upgrade/replace the firmware so any damaged files would be over written and the system worked perfectly again. I'm not sure if this helps but just wanted to throw it out there.

I have an arm,LS1021A and upgraded to Firmware 2.6.0.0 to test out the Ethernet/IP functionality in the 4.5.1.3 IDE. When I attempted to download I got a message: The connected Power PMAC does not support Ethernet/IP in it's current configuration. Please contact support. Is this an option that needs to be purchased similar to modbus on the older Turbo PMAC systems or am I missing something simple. Thanks, John.

There is some information that SPI is option 1 on the encoder support table but seems to have been omitted from the printed documentation. Was this implementation also removed from the firmware? Did it support the Chip Select portion of the protocol and what was the pinout on the PowerBrick connectors? I realized noise immunity is a problem but I'm just poking around at this point. I was playing around with a CUI absolute encoder that states it's SSI but in fact is some variation of SSI that resembles SPI on the hardware level with CS low for addressing the module and single ended data and clock. I was going to look at using a differential line driver to convert the single ended Data and Clock to RS422 specifications but it's pointless if I don't have the CS cycled low during the transmission. I'm also looking at using an FPGA to interface with the 3 wire SSI and then send that data over to the Power Brick with Standard SSI but this adds another layer of complexity I would rather avoid if possible. Thanks John.

Thanks. That worked like a charm. Motor is fully tuned and working great. Only 5 more to go. Have a great Holiday weekend. John.

I opted to go with the CUI AMT33 encoder because it provides the ability to zero the commutation angle along with hall outputs and programmable encoder. I turned the rotor end down to size. Reassembled the motor and fitted the replacement encoder. I applied DC current to U and V and I'm seeing 4 defined magnetic positions. That should make this an 8 pole motor? I locked it up with DC into U and V and configured the encoder to 8 pole / 2048 ppr / Zeroed the Commutation angle. I stepped through the GUI setup for the motor and passed everything. I have a very soft / slow control with closed loop. If I try to issue open loop commands from the terminal it either locks in a position, runs away or makes some really odd sounds and trips the i2t. If I phase it again it will return so soft slow closed loop control. If I attempt to adjust the jog speed it will run away / lock in position / trip i2t. Pick any one. I'm pretty sure the commutation angle is not set correctly. Is there a way to lock the motor into a zero angle using the delta tau controller so I can try to zero it there. Thanks John.

Couldn't get it to work. I tried every protocol and a bunch of random message types. I hooked up my scope and see the Brick sending the commands but the the Sankyo Seiki encoder wouldn't respond or do anything. I was thinking about replacing it with a CUI AMT232B-V absolute encoder that supports SSI and would use the same number of pins so I can use the existing wiring harness. I'll have to turn the encoder end of the rotor down on my lathe as the shaft is to big to support the AMT device. I just ordered one for now to see if it will even work. When I pulled the motor apart I saw the pole configuration in my picture and got confused? I'm assuming they must have the stator wound in a way that the poles line up but from the looks of it there are 9 poles that don't line up. I had not even bothered to push a little holding current into the motor yet to check the pole count since I normally do that after I get the encoder working. Talk about proprietary. I just wanted to share this. Have a good weekend. John.

Does anyone have experience interfacing a Power Brick AC with a OTC Daihen Robot Manipulator. This is just a project I am doing for fun to teach myself Kinematics. I have a manual and pinouts for the old (2000 era) manipulator and it states it uses Sankyo Seiki Servos with Absolute encoders utilizing a S+ S- encoder data connection. I'm hoping to one day have my own "Rotating Forks Demo" Thanks John.

Thanks for the info Steve. For my application I think the 4 PFM outputs and using the 4th open loop PWM DAC for the Spindle Speed control will work perfect.

I was playing around with a Power Clipper looking to replace my Power Brick CNC Controller with a Clipper and some Stepper Drivers so I could use the Brick for another dev project. I was looking for a way to run the Siemens VFD on the spindle. I currently do through an analog output for speed and digital i/o for direction which are controlled by a sub program (for G Code). Anyway I was wonder since I'm not using the Filtered DAC outputs on the clipper if I could just write to them directly to control the VFD speed while I used the PFM for the Stepper Driver which worked fine. I then got curious what would happen if I setup a 5th motor and encoder on the #4 Axis Output using the Encoder input and Axis #4 Filtered PWM DAC output and it seems to work fine? So does this mean you can actually run 8 motors on a Base model Power clipper 4 Open loop Steppers and 4 Closed loop DAC Servos or is this bad practice? What would be the downside? Thanks John.

Got it figured out. Took a little bit of work but it was my hardware firewall. It anyone else has this issue you just need to port forward TCP / 18999 through your firewall to the Machine running the IDE. When you open the Tune or Plot interface the IDE starts a listener on the Local Computer and then runs netcat on the remote PMAC to stream the data across. The options to gather stay greyed until the connection from the PMAC to the Local IDE is completed. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. John.

Definitely a network/firewall issue just not on my computer. I could not Tune Either but I have a shop PowerPMAC that I have tuned many servos on. When I disconnect from the PMAC out on in the Plant and connect to my local unit I have Plot and Tune options. There must be something getting blocked by my hardware firewall between my shop and the factory floor that the NAT translation is not handling properly maybe some kind of UDP connection. I will shoot you an email but first I'm going to look at the netstat while connected to my local unit and try and port forward the connections from the factory. Thanks John.

I don't think the issue is firewall related, but I could be wrong. Is there a way i can issue some manual commands to the datagather console app to get more debug information? Attached are screenshots of the requested information.

I am using IDE 4.4.1.7 with a Power UMAC, PowerPC,460EX Firmware: 2.5.1.2 Same IDE revision and configuration on my laptop and plot works fine. I have disabled my firewall completely and there was no change. I attached a screenshot.

I have an issue on my desktop where the Delta Tau --> Tools --> Plot feature doesn't work? To this point I had only tuned on my Laptop which works fine but now I am an a point where I wanted to do some runtime adjustments from the shop while monitoring via ip cameras. I can't seem to figure out what is wrong. I uninstalled and reinstalled and tried all kinds of different things but the Data Gather option just stays greyed out. If I switch to Legacy mode it appears to let me gather but the upload portion locks up and never completes. Any ideas would be appreciated. I am going to try and clear my registry settings and user profile settings next but just wanted to reach out and see if this is a known issue with a solution.

I'm using IDE 4.4.1.7 with a UMAC PowerPC,460EX with Firmware 2.5.1.2 I hardly ever get this error so I'm not too worried about it I just wondered if it was something I was doing that caused it. It was just frustrating on the day I posted this because I had about 5 minutes left to upload and test my changes before production resumed and it gave me the error so I just opted to leave the changes out for that production cycle and make them at the next maintenance cycle and they worked fine. I haven't had it happen since. Thanks John.

I have a project that I build using the Power PMAC that is in full production now. I have been using two computers to make changes to the program normally twice a day at the scheduled downtime periods. My common practice is to issue a save command from the terminal and then download the most current program to either my office computer or my laptop depending on my location. I then make changes and Build and Download the solution back to the PMAC. Test the added or changed functionality and then issue the save command. This works 95% of the time. On occasion I have downloaded the program made changes and then when I go to to Build and Download the first time I get failed to map power pmac variables. If I close the application, relaunch and redownload this seems to resolve the issue. The only problem is I lose the changes that I made so I have to either rewrite them or go copy and paste them from the failed project. Just wondering if there is something I'm missing that creates that error? Thanks John.

Make sure both motors are "closed loop", enabled. #1,2 j/ If 2 is open loop it won't move and won't automatically enable.

Not a deal breaker. I just figured out I can just type it all in and omit the global prefix and then just ALT-SELECT and paste global to the beginning of the lines and it works fine. Thanks for the feedback.

I have been creating a new application and ran into a problem when defining global variables. If I type in the name of a variable that is already defined the IDE closes and reopens and I loose everything from my last save until that point. I can work around it and have started typing my variables up in notepad++ and pasting them over. Has anyone else experienced this. Say I am creating similar arrays and I just want to append something to the end like below global solution_east(11) global solution_east_is_trash(11) as soon as I type global solution_east again under the original variable the IDE crashes. it also happens if i copy and paste the same variable. I do this regularly and maybe change the last digit or something like that. Maybe it is specific to this project I'm working inside? It's probably an intellisense thing.

I just figured out that the default Open Loop tune plot is ploting on phase time not servo time. I have made my own plc routine and plot to map on servo time and things are looking a whole lot better. I will update with my final settings in case anyone else is doing a similar hydraulic project. Thanks again for your response. John.

Eric, I have been playing around with different servo rates and also pfm values. I have some different charts based on my settings with open loop signs. it still looks like there is a lot of noise, not really giving me that warm fuzzy feeling but it seems to function properly for my application. Also i am using a 4x re-circulation so i think that affects the pfm as the fastest i can go on the default gate settings with the a 34 (30in)stroke rod in the shop is around 1250. My longest rods in the application are around 64 (60in) stroke. Can you look at the attached open loop sign plots and tell me which one looks like the best result in your professional opinion. I have not noticed much difference in the position loop tunes but am afraid I might run into issues later when I start to do position following or trying to match velocity on 2&4 rod moves. The top is default of 3 and the bottom is 9 with a recalculated Sys.ServoPeriod both are at the same pfm. Thanks for your help. John.

After Updating my settings the resulting tune works better. If I am to understand it right I am basically doing a digital read of the timer difference but i am curious why there is such a fluctuation in the velocity readings. Why wouldn't it just hold the previous velocity and do the math on the new position read to calculate the difference why does it fall and rise so drastically. //Pulse Output Frequency: Gate1.Chan[j].Pfm Gate1[7].Chan[0].Pfm =2000 Gate1[7].Chan[1].Pfm =1900 Gate1[7].Chan[2].Pfm =1900 Gate1[7].Chan[3].Pfm =2000

After looking through the manual i think i might have the pfm set wrong I tried changing it to the example of 2982 and I was able to get a velocity reading but it is nowhere near accurate and is jumping all over the place. It also now won't allow me to see the full stroke of the rod which i'm assuming has something to do with the deadtime I tried increasing that and the servo update time for the motor but that yielded unstable results. My original settings are as follow. Gate1[7].Chan[1].OutputMode = 3 Gate1[7].Chan[1].OutputPol = 0 Gate1[7].Chan[1].Pfm =15 Gate1[7].Chan[1].EncCtrl = 12 I will keep plugging through but any pointers would be helpful. This configuration works flawlessly on Turbo Pmac so i know it must be something in my configuration. Update: It is definitely the PFM setting. I need to set it much higher but too high and i don't catch the pulse response. I have it working on a the Power Pmac in the Shop I am heading out to test it on the installation now. I'm wondering how recirculations play into the PFM calculation in the manual because according to the manual 2982 should work on a 60in rod. I have a a 32 inch with 4x recircs in the shop and i have to set it to 1200 for it to work properly. Still looking for any insight into what a valid configuration would be, but i think i am on the right track. John.

I also Checked my Sys.ServoPeriod and changing it had no effect. Original: Sys.ServoPeriod=0.442742110000000022 Looked at Variables Acc24E2A[4].PwmPeriod=6527 Acc24E2A[4].PhaseClockDiv=0 Acc24E2A[4].ServoClockDiv=3 Calculated per manual : Sys.ServoPeriod=0.442742242 Default per manual: Sys.ServoPeriod=0.442718

Setup EncTable[14].Type = 1 // Single-register read EncTable[14].pEnc = Gate1[7].Chan[1].TimeBetweenCts.a EncTable[14].index1 = 8 // Shift left 8 bits to restore position EncTable[14].index2 = 8 // Shift right to eliminate lower 8 bits EncTable[14].ScaleFactor = 1/256 // For units of timer LSB Motor[14].pEnc = EncTable[14].a // Use table result for position-loop feedback Motor[14].pEnc2 = EncTable[14].a // Use table result for velocity-loop feedback It does not appear my Velocity Loop is reading correctly? I can close the position loop but at high speed i get flat spots that cause a huge amount of jerk. An open Loop Velocity Plot looks like the attached file? what am i missing? The Move looks normal on the position plot.