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

You have given your own answer of your question. Also as long you do not need the complete range of your pots you wont profit from the resolution of your 10 turn pots, as we know "the resolution of a potentiometer is the smallest possible change in resistance ratio". Use an other gearing or a 5 turn potentiometer (which is hardly available afaik).

PS: Also very important you MUST secure your actuators by adding i.e. a flip switch (off/on), SMC3 alone gives no guarantee of not crashing your hardware one day...and day one will happen.

Thanks, yeah i have manual end stop switches for sure! but i thought it would be good to have software limits working and use the flip switch end stops as the ultimate backup.
When i open simtools and move my axis it actually operates within range of my end stops (about 10% off each limit) so that was nice at least so i could keep testing. Started to crank the speed up and all was working well. Thought i'd fire up a game and see how it acted. I ran Project Cars and as it loaded into the race the actuator then moved from 50% center to 100% and started acting like 100% was its center.. It hit its limit switch in no time. any idea why it's doing that? I'll give Dirt rally a go tomorrow and see if the same thing happens. I have to reset the Uno to re-center it.

@BlazinH cheers for the code, i don't know where your post went but i might try double it and see what it does. I'm waiting on bigger gears from china.. sick of putting the project on hold for 3 weeks at a time for $2 parts.. i want to keep moving forward haha. But yeah i can't find 5 turn pots anywhere.

Before you start any game on SimTools you should adjust the axis limiting, then setting any values in the axis assignments -> Games - Default, only then going to Output testing, as a first step testing Axis Output and later DOF output (% already set in the Default Game settings). Please keep in mind the DOF output testing is working with default profile only. Anyway if SMC3-SPS Sabertooth is working you should open a new thread in the appropriate forum.

Use the limits in SMC3 utility and also in SimTools gameengine

It went away because I deleted it. After posting it I realized that the center position would shift and my initial thought was that it would require additional math to correct this. However upon thinking it though better all you need to do is rotate your pots 2.5 turns to the low side. So then your pots will register 0 volts on one end and 2.5 on the other end but upon doubling it will appear to be 5 volts to the sketch if that makes sence.
But I also didn't get a good understanding of your question because I didn't read it carefully. As Silent Chill said you can use smc3 utilities to change the max limit.
ps Its best to not answer questions when you wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep even though your still half asleep.

Habe ein Problem?

Wenn ich in SimTools den Test mit den Motoren mache laufen diese immer gleich egal ob ich Roll oder Pitch Schieberegler bewege laufen die Motoren immer gleich!!!!
Habe auch schon einen Pot und Plus und Minus an einem Motor gewechselt auch diese ist brache kein entgegengesetzter laufen bei Pitch

Was muss ich tun ????

Have a problem?

When I do the test in SimTools with the motors, they always run the same regardless of whether I move roll or pitch slider, the motors always run the same !!!!
Have already changed a pot and plus and minus s.einem engine synonymous this is fallow no opposite run at pitch

What do I have to do ????

SimTools is not the first place to begin if your components are going to malfunction, before that you have to check SMC3 (first page on this thread), and ONLY if SMC3 is working correctly you can get further.

SMC3 funktioniert tadellos
die grüne linie ist gleich mit der blauen
nur dann in SimTools funktionieren diese nicht richtig



SMC3 works perfectly
the green line is the same as the blue one
only then in SimTools these do not work properly

Did you test the motion in SMC3 (Sine, Wave etc.)

JA haben alle Arten in SMC3 getestet Sinuswelle und Bewegung laufen perfekt in deckung grün und blau linie
nur bei Sinus ist ein leichter versatz in der auf und ab bewegung sichtbar


Yes, all types have been tested in SMC3. Sinus Wave and Motion work perfectly in green and blue line
only sinus shows a slight offset in the up and down motion

Your motors are setup in simtools to run the same direction. Click the orange box in axis assignments where you need the direction changed.

Interesting, I am German speaking and did not understand what exactly he tried to describe lol.

Wo finde ich dieses Orangene Feld in Simtools?


where can I find this orange field in Simtools?

The Dir box in game engine. There are in the screen shoot you posted above.

alles klar
und wenn das orangene "licht" aus ist läuft der motor andersrum?


all right
and when the orange "light" is off is the engine running the other way round?

Not exactly. Only the dof's whose boxes are changed that are on that particular motor (axis) are reversed.

alles klar
Das werde ich nachher mal testen ob ich es hinbekomme.
ich melde mich dann wieder


all right
I will test it later if I can do it.
I will contact you again

I see permalinks are back so thank you to administration for fixing this.

super das hat jetzt geklappt

vielen dank für die schnelle hilfe


great that worked now

Thank you for the quick help