Tutorial SMC3 Arduino 3DOF Motor Driver and Windows Utilities

Yes I did. I first downloaded the two zips, Installed the SMC3 V06 folder into my arduino folder like the instructions said. When I open my arduino IDE, the SMC3 shows up under sketches. I click on it, verifie file, and upload and it seems that all is well. The board is working because it will perform the "BLINK" test. Then When I try to open the SMC3utils V06 I get the message.
Terry W

Hi Terry, from your post in another thread it is good to hear that you solved the issue. Could you share the solution in this thread to help people in the future?

Thank you

I downloaded and installed all zip files, connected my arduino to my Monster Moto as pre the drawing above and with the use of the Sim Tools Quickstart Guide I cannot get my motors to run using the mouse as a test. I checked all conections,drawings,power, don't know what I should do next. Can someone help me out here.

I have my motors stoped by adj. the motor pots. It seems that I have it all connected right, because by adj. thePMWmax I can make them go slow or fast.

Terry W

Hi Terry, it is easiest to get things running in stages... Did you follow the "Initial Setup" instructions in the first post of this thread (Here they are again:

---------------------------------------
Initial Setup

I strongly recommend you follow the steps below if this is the first time you are using SMC3 with your simulator to reduce the risk of damaging anything. (THIS STEP MAKES SURE THE POTS ARE CONNECTED IN CORRECT DIRECTION)

1. Disconnect the motor power supply
2. Make sure Simtools is not running – we’re not ready for that yet!
3. Wire up the Arduino (with SMC3 installed) to your H-Bridges and connect to your computer via USB
4. Run the Windows SMC3 Utility software and make sure it communicates with the Arduino (There is no need to set baud rates, they are not configurable)
5. Set the Kp, Ki, Kd, PWMmin, PWMmax, PWMrev to 0 for ALL motors (This will make sure the motors don’t move)
6. Set Clip to 255 (you need to do this first) and Limit to 255 (This will give you plenty of margin if something goes wrong while setting up)
7. Turn on the power to your motors – nothing should move at this stage!
8. Set Kp to about 400
9. Now slowly, increase PWMmax… at some point the motor should start to move. When it does check the “Green” feedback line is moving toward the “Blue” target position.
   • If it is then that motor and feedback is wired correctly - proceed to test other motors.
   • If it is moving away turn off motor power immediately (or quickly reduce PWMmax again). In this case you need to either reverse the wires to the motor being tested –OR– reverse the +5V and GND wires to your feedback pot for the motor being tested (do not do both). Restart the test from the beginning.
10. Do the above for each motor

-----------------------------------------

Note Step 2: get things running without Simtools (ie you use the Windows SMC Utility program to setup and configure your program... you will also find this program at the beginning of the thread.

Once you have done this then adjust the settings to something like below as a starting point:

Fpid/2
Kp=500
Ki=0
Kd=0
Ks=1
Fpmw=20kHz
PWMmin=0
PWMmax=200
PWMrev=210
Max Limits=75
Clip Input=150
Deadzone=1

These settings should give you basic movement. Test by selecting the Triangle wave or Sine Wave, etc in the SMC Windows Utils program. You can fine tune parameters from there to suit your specific motors and setup.

Once you are happy with the setup using Windows SMC Utils, Shut down Windows SMC Utils and START Simtools and get that tuned up using the interface settings and Axis Assignments etc. Note if the Windows SMC Utils is running and connected to the comm port then Simtools won't be able to access the com port hence the reason for shutting down Windows SMC Utils.

Let me know how you go.... If you have trouble try to be specific about what you have done and what is and isn't working.

Thank you foe helping me with my problem. I went through your check list and all checked out what I think is OK. However when I set the SMC Utils to Triangle or Sine wave, the motors run wild. (unable to stop with the pots). When I shut down SMC Utils,open SIM TOOLS, setup default I still have no movement using the mouse control. My default is setup in DOF4 #1 axis,pitch and #2 axis, Roll. is there anything else needed for the default? Do I need to use COM3 or COM4?. COM4 is the path that my Arduino board is hooked into. Also, I am somewhat confused by the last paragraph . Is what you are saying is to shut down SMC Utils before I open SIM TOOLS? I think that is what you mean. Thank You again for helping me, I want to make sure that my proto type will work before I jump into the "BIG PICTURE"
Terry

@terry wells do yo have the pots mechanically connected to the motors or are you manually turning them at the moment? If you are manually turning them then it will act more like a speed control than a positional feedback - ie when the pot is positioned such that it matches the target value the motor will stop the further away you turn the pot from this position the faster the motor will go. If you are doing this manually and running a triangle wave target for example it will be almost impossible to manually match the required target position so the motor will just appear to "run wild". So if you are doing it manually it sounds like you are all good!

Yes correct shut down Windows SMC Utils before opening Simtools. Windows SMC Utils is just a setup utility for the Arduino PID code (it does have some other advanced functionality but don't worry about that until you have things working)

COM4 is correct if that is what the Arduino is connected to. Have you setup the "Interface Settings" tab in Simtools? The following settings should get you going:

[A<Axis1>][B<Axis2>] Note: you need to include both the square and angled brackets

Set for 10bit binary output

Baud rate 500000 , N , 8 , 1 (10ms delay)

Yes, they are mechanically connected (see pic) When I turn them from center they speed up or slow down cw or ccw. I set them to the stop mode. I typed in the info you gave me and motor A (Axis 1) works the right way. However I cannot get motor B (Axis 2) to work at all. ???? I know motor B is good because I can turn the pot and make the motor do what you say. these are my settings. Thanks again
Terry W.

@terry wells perhaps it is not clear in the photo but looking at the picture I can't see how the motors are mechanically connected to the POTs? I take it the POTs have knobs because you manually turn them? Do the POTs turn themselves as the motors turn?

Your comment "When I turn them from center they speed up or slow down cw or ccw." - this is correct if the POTs aren't turned/driven by the motors.

Don't worry about simtools until you have everything working in the Windows SMC Setup Utility - if it doesn't work here it definately won't work in Simtools. From what you are describing though it sounds like you are very close

When running Windows SMC Utils you will see in the chart the "Green" line should move as you turn the POT - this is the feedback. The "Blue" line is the target position. The Arduino will attempt to drive the motor so the green line is positioned over the blue line. So if the POT isn't turned by the Motor then you have to manually turn the pot so the green line matches the blue at which point the motor should stop. The further the green line is away from the blue line the harder/faster the motor will be driven to try and get it to where it should be. So it appears as a speed control unless the pot is 'mechanically' connected to the motor.

Also note there is a safety feature built in to the Arduino code - if the green line moves into the "Limit Zones" the motor will be shutdown and nothing will appear to work until you move the pots back into the working zone and reset the Arduino. (This could be why you had no response from motor B)

@terry wells Ahh, I think I notice your problem in simtools... You have a , instead of a < after the B in the interface output string - simple typo

Also you don't want anything in the startup output or shutdown output - leave blank

Thank You for seeing that, it is working now like it should. My pots are hooked like the wiring diagram at the start of this thread. however I did need to flip/flop the blue and green wires. A0 & A1 to make the pot on the right operate the motor on the right. Is there a way I can check the motor operation by using my Joy Stick instead of the mouse? I really need to see that my stick can move the motors. You can see that the red and green are on track.

Terry W

Out of curiosity, why do you want the joystick to drive the motors? Simtools reads information from the game, and then transfers the positional information to the Arduino which in turn sends direction and speed to the motor drivers and hence moves the motors.

If you really want a joystick to move the motors then you could connect the joystick potentiometers to the arduino instead of those on your bench and they would indeed drive the motors but that would not work in SimTools.

Call me "Old School" , but I was hoping to see this work with the joystick. That's ok ,so now if I were to download a game would I be able to see the motors work using the joystick? I just answered my own question. I set up LFS and I could see the movement. Would this work better for me if I were to have the SMC3 setup on another computer? and if so how would I connect to the main computer with the game running?

Terry W.

Hi @RufusDufus I let you know that I am using your great software. After testing lots of the different settings ths sim works stable and powerful. I had some issues due to the to heavy load (moto monster). KP is now 370, PWMmax 120. More power results into stopping the winches. The next days I will continue to find out the best stable settings.

Thanks for the feedback, it's good to hear it is working successfully!

Hi, I'm trying to run the arduino with this firmware, but not I don't know what must I edit for use in mode2 with my ibt-2

I know that it's very easy, I'm feel like an idiot, but I can't find what I must to do

Thanks in advance

Enviado desde mi iPad con Tapatalk HD

Before you download the SMC3.ino sketch file to your Arduino edit the code at the very top of the sketch file like below:

Code:

//****************************************************************************************************************
// SMC3.ini is basic Motor PID driver designed for motion simulators with upto 3 motors (written for UNO R3)
//         
//****************************************************************************************************************

// Set to MODE1 for use with a typical H-Bride that requires PWM and 1 or 2 direction inputs
// Set to MODE2 for a 43A "Chinese" IBT-2 H-Bridge from e-bay or equiv

#define MODE2   

The line that is important is the one that says #define MODE2

That's it... then normal procedure to download the software to the Arduino using the Arduino IDE sotware.

Hi Rufus there this is a problem remains to be found, if i turn very fast the potentiometer the motor stops. It does not matter the PWMmax or the kp settings, same issues if the values are very low. For better understanding I attached a screenshot. Using a power meter I got values around 25A max. Perhaps too much for the motor monster? In contrast the fuse between PSU and Moto MOnster (25A) has not blown. The 20A fuse did not survive very long but 2 or 3 days...

PS: Or the arudino (clone) is too slow to calculate the tasks?
PPS: same issue using the original arduino uno 3

Update: same issue using Duemilanove 2dof firmware. While turning very hard the pots the moto monster hangs on a second... :-/

@Pit, It looks like the MotoMonsters are shutting down. I think the chips on these boards have internal protection circuitry that shut them down if over temp or too much current.

If the SMC3 software was shutting them down it would show OFF in the button next to the Motor in the top left of the window which it isn't in your screenshot.

Another way to confirm when this happens is to switch of the motor power to the H-Bridges for a minute and then switch back on - but don't disconnect or reset the Arduino. Once the H-Bridge cools down and you reapply power it should work again because the Arduino still thinks everything is running.

ow I know I need an other H-bridge...the winches are (would be) so fast and strong, but the moto monster is hard at the limit. I am familiar with SMC3 and want to stay with it.