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Motors

General Comments:

There are very few things that can go wrong with step motors. The two main reasons why a motor would fail are from short circuits in the windings and physical damage to the motor. Material damage can usually be seen in dents on the shaft or endbells, and causes the rotor to seize or rub against the stator. You can test for a short in the motor winding by doing the following: Take an ohm meter and check the resistance between each pair of windings and between windings. You should obtain approximately the same values on each winding, and measure infinite resistance when measuring between two windings. If this is not the case, the motor has a short in the windings and unfortunately can not be repaired.

Symptom: My motor oscillates back and forth when I run at low speeds.

Solution: You are experiencing resonance. Resonance occurs at low speeds, usually between 1-4 rps, when the motor becomes unstable. There are several ways to reduce the problem of resonance. If you are running a no load test, place a load on the motor (holding the shaft with your fingers is usually enough). The load will act as a dampener to the system, and will smooth out the resonance area. If you are running in full-step, change to half-stepping or microstepping.

Symptom:The motor is getting hot.

Solution: A basic rule is that your motor should not get too hot to touch (the actual maximum case temperature is 80ºC). Most likely, the current is set too high on your drive or the motor is not properly heatsinked. The motor current on the label and website of our six and eight lead motors is based on a unipolar rating (the four lead motor can only be connected in one way, so the label rating applies in all situations). Make sure that you compensate the current for your wiring configuration. If you are running in series, you need to multiply the rated current by 0.7 to get the current rated in series. If you are running in parallel, you need to multiply the rated current by 1.4 to get the current rated in parallel. You must also consider your duty cycle. If the motor gets too hot, either turn down the current, increase the idle current reduction, or reduce the duty cycle.

Symptom: The motor is not producing much torque or stalls at low speeds.

Solution: There could be a few problems occurring. If the motor has previously run well, check the resistance in the windings. You should obtain approximately the same values on each winding, and measure infinite resistance when measuring between two windings. If this is not the case, the motor has a short in the windings and can not be repaired. If you are running the motor for the first time with the load, and you are not able to reach the desired speeds, make sure that your connections are correct (especially if you have put on your own connector or cable) and that the settings are correct. If you are still can not find the problem, inspect the motor and rotate the shaft when the motor is not connected. If you feel any rubbing or there are any dents on the motor, there is probably an alignment problem and some pieces may need replacing. Finally, if the rotor has been removed from the stator, it could have been demagnetized and the motor would then need to be returned for remagnetization. If you still can not find the problem, your power supply might not be adequate for the motor you are driving. Each motor when turning acts as a generator, pumping voltage back into the drive. This is called the Electromotive Force, or back EMF voltage. The amount of EMF generated increases proportionately with the speed and inductance of the motor. Theoretically, when the back EMF equals the voltage into the drive, the motor stalls. So if you have a motor with high inductance, or are running in a series connection (a series connection quadruples the inductance), either switch to parallel connection or get a larger power supply.

Symptom: The motor doesn't have any holding torque.

Solution: Make sure that the red power light is on, the amplifier is powered up and that the motor phases are connected correctly to the amplifier.

Step & Direction Drives

General Comments:

For many people, troubleshooting the drives is more difficult than motors. The best reference if you are having trouble when you first get your drive is to look in the manual. All of the drive manuals are available to download under our manuals section. The manuals are very comprehensive, and if you are using our drives for the first time, spending 15 minutes to read them will save you a lot of time in the long run.

Symptom: The drives power LED is not turning on when I power up the drive.

Solution: Check the fuse. There should be extra fuses included with your drive. If you do not have the fuses, or continuously blow fuses, please call the main office. If the fuse blows, also check your power supply to ensure that it is not overvoltaging the amplifier.

Symptom: The motor has been running fine and then suddenly quit. I checked the connections, and still can not find the problem.

Solution: Get an ohm meter and with the motor disconnected and power turned off to the drive; take a reading of the resistance between the A+ and A-, and B+ and B- terminals. You should get a reading in the vicinity of mega ohms. If you get a different value, you have blown the H-bridge, and the drive needs to be returned to us on an RMA. If the resistance is normal, inspect the board for any damage to the components. Also, check the motor for a short circuit in the windings so that the problem doesn't reoccur.

Symptom:I try to send a step signal to the drive, have enabled the drive, but the motor doesn't move.

Solution: Our enable input actually works to disable the motor. Normally the input is off, which enables the motor to run. If you pull the enable line low in reference to a 5-24 volt signal, it actually disables the motor (sends zero current to the motor). If you have no use to disable the motor, do not connect anything to this terminal.

Symptom: I am using a drive with an oscillator, but I can not get the motor to run slow enough with the potentiometer.

Solution: A few of our drives have internal potentiometers that can not be adjusted to go to zero speed. Please check the technical specifications section in the back of our manuals for information on the oscillators.

Symptom: I am running for the first time, have checked my wiring, but the motor still doesn't run.

Solution: Make sure that all of your Dip switch settings and jumpers are correct. On our PDO drives, if you are sending the drive a step and direction signal from an outside source, switch the dip switch labeled "BYPASS" toward BYPASS. If you are using the internal oscillator, flip it away from BYPASS. For our open frame drives, have the jumper toward step or slew depending on if you are running in step and direction mode or using the internal oscillators respectively.

Intelligent Drives & Controls

General Comments:

Our controls are mainly sold along with our drives in a packaged unit. Since most people use our SiProgramming language with these drive/controllers, many of the perceived problems with the controllers are actually problems with the software and vice-versa. To isolate whether the problem is with the drive/controller or the program, try to swap out a similar drive to see if you are having the same problems. Depending on if the problem follows the program or drive, you can isolate which you need to investigate. The best reference if you are having trouble when you first get your drive is to look in the manual. All of the drive manuals are available to download under our manuals section. The manuals are very comprehensive, and if you are using our drives for the first time, spending 15 minutes to read them will save you a lot of time in the long run.

Symptom: Our motor with the Si-1 starts to move before we hit the trigger button.

Solution: The Si-1 has an option to go to a home sensor when the controller is powered on. Go into the program and turn this option off.

Symptom: We connected the Si-100 in lock step to multiple drives, but it doesn't work.

Solution: The Si-100 step and direction signals can be wired in parallel to multiple drives, but the number of drives is limited by the input current needed to drive the step and direction on the drive. You are probably trying to connect too many drives to the Si-100.

Symptom: We hooked up jog inputs, but when we try to jog, they don't work.

Solution: Check your connections. If the connections are good, this is one of the problems concerning the software. See the software section.

Symptom: The red power LED blinks and the program stops.

Solution: The red power LED flashes when the limit switches have been tripped. Make sure that if you have components plugged into the limit inputs that they are normally open and not activated. If they are normally closed, or you are using the limits as normal outputs, you need to go into the SiProgrammer and change the limit switch settings.

Symptom: The limit switches or inputs are not working.

Solution: Check the wiring of the inputs. The inputs and sensors need a 5-24V supply to work. Look at the wiring inputs section in our manuals for a diagram for hooking up the inputs and limit switches.

Software

General Comments:

There are three types of software that run with our Si products: the SiProgrammer, SiNet Hub Programmer and SiNet Command Language (SCL). Most customers use the SiProgrammer since it is the easiest way to program our drives. The most complete reference on programming our software is in our software manual. You can download the software manuals along with our software programs from our software website. Another good way to troubleshoot is to execute the program while still connected to your computer. A yellow highlight will follow which step of the program you are on. With our software, you are able to pause the program, check the status of the I/O and run through it step by step, which allows you to home in on the problem.

Symptom: We hooked up jog inputs, but when we try to jog, they don't work.

Solution: The jog inputs can only be activated on a wait input command. When you need to jog at a particular time in the program, insert a wait input command or MMI "Wait for Enter" at that point in the program. This will enable you to jog until the input is activated.

Symptom: When I try downloading, I get a "Drive is not responding" error, or when I disconnect the computer, the drive does not run in stand alone mode.

Solution: When a drive wakes up, it sends a pulse out of the RS-232 port. If the drive is connected to a computer with one of our programs running, the program will send a pulse back and the drive will start to run in programming or SCL mode. If nothing is connected, the drive will run in stand alone mode and start from line 1 of the program. First, try turning off the power to the drive, then turning it back on. The software must always be running before the power is turned on to the indexer. When you first open the software and then turn on the drive, the question mark next to the "Drive" window should turn into the version number of the firmware in the drive. If the question mark does not disappear, check the RS-232 cord and the com port on your drive. If the question mark is replaced by the version number of the firmware, and you are using a laptop computer, close all of the other programs and try recycling the power to the drive again. If the drive still does not respond, try using a desktop computer. Make sure that you are using the software that was given to you with the drive. This will give you the latest version of our program. Another problem you could have encountered is if you or the person before you used the indexer with the SiNet Command Language (SCL). In SCL, there is an option to power up in SCL mode all of the time, regardless of what is connected to the port. If this might be the problem, go into the SCL program, and in upper case letters, type in the command "PM1". This will allow the indexer to handshake when powered up again.

Symptom:I get a "Run Time" error when I try to open the program.

Solution: When the software was downloaded, a file did not download correctly. Go into your C: drive and delete the folder SiProg. Try installing the program again. If you are still having problems, please call our technical support line.

Symptom: I am using the MMI and the program won't let me type any more text in the MMI prompt window.

Solution: Our Si products only have a limited amount of memory dedicated to storing text to display on the MMI. Most people don't get close to using all of it, but some people with many MMI commands may experience this problem. We can not extend the memory on our Si drives, but if it is necessary to have that many MMI prompts our SiNet Hub-8 product is able to hold more MMI text.

Symptom: I would like to use an input as an emergency stop but can't find it in the program.

Solution: With exception to the red stop button on the face of our packaged drives, they do not have an option for a true emergency stop. The best way to get around this is to use the limit switches. When the program is running and the limit switches are activated, it automatically stops the program. You can wire the clockwise and counter-clockwise limits to a push button to work for this purpose.

Symptom: I am trying to use inputs 5 and 6, but they do not work.

Solution: On the main screen in the program, check the boxes "Use cw (or ccw) as input 5 (or 6)." This will designate the jog inputs as normal inputs.

Symptom: I am trying to use inputs 7 and 8, but they do not work.

Solution: On the main screen in the program, change the "At limits switches will be" window to "Not Used." This changes the limit switch inputs to regular inputs.