Tutorial SPS - Sabertooth Packet Serial PID motor driver sketch w/SoftStart

Gday guys
ok Ive sorted the over heating issue with bigger wire im using 8awg now not 12 awg motor 1 is running nice cool..22.3 degrees

so ive been doing some testing and cant not work out why the famous motor1 has this little movement when the arm stops .. it started as a shaking so i turn down the kp setting and stopped shaking on the spot but still has this little up and down movment ..motor 2 is fine ..also ive got the motors running to diffrent kp settings is this normal motor1 is on 165 any higher and it starts shaking were motor2 is on 500 if its on 165 same as motor 1 then its very slow unresponsive any ideas

sounds like oscillation. make sure everything is tight and there is no play in your linkage to the pot from the motor. check the connections from your pots to the ard, a loose wire here can cause intermittent position. also be sure everything is grounded well.

thanks mate im thinking its the pot cause motor2 is fine im in smc3 now and as soon as i put kp to 1 its starts shaking if i learn away lke hang out the rig it will stop but starts again as soon as you more the motor ill change the pots to the normal one i use first time using this ones
might be no good
thanks heaps for your advise

@Evan Rowlands Good to hear that the hot motor is solved. Anyway your motor is running cooler than my room temp.

Your Kp different between motor is quite a lot. I'm thinking the loose rig issue too. You might try to increase "Deadzone" to see whether the shaking is gone. (according to the tutorial, should not over than 1) If you need like 10 to stop the shaking, this would confirm the loose issue.

To confirm the pot, you might try to manually rotate it to see the "green" feedback line in SMC3 whether it smooth movement according to your rotation.

Gday mate ..

ive had a play around with the dead zone and it did improve it but its still there so i checked all the stuff that could come lose and the onlty thing i could find it the back lash of the motor ..motor 2 has the same back lash but no shaking ..
ill keep looking to see if i can find something else
cheers mate

wow,thank you for your detailed description. now my motor can move correctly.

Found this Use full video
Shows Nice wiring setup for wiring Sabertooh

Hey @BlazinH

first I want to say thanks for your program

With your step by step guide I could bring the motors into life But I have to face some problems, maybe you can help me with them.

If the PWMmax is below ~150 the Motors move fine and try to catch the blue line. If I increase PWMmax i face to different problems. My motor isn’t attatched to anything atm, they are just lying around. So, when I increase PWMmax, the switch for “motor 1” in the upper left corner in the program turnes to „off“. I have to turn it on again, that the motors keep moving.
You can see it in the following picture. The marked points show when I turned the motors on again.

This error also occurs, when a try to hold the motors manually. I didn’t bold it to a plate yet to figure out if this error will perish. Maybe you can tell me, why the software turns the motors off?!


The second problem shows up when PWMmax is raised even higher or if I put “Out Mode” to manual and am too ambitious with the slider. Then the PSU turns off I had this error all the time, before I used the resistors. Is the braking current (without ANY load) so high, that the PSU turns off?!

I’m using a Meanwell 24V 14.6A PSU and have two times two 5.1 ohm resistors parallel. I know, it’s a not the suggested resistor, but I have no 1.6 Ohm atm. The wiring is seen on the following pics.


Is something wrong? Or do I just need to bolt everything together and use proper resistors?

I had an idea: since i didn't solder the wires to the pot, it could be, that they lose contact, when the motor is shaking to hard Have to test it, if it solves the problem, it's great, if not, i will ask again.
But i still need to get rid of problem two...

I would like to see bigger cables going to those surge resisters... - they are high wattage for a reason .

Oops Sounds reasonable... will change the the cables
Thanks

/edit:
it was the Motor
Have no problems with the other Motor. The resistors stayed completly cold...

Is there a way to use Arduino+Sabertooth to control three motors?

You can use multiple arduino/sabertooth, I dont believe they make a three channel sabertooth.

As BlazinH said before:

2 x ard's 1 x sabertooth and 1 x syren 50 to run the 3rd

A Noobie question. First time playing with these boards and a little unsure of what I am doing.
Can I use this tutorial and software etc for a 2Dof sim using a Sabertooth 2x25 and an Arduino Uno R3. and just enable the two motors in the tuning interface.

Thanks.

It works with 2x25v2 controllers but not the older 2x25v1.

Thank you BlazinH fot the reply.
I confirmed that the Sabertooth 2X25 is a V2.00 so I will use your tutorial thanks again.
I have another Sabertooth question that is beyond my electrical knowledge of 1%.
Naturally I am driving two https://www.motiondynamics.com.au/worm-drive-motor-12v-24v-200w-180-rpm-20nm-torque.html from the Sabertooth and have that connected OK
but question is how do I wiring my two separate 12V 30A 360W power supplies to the one Sabertooth input.
I know it says not go over 30 V DC which I will be safe with but it is the in series or parallel wiring config that baffles me and I am scared that I will end up frying a very expensive board
through my own ignorance, so if you can guide me on how-to to do it without magic smoke appearing I would be most grateful.

Thanks.

I hope the pics shows what I am attempting by having a separate power supply for each motor whether that is sensible or overkill I don't know.

Starting out I recommend you use one power supply and a 12v lawnmower type or larger battery in parallel (+ to + and - to -). This keeps things simple and serves the best changes of success until you can see if your diy rig is going to work as you planed it to. You can attempt to use multiple power supplies and/or remove the battery later if you still wish to. When your not using the rig though be sure to turn off the power supply when using a battery so you don't overcharge it which is dangerous.

Thanks again for the reply.I am trying to KISS if you know that, I am saying and referring to myself not you.
OK so you say that just the one 12V 30A 360W power supply will suffice if used in parallel with a 12V battery.
The only spare battery that I have is a new motorcycle battery Absorbed Glass Mat technology Battery 12V 8.6Ah which uses a different type of charger for charging and storage but still charges as any other in the bike.
Can I use that as it is much less bulky to have lying near the rig where it is.
Does the regenerative current damage a power supply without the external battery ?

Thanks.