AMC-AASD15A servo controller

This perhaps because its using the Park and Standby speed to move the rig while in spike active motion and when to "jump" to real data when its close.

Try this newer firmware:

https://github.com/tronicgr/AMC-AAS...f_AMC_AASD15A_v2_10_beta_fix7_RGB-menufix.zip

In the new firmware I separated the speeds of Park/Standby from the Spike Filter motions when its activated to two new parameters. Go to the LCD menu and you will see the new menu "Spike Filt Speed". The value "Esc" is the speed that the platform will move while the spike filter is active and also the escape speed to normal motion. The "Fine" parameter is the smallest distance that it needs to get close to real time data to escape the spike filter and jump to real motion data. I modified these to be much lower similar to the Park/Standby speeds before.

Before the "Fine" was Park speed, and the "Esc" was Standby speed, if you wonder.


Lowering the "Fine" speed and the "Esc" position values, should decrease the jolt you see when you go from Park to Standby position, as since you have the Spike Filter active, the actuators move to online mode as with the Spike Filter activated because of the difference in position between Park and Standby. I hope this makes sense.

Thanks
Thanos

Thank you Thanos. I loaded the new firmware and was able make adjustments using the new features. It now appears to me that the "jerking" or 'thumping" I am getting in Fs2020 is not related to the spike filter. That is the good news... The bad news is I do not know whats causing it. Maybe it's the plug-in or some other weird pulse that Fs2020 is putting out. It definitely destroys any immersion you get from the sim. I have spent hours trying to isolate it by adjusting what filters are available in the game engine but nothing is really helping. It seems I can mask the problem somewhat but the overall result is not good. As a matter of fact just doing nothing seems to have the best outcome. I will ask in the plug-in thread if anyone has experienced this phenomenon ..

Can you make a video showing when its happening? I think I know what might cause it...

Thanos,I need a bit of advise in terms of power consumption:
I am planning/designing/building a linear 6DOF Stewart sim with 1605 ball screws using your AMC-AASD15A + 6*AASD-15A + 6*90ST-M02430.
Being in North America, the voltage issue needs to be addressed. Even though you demonstrated that it is possible to run those from 110V, I am thinking that it is still better to run it from higher voltage, and planning to pull in a 208V single phase line from my breaker box.
Those 90ST-M02430 motors claim to be rated as 0.75kW, 220V, 3A. If I assume that peak power is under 1kW (taking into account PSU efficiency), that brings me to around 6kW total for my 6 drives, which is under 30A @ 208V. Probably there is little chance of each consuming 3A at the same time, so this could be an overkill (looking at Evolve 6DOF specs, for example, they only require 16A at 230V).
Do you have an estimate of how much power does your AASD-15A setup consumes under realistic loads?
Thank you,
Alex

I built a peg leg sfx style rig with oversized motors (1kw 80st-m04025 + aasd20a) and 10mm pitch ballscrews (most people use 5mm) and I tested my system with a lab power supply that has watt readouts. With 4 motors moving along to game data I pulled under 400w from all 4 motors at the same time. The watt readout wasn't fast enough to catch spikes when the car would land a jump (rally) so I wasn't getting peak readings. If I remember correctly when two people got on the rig it went up to 600w or there about. So you see this totally depends on how you build your rig. Screw pitch, motor size, weight, speed, and geometry all add up to some current draw. Most of us run these motors far below their limits so you wont have much of an issue.

ps I think I remember seeing https://www.rowanhick.com/ with pics of his sfx rig on a watt meter too for another set of numbers.

@Thanos I have pretty much hunted down my problem.. It is binding in my "heave center post" I finally got enough lubricant in the right spot and 90% of the thumps are gone. I am guessing it was momentarily stalling the servo motor.. Is there any Pn settings that can boost the torque or maybe the startup speed?? The AASD Servo driver documentation is still a cryptic document for me..
Thanks...

Stalling the motors? This should never happen on linear actuators until above 300% of their rated Torque...

Or you are using rotary actuators (planetary?). Just so many platforms around, I lost account who has what (thus where a video demo would help better).

The 750watt is the max power each servo can draw on 100% of their rated Torque. Monetarily they can draw up to 300% Torque (peak) to compensate for a need to go to a position fast or change direction instantly.

But usually, when these motors are used on ballscrew actuators where the torque is equally spread across the actuator stroke, there is not much power consumption. Just make sure to load the rig on 1/2 of the sum of motors load ability. Usually for example, 1605 leadscrew for example can handle loads up to 160kg (per actuator), while 1610 leadscrew that is faster can handle up to 80kg.

But the constant power consumption in ampere is not much, usually its well below 3A in resting and 5A while the motors doing medium speed movements. Even of fast motions (offroad driving), you will get peaks up to 9A, not more. Really efficient system!

@Thanos I am running rotary actuators. 1kw with 20:1 planetary. I did not make a video because the "thumping motion" is not really visible. I got a 142 page manual on the AASD driver. It make it a bit easier to fumble through the parameter settings.. I tried changing Pn024 from 300 to 10 and it makes no difference in the motor performance. I am getting closer to finishing my 6dof build and hopefully the "thumping" will be a thing of the past.
Thanks for all your time.

Are you sure the gearboxes don't cause it by their backlash? Can you push the lever up by hand while the motors are active to see if it moves any?

@Thanos Yes the backlash is pretty minimal.. I did luck out and I seem to have solved the problem. I set Pn024 to 0000 and the thumps and bumps are gone.. I have no idea what Pn024 really does. I have tried many values for it.10, 100, 200, 300... As a matter of fact 300 set off the AL006 alarm. And shut the motors down.. we will see if the problem remains solved.. Like I have said many times The AASD drive is really confusing...

Pn24 is not active parameter, not something that will affect motion quality. Its just the percentage of Torque that over that will inform the AMC controller that the calibration hard stop was detected... Its only used on initial calibration, not during run... The default Pn24 value is set to 100, to allow the motor reach 100% torque against a hard stop before declaring that it homed to zero position (and not because of load variations).

But if you use external limit switches to detect the home position, then you can just turn the PN24 down to 0 I guess and it will still be fine.

Ok you are right.. I have set pn24 back to 100.. I am sure the problem is with binding in my 3 dof rig.. I will just live with it until get the 6dof running. Sorry I know I wasted a bit of your time... I owe you one!

Hi Thanos,

Can you please have a quick look at the electrical wiring (in the attachment). Just want to know if I'm missing something.

Thanks,

Alex

You cannot wire the power magnetic contactor on the KLM switch... The e-stop is for the controller to stop the signals to the servos.

You would need separate switch for the mains power contactor to the servos. Plus I don't know how much current the magnetic contactor relay needs and might overload the USB port...

Thanks, yes you are right, those 5V coming from USB through your board would not be enough. I guess, a little 24V psu with a solid stay relay can fix that. I was already using a double-pole e-stop button so the circuits are separate. It's a bit weird to have one NO and one NC in it, but IIRC, most of modular dual-pole e-stop switches would accept NC/NO/dual-throw modules. The updated drawing is attached.

Sure, it will work this way, but you don't really need to disconnect the servo power using the e-stop... A separate switch to power on-off the servos is enough.

Yeah, I'm from Canada. Had a few wonderful encounters with CSA inspectors in the past. While I totally understand that these servos will never pass the CSA, somehow I'm still trying at least to get the rest of the things done right. You know, ferrules and conduits everywhere, steel enclosures with electrical disconnects, etc.

The servos actually have certificates, which can provide if needed.

And its good thing to add extra safety circuitry if you can.

Not so simple here. In its ultimate wisdom our awesome government takes a good care of our well-being by enforcing draconian safety restrictions on anything which we are allowed to plug into the electrical outlet.

It needs to have a CSA-approved marking on the label. On component level, that's typically CRU, TUV, ETV, and a few others. CE is not on that list. And these motors don't even have CE. Actually, I have never seen a Chinese motor with CSA-compatible marking. Normally they don't bother to get CSA certified since Canadian market is not that important to them (and I highly doubt with those unshielded cables can pass). Having those motors hooked to mains is illegal in Canada. The total assembly and all the high voltage components have to be certified.

People often ignore it. However, the enforcement policy is very simple: if your house burns down and the insurance finds out that you had such a thing plugged in, this can be used as a good excuse to avoid paying you the insurance money.

There aren't enough words in my vocabulary to express how grateful I am to our leaders for caring so much about our safety.