SETUP OF MESA 5I20/7I29 FOR DC SERVO MOTORS

I would check the green light, but I cannot, I seem to be getting worse instead of better. And I really didn't change anything!

Now I can't get EMC to load at all - error code it is generating is below.

Also, the red LED's on the 5i20 no longer come on at restart or startup of the computer like they have always done, what is going on now!
I disconnected all the sub-boards and tried as well, still no activity on the 5i20 on restart.

Here is the EMC error code;

Print file information:
RUN_IN_PLACE=no
EMC2_DIR=
EMC2_BIN_DIR=/usr/bin
EMC2_TCL_DIR=/usr/share/emc/tcl
EMC2_SCRIPT_DIR=
EMC2_RTLIB_DIR=/usr/realtime-2.6.32-122-rtai/modules/emc2
EMC2_CONFIG_DIR=
EMC2_LANG_DIR=/usr/share/emc/tcl/msgs
INIVAR=inivar
HALCMD=halcmd
EMC2_EMCSH=/usr/bin/wish8.5
EMC2 - 2.4.6
Machine configuration directory is '/home/benderservices/emc2/configs/LATHE8677'
Machine configuration file is 'LATHE8677.ini'
INIFILE=/home/benderservices/emc2/configs/LATHE8677/LATHE8677.ini
PARAMETER_FILE=emc.var
EMCMOT=motmod
EMCIO=io
TASK=milltask
HALUI=halui
DISPLAY=axis
NML_FILE=
Starting EMC2...
Starting EMC2 server program: emcsvr
Loading Real Time OS, RTAPI, and HAL_LIB modules
Starting EMC2 IO program: io
Starting HAL User Interface program: halui
Shutting down and cleaning up EMC2...
Running HAL shutdown script
Killing task emcsvr, PID=1651
Removing HAL_LIB, RTAPI, and Real Time OS modules
Removing NML shared memory segments
Cleanup done

Debug file information:
LATHE8677.hal:10: parameter or pin 'hm2_5i20.0.pwmgen.pwm_frequency' not found
1651
PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
Stopping realtime threads
Unloading hal components

Kernel message information:
[ 34.527513] I-pipe: Domain RTAI registered.
[ 34.527518] RTAI[hal]: <3.8.1> mounted over IPIPE-NOTHREADS 2.6-03.
[ 34.527520] RTAI[hal]: compiled with gcc version 4.4.3 (Ubuntu 4.4.3-4ubuntu5) .
[ 34.527556] RTAI[hal]: mounted (IPIPE-NOTHREADS, IMMEDIATE (INTERNAL IRQs DISPATCHED), ISOL_CPUS_MASK: 0).
[ 34.527557] PIPELINE layers:
[ 34.527559] fa1c4e20 9ac15d93 RTAI 200
[ 34.527560] c085cb20 0 Linux 100
[ 34.546710] RTAI[malloc]: global heap size = 2097152 bytes, <BSD>.
[ 34.546815] RTAI[sched]: IMMEDIATE, MP, USER/KERNEL SPACE: <with RTAI OWN KTASKs>, kstacks pool size = 524288 bytes.
[ 34.546818] RTAI[sched]: hard timer type/freq = APIC/12567494(Hz); default timing: periodic; linear timed lists.
[ 34.546820] RTAI[sched]: Linux timer freq = 250 (Hz), TimeBase freq = 3217668000 hz.
[ 34.546822] RTAI[sched]: timer setup = 999 ns, resched latency = 2944 ns.
[ 34.546873] RTAI[usi]: enabled.
[ 34.574926] RTAI[math]: loaded.
[ 34.725122] hm2: loading Mesa HostMot2 driver version 0.15
[ 34.733245] hm2_pci: loading Mesa AnyIO HostMot2 driver version 0.6
[ 34.953384] hm2_pci: driver unloaded
[ 34.954968] hm2: unloading
[ 35.003660] RTAI[math]: unloaded.
[ 35.021240] SCHED releases registered named ALIEN RTGLBH
[ 35.052155] RTAI[malloc]: unloaded.
[ 35.152013] RTAI[sched]: unloaded (forced hard/soft/hard transitions: traps 0, syscalls 0).
[ 35.153646] I-pipe: Domain RTAI unregistered.
[ 35.153685] RTAI[hal]: unmounted.

Looks like a fried 5I20 Did you verify that your cables were correct (no shorts)
No red LEDS means no 3.3V. This is most likely to happen if the FPGA has been damaged
This can happen if all outputs are shorted for a fairly long time
(bad flat cable or reversed flat cable can do this)
Thats why I asked if the 7I29s power LED was on
If you never got 7I29 power that would suggest a bad or reversed cable

Also depending on 5I20 jumpering, a bad cable might short out the 3.3V so to verify that the 5I20 is truly dead
I would disconnect all flat cables...

I actually did have a cable switched, but it was for a fairly short time (minutes), I would have thought it would protect itself from this in this kind of short timeframe? I guess this could have caused something? Is there any way to check and make sure there is issues with the board? There is no reset or something needs to be done?

Thanks!

Normally the chips are fairly rugged, so usually you need to do something pretty bad to fry them like:

Connect FPGA pins to a potential of more than 5V
Short a bunch of pins at once when enabled as outputs
(though just having the wrong daughtercard is unlikely to cause trouble)
Hot plug FPGA cables with systems without good common grounds

I still suspect your cables I would check them very carefully (and also check that you have 5V on pin 49)
then fact that you never got the 7I29 power on LED suggests cable troubles
On Monday we can issue you a RMA, probably best to return all cards and flat cables and
we will figure it out and fix what we need to and retest as a system

I'm back again for some input, I seem to have frustrated all options I know to try!

I managed to screw up the boards when I was working on this 5I20/7I29 config the first time, and Mesa was nice enough to repair them and send back, so now I am on round 2. I am having no luck myself again:( , so I will write out my config, please let me know if there is something I am missing or need to change.

I now have the boards re-installed, but still not getting any action from the 7I29 board, it acts if if the 5I20 does not even know it is there. Even when I run open loop servo test and spin the servo's manually, no counts on the encoder. I am pretty positive the 5I20 is working, the red lights go off when initialize, (so configured), and I am getting inputs on the 7I37 board for limit switches (in EMC) this is connected to I/O connector 4.

Here is what I have, if anyone knows enough to proof if I am missing a setting or need to check something else. It is probably something stupidly obvious, but having never used EMC and not much programming knowledge, I just can't seem to figure it out.

I have 90VDC coming in to the 7I29 per the wring diagram, (verified yet again) and motor outputs wired in, I know they work as I bumped them previously from the termination points. There is no enable circuit to the DC brush motors, you put power to them and they run!
I have the 7I29 50 pin connecter to P2 port on the 5I20 (per the PnCConf setup)
FYI - Encoders on the X & Z axis have leads; A, A', B, B', I, I', 0 & 5V. (8 WIRES). I have these terminated per Mesa's pinout for the 7I29. It's almost an exact match except they have an extra 5V and ground.
Spindle encoder only has A, B, I. I don't have this terminated yet as I just figured out what it needed.
I have selected jumpers W1 and W4 (X&Z axis on 7I29 board) in the 'up' position for differential encoding (vs. TTL) on the 7I29 - is this right for these encoders???

On the Mesa setup page in PnCConf;

Config tab;
Firmware SVST8_4
PWM base frequency - Not sure what to put here???
PDM base freqeuncy - Not sure again???
# encoders =3 (X, Z, Spindle)
# PWM Gen =2 (X, Z)
# Step = 0
Note: I tried going to 0 PWM gen because I was not sure it applied, but it required I have them for the X & Z.)

I/O Connector 2 tab:
With that config, it setup under pins 1-23 for the X&Z axis, and I have jumper W3 on the 7I29 board in the 'down' position to match this, per the manual.
Selected X, Z per encoder terminations in the 'unused encoder, PWM' fields;
Under type, used Pulse Width Gen-P (vs. Pulse Density) is this right, how to tell???
Selected spindle where it had 'unused encoder' in the 24- 50 pins, although I don't have that hooked up yet.

I/O Connector 3 tab:
Unused, all GPIO pins

I/O Connector 4 tab;
Setup per my terminations for limit switches/etc.

X & Z Motor/Encoder config pages;
Used all original settings, execept plugged in numbers for encoder counts and gear ratios/etc to get the count right.
Tried to use Open loop servo test to run motor - no response. Following a new startup of the PC, when you click the servo test button, the 5i20 lights go out, from what I have been told this means it is configured. Does not appear to be any lights on 7I29 board lighting up, and no motion when I enable the 'amp' and hit the + or - buttons. Also, no counts on the encoders under the Hal or encoder count boxes that pop up when spin it manually.

The rest of the pages appear to be homing information/etc not really applying to getting some motion out of the axis, but let me know if I am missing something!

Thanks, really frustrated by this, any help would be appreciated!
Nick

1.The 7I29 manual suggests PWM at 20 to 30 KHz DO NOT use PDM!

2. The 7I29 should have at least the gate power LED near the power terminal illuminated
if this is not the case something is very wrong (again) Are you sure you dont have the 90V power polarity wrong?

I would:

1. Disconnect the 90V power, you dont need it for checking the encoders

2. Check 5V power on the 7I29. a encoder wiring error might short out the 5V
(if you are lucky) otherwise you may have blown up the 7I29 with wrong power wiring or something else wrong in your setup (again)

3. Dont use pncconf, (as I had suggested before) use the demo servo HAL file and set the PWM rate to 20 to 30 KHz like the manual states

4. Check your 90V power supply polarity, also verify that the 7I29 is hard wired to the filter capacitors of the 90V power supply (there can be no switches or connectors between the filter capacitors on the 90V supply and the 7I29)

5 Also like the 7I29 manual suggests, you really should not do initial setup with a 90V power supply (I can tell from the damage to the first 7I29 that something was massively wrong with the power supply : blown MOSFETS, blown gate drivers, blown 30A primary fuse etc etc)

If the you can get the 7I29 green gate power light on (this should just happen when you power up your system, no motor power needed) then I would try using 5V or 12V motor power until you figure out what you have misconnected

To check if the 7I29 is still OK, connect nothing but the 7I29 flat cable to the 5I20
(no motor power, no encoders, no motors, just the flat cable on the 7I29)

If you do not get the green gate power LED (in the motor connector area) You likely have a blown 7I29 (or you have no flat cable 5V for some reason)

Thanks for the input - I went down the line and started troubleshooting as you suggested and good news! With only flat cable I got the green light. I then set PWM at 20 to 30KHz, and ran open loop test, and the yellow light showed up when pushing the +/-, so looked good. I then cautiously put some power to it, and viola! The axis ran. Turns out I have the X & Z swapped, no big deal, there.

So the only thing I have left which by process of elimination must be causing the problem is the encoder wiring. From what you are saying, the 5V must be getting grounded by the encoder, and so not allowing the board to run when the encoders are plugged in.

Any suggestions on how to verify the circuits for the encoder? Is there a specific continuity, or other check I could run between the A, A', etc, or 5V & gnd?

Is it OK to plug them in and check them during operation? Or should I always power down, plug in and power up and see if the board does not light up? I certainly don't want to mess up the board!

Thanks a lot, pretty happy that I've got motion!

They should not be hot plugged, check/change with all power off

I would check the encoder power pins on the encoder cable
with an Ohmmeter to verify that you dont have a short from 5V to ground
and also check you encoder wiring carefully to make sure you dont have
power and ground reversed

The 5I20 has a ~1A PTC that will limit 5V power so if you have more than ~1A load the 5V will drop out. I think this is whats happening because something in your external wiring is drawing
too much current from the 7I29/5I20

I did a run-thru of the encoder pins and go figure the 0 & 5 V were switched. Swapped them out and the encoder is reading out!

The scale is way high, I assume I am supposed to use the encoder pulses/rev to set the scale, (besides leadscrew and gearing ratios)? According to the manual, the encoders put out 1025 pulses/revolution.

Does the PWM rate play into this at all? Should I make any adjustments there?

When I turn the axis during the Open loop test, I get readout on the encoder signal and velocity, but nothing on the other boxes PWM, etc - is this normal, what is the PWM/etc for, or does it even matter?

Thanks! I think I've made more progress today than in about 2 months!

4. Check your 90V power supply polarity, also verify that the 7I29 is hard wired to the filter capacitors of the 90V power supply (there can be no switches or connectors between the filter capacitors on the 90V supply and the 7I29)

Can you descirbe what kind of filter capacitors should be in this circuit? Right now I have a transformer taking 3 phase down to 90VDC, then 3 full wave bridge rectifiers (pulling between all 3 legs of the 3 phase) to transfer the AC to DC and feed the unit.

Is there some other capacitance I should have in the circuit?