Authorised Vendor Thanos AMC-AASD15A 6axis Servo Motion Controller
- Thread starter Tronicgr_6DOF
- Start date
Just wanted to update you guys on my progress with the strange issues with EMI.
A recap of the issues;
vive tracking was not working at all
intermittently the game would run at a crawl, like 1 frame per second with servos on, just fine if you unplug them
intermittently the computer would crash during game
really bad serial command issues from pc to thanos controller in simtools or game (manual jogging on controller would product nice clean motion but the pc was super rough and jittery)
wireless mouse/keyboard wouldnt work well and not at all if line of sight through area with servo drives
other periphery like husinkveld pedals and argon direct drive w/ f4 discovery board intermittently didn't work when servos were powered (worked fine otherwise)
Everything above was solved by:
Replacing all the power wires for the 4 servo motors with shielded cables. Although the cables are too big to fit nicely in the motors strain relief. (a non silicon wire would have been smaller)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32976536851.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.13b44c4d9U9sOg
EDIT: @mechsicko found a pvc us based source of this wire. Thanks man!
www.zyltech.com
Adding the low frequency ferrite rings to the power wires of each servo motor (excluding the ground).
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/623-2675626402
Adding the split low frequency ferrite rings to all the usb cables on my pc
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/623-0475181651
Adding one power line filter to the 230v servo input power before splitting the wires to all the servos with terminal blocks.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073MCGBP5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Adding the EMI power strip Thanos suggested.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BQO5G4O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
All of these things combined eliminated all my issues and I am able to run with motion in my vive just fine.
Here is a rather silly tune and a buddy trying it for the first time.
A recap of the issues;
vive tracking was not working at all
intermittently the game would run at a crawl, like 1 frame per second with servos on, just fine if you unplug them
intermittently the computer would crash during game
really bad serial command issues from pc to thanos controller in simtools or game (manual jogging on controller would product nice clean motion but the pc was super rough and jittery)
wireless mouse/keyboard wouldnt work well and not at all if line of sight through area with servo drives
other periphery like husinkveld pedals and argon direct drive w/ f4 discovery board intermittently didn't work when servos were powered (worked fine otherwise)
Everything above was solved by:
Replacing all the power wires for the 4 servo motors with shielded cables. Although the cables are too big to fit nicely in the motors strain relief. (a non silicon wire would have been smaller)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32976536851.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.13b44c4d9U9sOg
EDIT: @mechsicko found a pvc us based source of this wire. Thanks man!
10M - 18/4 18 AWG 4 Conductor Shielded Stranded Bundled Wire
www.zyltech.com
Adding the low frequency ferrite rings to the power wires of each servo motor (excluding the ground).
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/623-2675626402
Adding the split low frequency ferrite rings to all the usb cables on my pc
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/623-0475181651
Adding one power line filter to the 230v servo input power before splitting the wires to all the servos with terminal blocks.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073MCGBP5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Adding the EMI power strip Thanos suggested.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BQO5G4O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
All of these things combined eliminated all my issues and I am able to run with motion in my vive just fine.
Here is a rather silly tune and a buddy trying it for the first time.
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Instead of replacing the cable a metal braided sleeving around the existing cable (sleeve connected to ground) could be a solution too perhaps?
New tester was now created by a member (a.j.whirlybird) to test for Earth ground Loops:
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Some news on the motion software support.
Except Simtools, the servo controller is also compatible and works with the new standalone FlyPT software that is developed. It has limited games support yet, but its gaining traction. It supports 4DOF platform and 6DOF platforms. See a quick test with my mini desktop 6DOF platform:
If you want to learn more about the FlyPT software visit:
https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/flypt-mover-interface.13464/page-20#post-185239
Except Simtools, the servo controller is also compatible and works with the new standalone FlyPT software that is developed. It has limited games support yet, but its gaining traction. It supports 4DOF platform and 6DOF platforms. See a quick test with my mini desktop 6DOF platform:
If you want to learn more about the FlyPT software visit:
https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/flypt-mover-interface.13464/page-20#post-185239
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Great news, Thanos. The continued development with your controller is an outstanding contribution to the sim community. Thanks.
I finally found some time to make a walkthrough video explaining the parameters in the latest firmware 2.06. This new firmware v2.06 will be released in a few days, after I resolve some minor issues with Platform Check option:
Note, the small stepper motor I use on the video has resolution 400 pulse/rev...
Note, the small stepper motor I use on the video has resolution 400 pulse/rev...
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Regarding the wiring of the AASD-15A servos here is a nice simple diagram that can hep identify the crucial wiring points:
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This is the first time I've seen an inline RFI filter for each driver. If I remember correctly most are using just a single filter.
@Tronicgr_6DOF do you suspect that is why so many are experiencing EMI issues?
@Tronicgr_6DOF do you suspect that is why so many are experiencing EMI issues?
Ask vive users... all servomotors no matter the brand, emit EMI if not properly shielded or filtered, and ground loops make it amplify like an antenna... Separate filtering for each servo means less changes of combined harmonics to harm devices that are sensitive to RFI or EMI noise.
I created a WhatsApp group and we called it
“ PT Motion Owners Club “. We discuss every thing about this motion system, we help each other, we help the beginners who looks for help in mounting the actuators, wiring... we discuss about SimTools settings, Hardware.....
We are already 10 members. If you want to join us please PM’ me.
Thanks
“ PT Motion Owners Club “. We discuss every thing about this motion system, we help each other, we help the beginners who looks for help in mounting the actuators, wiring... we discuss about SimTools settings, Hardware.....
We are already 10 members. If you want to join us please PM’ me.
Thanks
My son and I did some EMI measurements this afternoon with his oscilloscope. EMI is mostly emitted at the driver's power output to the servo motor, through the servo power cable. I can hardly imagine a filter at the input of the driver reduce the EMI at the output, as the pulses are being generated by the driver. Shielding of the power cable to the servo motor on the other hand helps immensely: even simple household aluminium foil (connected to ground) around the cable reduces EMI by 90%. Routing the servo cables through the channels of the aluminium profiles of your rig (connected to ground) reduces EMI by 50% (applies only to the unexposed parts of the cable).
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Last night I released new firmware v2.06 for the AMC-AASD15A controller, but immediately this morning released the next v2.07 that includes some extra calculations for the max stroke depending on the leadscrew pitch and belt ratio, to prevent buffer overrun of the Pulse Engine... So I show here all the new additions:
New Firmware Release v2.07:
======= enc_6dof_AMC_AASD15A_v2_07 =======
release date: 10/08/2019:
-Added support for 2525 leadscrew (25mm/rev).
-Added support for different reduction belt ratios (1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2)
-Added support for Platform Check. Will Park active actuators if any of them fail.
Selectable by Menu Entry ON or OFF.
-Fixed delay timers for Park/Standby to be more accurate for the used number of axis.
-Fixed a bug saving stroke and direction of Servo7.
-Fixed the speed of blinking of the Standby LED to correspond the ButtonSpeed setting direction up.
-Changed the indication LEDs to be OFF by default, enable with DIP Switch 2 --> ON
-Fixed max stroke calculations depending on the leadscrew and ratio values to
prevent buffer overflow of the pulse engine. Table with max stroke values follows:
Leadscrew - Ratio - Max Stroke
4mm/rev - 1:1 - 580mm
4mm/rev - 1:1.5 - 390mm
4mm/rev - 1:2 - 290mm
5mm/rev - 1:1 - 640mm
5mm/rev - 1:1.5 - 430mm
5mm/rev - 1:2 - 320mm
10mm/rev - 1:1 - 1290mm
10mm/rev - 1:1.5 - 860mm
10mm/rev - 1:2 - 640mm
25mm/rev - 1:1 - 2500mm
25mm/rev - 1:1.5 - 1660mm
25mm/rev - 1:2 - 1250mm
https://github.com/tronicgr/AMC-AASD15A-Firmware/tree/master/Latest_firmware
Thanks
Thanos
New Firmware Release v2.07:
======= enc_6dof_AMC_AASD15A_v2_07 =======
release date: 10/08/2019:
-Added support for 2525 leadscrew (25mm/rev).
-Added support for different reduction belt ratios (1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2)
-Added support for Platform Check. Will Park active actuators if any of them fail.
Selectable by Menu Entry ON or OFF.
-Fixed delay timers for Park/Standby to be more accurate for the used number of axis.
-Fixed a bug saving stroke and direction of Servo7.
-Fixed the speed of blinking of the Standby LED to correspond the ButtonSpeed setting direction up.
-Changed the indication LEDs to be OFF by default, enable with DIP Switch 2 --> ON
-Fixed max stroke calculations depending on the leadscrew and ratio values to
prevent buffer overflow of the pulse engine. Table with max stroke values follows:
Leadscrew - Ratio - Max Stroke
4mm/rev - 1:1 - 580mm
4mm/rev - 1:1.5 - 390mm
4mm/rev - 1:2 - 290mm
5mm/rev - 1:1 - 640mm
5mm/rev - 1:1.5 - 430mm
5mm/rev - 1:2 - 320mm
10mm/rev - 1:1 - 1290mm
10mm/rev - 1:1.5 - 860mm
10mm/rev - 1:2 - 640mm
25mm/rev - 1:1 - 2500mm
25mm/rev - 1:1.5 - 1660mm
25mm/rev - 1:2 - 1250mm
https://github.com/tronicgr/AMC-AASD15A-Firmware/tree/master/Latest_firmware
Thanks
Thanos
THIS is how I fixed my EMI issues. I used shielding tape on all the motor lines and then grounded the tape and the motors directly to the wall outlet ground. I also shielded all the incoming 220v power lines to the drivers. ZERO EMI interference for my Index and Pimax now.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ALDR0A8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I agree, less work replacing the existing AASD-15A power cables with shielded ones, and less expensive too
.
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Also on Aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32628578127.html
@Flag Ghost Any tips on how to wrap it best?
