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Tutorial SMC3 Arduino 3DOF Motor Driver and Windows Utilities

Discussion in 'SimTools compatible interfaces' started by RufusDufus, Dec 1, 2013.

Page 108 of 131

Quang Thuy New Member

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Quang Thuy said: ↑

Has anyone had this error like me? The motor feedback current does not run towards the blue target, but is exceeded which shuts down the motor. I have checked and rewired the wires many times, tried using my hand to turn the shaft back to the target, but when I power on the motor, it fails to overrun.
Click to expand...

I have solved the problem. The cause is reverse connection of 2 pins 01 and 02 of BTS7960 43A. A simple mistake, but took up quite a bit of my time.
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Quang Thuy, Dec 30, 2021

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mikethemotionguy learning daily Gold Contributor

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Quang Thuy said: ↑

I have solved the problem. The cause is reverse connection of 2 pins 01 and 02 of BTS7960 43A. A simple mistake, but took up quite a bit of my time.
Click to expand...

hello guys i new to all the forum stuff so please be patient with me!!

I follow dmax on YouTube and built my rig because of his videos. Now the only thing i did different was put my motors up front, and my motors are mirror image motors! So trying to figure out which ways need to be up and down is being a challenge but ill figure that out later as the 2 front motors work perfectly. my issue is with the 3rd motor for traction loss everything seems to be wired correctly and the motor only moves one way!!! the green line confirmed follows the blue so the pot and the motor seem to be wired correctly as it doesn't lose control all the way to one side or anything!! i know i had reflashed the arduino before when getting the front motors working correctly and forgot to set it to mode2 for the ibt controllers and they would only move one way like the 3rd motor is doing now!! any ideas???

mikethemotionguy, Dec 30, 2021

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noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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mikethemotionguy said: ↑

hello guys i new to all the forum stuff so please be patient with me!!

I follow dmax on YouTube and built my rig because of his videos. Now the only thing i did different was put my motors up front, and my motors are mirror image motors! So trying to figure out which ways need to be up and down is being a challenge but ill figure that out later as the 2 front motors work perfectly. my issue is with the 3rd motor for traction loss everything seems to be wired correctly and the motor only moves one way!!! the green line confirmed follows the blue so the pot and the motor seem to be wired correctly as it doesn't lose control all the way to one side or anything!! i know i had reflashed the arduino before when getting the front motors working correctly and forgot to set it to mode2 for the ibt controllers and they would only move one way like the 3rd motor is doing now!! any ideas???
Click to expand...

So to be clear, if you are using ibt controllers the SMC3 code needs to be edited for Mode 2.

Other than that the pot and lever need to be central in the TL axis range when configuring SMC3 settings.

noorbeast, Dec 30, 2021

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mikethemotionguy learning daily Gold Contributor

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noorbeast said: ↑

So to be clear, if you are using ibt controllers the SMC3 code needs to be edited for Mode 2.

Other than that the pot and lever need to be central in the TL axis range when configuring SMC3 settings.
Click to expand...

thanks for the reply!! it is for sure in mode 2 or the front motors wouldnt work but one way!! I did get the orientation correct for the front motors and as for the rear 3rd motor pot is centered when rig is centered and it works pefectly on the up side but has no response on the down side im baffled confirmed the wiring is correct disconnected everything and ohm tested for continuity and all test were good idk whats going on!!

mikethemotionguy, Dec 30, 2021

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noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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mikethemotionguy said: ↑

thanks for the reply!! it is for sure in mode 2 or the front motors wouldnt work but one way!! I did get the orientation correct for the front motors and as for the rear 3rd motor pot is centered when rig is centered and it works pefectly on the up side but has no response on the down side im baffled confirmed the wiring is correct disconnected everything and ohm tested for continuity and all test were good idk whats going on!!
Click to expand...

To provide proper context please start your own build thread and detail all aspects of the settings and hardware used.

noorbeast, Dec 30, 2021

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Tom1980 The Sky Is The Limite

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Good Evening Folks, what potentiometer are you folks using. I have used a few but they dont work right. My feed back or green line always stays at the top of the SMC window so the motors wont engage.

Tom1980, Jan 13, 2022

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noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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Tom1980 said: ↑

Good Evening Folks, what potentiometer are you folks using. I have used a few but they dont work right. My feed back or green line always stays at the top of the SMC window so the motors wont engage.
Click to expand...

I use 180 degree Hall sensors, like these: https://au.element14.com/bi-technol...fs/sensor-hall-0-2v-20v-to-10v-pin/dp/2319662

However, is there any actual reason you believe your pots are the issue? The most common error with pots is wiring.

But with SMC3 issues there can be a range of other potential causes, such as hardware faults.

Last edited: Jan 13, 2022

noorbeast, Jan 13, 2022

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Tom1980 The Sky Is The Limite

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I am using the following from Amazon, I just think I got the wrong ones.
WayinTop 5pcs 360 Degree Rotary Encoder Module KY-040 Brick Sensor Development Board with Push Button for Arduino

Tom1980, Jan 13, 2022

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tadek Active Member

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hi Tom1980
You should use a potentiometer with a resistance of 10 kom.
Encoder is not a potentiometer.
Ancncoder is an impulsor.
Best regards

tadek, Jan 13, 2022

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Rodeo5150 ROOKIE BUT LEARNING FAST Gold Contributor

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Hi. Awsome tutorial. As a brand newbie just in the "gettin a bur under my butt to build one", your step by step walkthrough layed it out and made it feel alot less dounting. Can I use this system with linear actuators?

Rodeo5150, Jan 16, 2022

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2nasty4u said: ↑

Hi. Awsome tutorial. As a brand newbie just in the "gettin a bur under my butt to build one", your step by step walkthrough layed it out and made it feel alot less dounting. Can I use this system with linear actuators?
Click to expand...

These days for linear actuators most have moved from DC to servos to power them, then use a specific controller like the one by @Thanos, which make the servos pretty much plug and play. So while you could great SMC3 controlled actuator it is not really worth the bother.

noorbeast, Jan 16, 2022

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Martin Dixon Member

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RufusDufus said: ↑

For those interested in another Arduino controller...

*** DOWNLOAD AT END OF POST ***

If you are looking for the modified version for the sabretooth that uses packet serial go here: SMC3-SPS Sabertooth Packet Serial PID motor driver w/SoftStart

SMC3

The SMC3 is a "Simulator Motor Controller for 3 Motors" written for the Arduino UNO R3. At the time of writing this it has not been tested on any other Arduino model. The SMC3 uses a PID motor control loop. The PID algorithm has been optimised for this application and achieves 4096 PID updates per second for all three motors giving smooth precise motor control with well tuned parameters. Some characteristics of the controller:

Designed specifically for use with Simtools motion control software

Controls the position of upto three motors using analogue feedback

Hard (reverse) braking if motors move beyond defined limits

10bit accuracy (1024 steps) for both "target" position commands and position "feedback"

Extensive command set to setup and monitor the parameters for each motor

A second serial port for (optional) real time "live" monitoring/configuration

4096 PID calculation updates per second for each motor

Companion windows software to configure and monitor the SMC3

There are currently two MODES of operation that are configured by a single line of code at compile time before uploading to the Arduino.

MODE1: Supports the more common H-Bridges used in the forums. This mode has a PWM output pin plus two Motor Direction output pins. Examples include the MonsterMoto shield.

10832

REFER TO POST #3 BELOW IF YOU NEED MORE POWER

MODE2: Designed for H-Bridges that require direct drive of Highside and Lowside switch inputs. In this mode one switch is driven as a direction pin and the other with the PWM output however the PWM duty needs to be inverted whenever the motor changes direction with the direction pin. (An alternate approach would be to switch the PWM between inputs as direction changes) An example H-Bridge that uses this mode is the cheap 43A IBT-2 found on ebay.

10833

Software Setup

As the SMC3 is an Arduino motor controller the first thing you need to do is get the software onto your "Arduino UNO R3".

Download the SMC3 software attached to this post (SMC3.ino)

Get the Arduino IDE tools installed on your computer if you don't already have them. Follow the Arduino Getting Started guide found here: http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Windows (Note the step for installing the drivers!)

Open the SMC3.ino with the Arduino IDE

Edit the code at the top if the file to select the MODE you will be using

Compile and Download the SMC3.ino program to your Arduino UNO R3

If you want, you could now jump to the Windows SMC3 Configuration software and check communications before proceeding further. (Refer next post)

Wiring Details

Code:

// +----+ +------+ // +-|PWR |--------------| USB |-----+ // | | | | | | // | +----+ +------+ o| // | o| // | o|AREF // | o|GND // NC|o o|13 TTL (software) Serial // IOREF|o +----+ o|12 TTL (software) Serial // RESET|o | | o|11~ PWM Motor 3 // 3.3V|o | | o|10~ PWM Motor 2 // 5V|o | | Arduino o|9~ PWM Motor 1 // GND|o | | UNO o|8 // GND|o | | | // VIN|o | | o|7 Motor 3 ENB // | | | o|6~ Motor 3 ENA // Motor 1 Pot A0|o | | o|5~ Motor 2 ENB // Motor 2 Pot A1|o | | o|4 Motor 2 ENA // Motor 3 Pot A2|o | | o|3~ Motor 1 ENB // A3|o | | o|2 Motor 1 ENA // A4|o | | o|1 // A5|o +-/\-+ o|0 // +-\ /---------+ // \--------------------/

32730

MODE1:

Example wiring details for Monster Motor Board (again thanks to @eaorobbie for drawing)
10992

MODE2:

Edit the SMC3 code for Mode 2 like this.

Arduino to H-Bridge (Chinese 43A)

ENA ----> IN1/RPWM
ENB --+-> EN1/R_EN
+-> EN2/L_EN (ie connect ENB to both R_EN and L_EN)
PWM ----> IN2/L_PWM
n.c. ----> IS1/R_IS
n.c. ----> IS2/L_IS
+5V ----> VCC
GND ----> GND

The image below shows wiring for two motors... Thanks to @eaorobbie for getting me started with the image
10925

*** to come ***

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.

Disconnect the motor power supply

Make sure Simtools is not running – we’re not ready for that yet!

Wire up the Arduino (with SMC3 installed) to your H-Bridges and connect to your computer via USB

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)

Set the Kp, Ki, Kd, PWMmin, PWMmax, PWMrev to 0 for ALL motors (This will make sure the motors don’t move)

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)

Turn on the power to your motors – nothing should move at this stage!

Set Kp to about 400

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.

Do the above for each motor

The Second Serial Port

Temporarily disabled as of v0.63 - Use UDP Mode with SMC3Utils instead.

The SMC3 has a second (software driven) serial port that can also be used to setup and monitor the controller. The main use for this port is to provide “live” setup and monitoring while the controller is actually running and connected to simtools via the main USB serial port. All of the SMC3 commands are available through the second serial port however you need to be aware that only one port should be used to send position commands. You would normally connect to this second serial port using a second computer such as a laptop or an old desktop. I would not recommend using the Game machine or the computer running Simtools (especially if you are just starting out with Sim software) to also monitor the SMC3 second serial port.

To use the second serial port you will typically require a TTL serial to USB interface board (commonly found on ebay for a couple of $). Once you have the second serial port connected to a computer you can run the Windows SMC3 Utility software to setup and monitor the controller in the same way as the main serial port, but as mentioned above generally it would be left in the monitor mode so that Simtools is the only program sending position commands to the SMC3.

Why is a second serial port necessary you may ask… well it isn’t necessary however it allows you to see how well the SMC3 Motor Feedback loop actually tracks the motion data being sent by Simtools allowing fine tuning of the parameters while working with real motion data rather than just a square or triangle wave etc.

As with the main USB serial port, the second serial port is hard coded to operate at 115200 baud, No Parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit.

Simtools Setup

Setup for Simtools 2 is very straight forward:

Interface Type - Serial

ComPort = the Arduino ComPort, you can find it in Windows Device Manager.

BitsPerSec - 500000

Data Bits - 8

Parity - None

Stop Bit -1

Output Bit Range - 10

Output Type - Binary

Interface Output - [A<Axis1a>][B<Axis2a>][C<Axis3a>]

*** NEW VERSION SMC v1.0.zip AVAILABLE 21/05/17 ***
Updates Version 1.0

Fixed bug where Fpwm was loaded after the timers were initialised hence user set values were not used

Fixed bug where minimum cutoff limits for motors 2 and 3 where incorrectly using the motor 1 limit.

Updates Version 0.7

Added a POT scaling input that can be used to scale the motion output based on the POT position

POT scaling can be setup as one of two modes - Linear or non-linear

DO NOT ENABLE POT SCALING UNLESS POT ATTACHED TO ARDUINO

AN5 used for POT scaling input

The non linear scaling is designed to try and reduce the overall motion but maintain the "smaller" movements as best possible - ie road noise and stuff, but scale back on the huge side to side motion you get in higher power cars.

17537

Updates Version 0.63

Fixed a timer rollover bug

Removed second software serial as conflicts with PWM freq change (UDP is much more convenient anyway)

Updates Version 0.6

Added ability to change PWM freq (5,10,15,20,25,30,35 kHz for motors 1 and 2) (4 and 31 kHz for Motor 3 - Arduino limitations)

Added I term reset when the error is zero

Added the ability to change the PID calculation rate (Fpid divider)

Added a smoothing function to the D term calculations (Ks)

Updated interface commands to support latest Windows SMC3Utils program

Click to expand...

Thank you for this detailed guide it has helped me to progress in my project again thankyou.
Martin Dixon, Jan 22, 2022

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Tom1980 The Sky Is The Limite

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Tom1980, Jan 27, 2022

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Tom1980 The Sky Is The Limite

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Tom1980, Jan 27, 2022

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Tom1980 The Sky Is The Limite

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Tom1980, Jan 27, 2022

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Tom1980 The Sky Is The Limite

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I need some help, I am having great difficulty in getting windows Smc to power my motors. I have tested the controllers and motors and am using the coding from the 3.dof page. What is happening is the feedback green line goes directly to the bottom. I am using the POT from digikey but just can't get the green line to get off the bottom. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Have a good night.

Tom1980, Jan 27, 2022

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noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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Tom1980 said: ↑

I need some help, I am having great difficulty in getting windows Smc to power my motors. I have tested the controllers and motors and am using the coding from the 3.dof page. What is happening is the feedback green line goes directly to the bottom. I am using the POT from digikey but just can't get the green line to get off the bottom. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Have a good night.
Click to expand...

Is the pot centered when the motors/lever are in their rest position?

When they are, make sure the motors are not powered, disconnect the pot, rotate it by hand until the line is in the middle of the SMC3 graph, then reconnect it.

noorbeast, Jan 27, 2022

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Tom1980 The Sky Is The Limite

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noorbeast said: ↑

Is the pot centered when the motors/lever are in their rest position?

When they are, make sure the motors are not powered, disconnect the pot, rotate it by hand until the line is in the middle of the SMC3 graph, then reconnect it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advise I am going to try different rotations.

Tom1980, Jan 27, 2022

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Tom1980 The Sky Is The Limite

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I wish I knew what I was doing wrong. I moved the POT around several times and still cant get the feeedback line off the bottom. Does anyone have any other advice or suggestions.

Tom1980, Jan 27, 2022

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Tom1980 The Sky Is The Limite

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This is what it keeps doing, any suggestions would really be awesome.

Tom1980, Jan 27, 2022

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