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Do you have the HT200 plasma?
It should have a divider, so try to find the service manual for it, Hypertherm had those always available on their website, but not anymore, now they want money for documents, but still not much, so at least they are not greedy.
Have you looked inside the HT200?
Get the THCAD5 if available, with added resistors it works with any divider or raw voltage.

Hey Tom good day to you, my names Tom as well BTW
(theres never enough Toms on the job! haha)
So THCAD5 would be for a divider board with a 0-5v range and thc10 would be for a divider board with a 0-10v range correct? So I will need to see what the voltage output of the divider board on my hypertherm is if there is one or purchase a divider board and wire it up to the raw arc voltage correct? I apologize for bugging you guys with so many questions but I really don't want to order the wrong components so it is very much appreciated.

The mode can be automatically selected based on voltage sensed. You know at startup its not cutting, start in hypersensing mode but if the voltage exceeds 24 volts, calibrate to THC range and stay there until it falls to say < 5 volts, go back to hypersensing mode.

Yes will need 2 factors one for the arc voltage and one for the Hypersensing, also the QtplasmaC need to change from THC to Hypersensing Mode.
 

I don't think the contractor is required as the hypersensing circuit is impervious to high voltage.
Currently when the voltage exceeds 24 volts, the component is seeing an arc voltage and it never breaks now. The thcad always sees a bit past the full scale and the 390k resistor sets full scale to 23.5 volts anyway.

So what if you mux the  THCAD calibration instead? once it is > 24 volts, recalibrate it to be fullscale 200 or 300 volts?

PhillC54.
This is an interesting aproach, basically we are muxing the THCAD input, may be some processing power can be saved using only one encoder.
I re-draw your schematic just to make it more readable, I think this will require some changes to PlasmaC componet.
 

What resistor value would you use between positive of the isolated power supply and the positive input of the THCAD ?

Get the Mesa 7i85, without the S.
And THCAD5 or 10 and 2 of 1MOhm/2W resistors, it is most probably a HF/HV pilot start plasma, and 300 is not recomended for those, although i am sure it works, i have several of those in daily use.
For power supplies, 5V and 24V, both at 5A should do just fine, MeanWell or Delta preferably.

Okay so im putting together a parts list to get started with this build. I put power to the driver box, tripped the contactor with a screw driver and a green light comes on the power board and fan runs. im not sure what else I could do to test it besides connecting the burny 10 back up.
So far in my parts list I have

7I83 Analog output/ analog servo interface
7I85S 4 Channel encoder, 8 differential output 1 channel Serial RS-422 interface
THCAD-300 High isolation A-D accessory (Go to replacement: THCAD2)
7I96S STEP/IO Step & dir plus I/O card

I am going to assume that I can hook straight up to the raw arc voltage of the hypertherm ht2000 with the thcad-300. Is there any advantage to a voltage divider board other then the potential risk of electrical shock? Will I need a power supply to go along with these boards? do you have any recommendations for a reliable one on my previous build I used a cheapo china one and the fan stopped working a while ago.

Hey everyone.

I'm documenting my journey to control a CHC-200F (Capacitive Height Controller) as a Torch Height Controller.

CHC-200F is superior to CHC-200E as the "F" has faster processing and also provides a probe output signal.

These systems are made for use with a DC motor in the torch : which LCNC doesnt.

They communicate to the motor with a PWM signal, which overrides the controller's PWM to provide a height correction.

 

The PWM signal provided is 10V with 9 to 18 KHZ frequency. Which can be read by either the Mesa Encoder input with the proper voltage scaling.

Unlike the arc voltage, which the THCAD converts into an encoder signal, the PWM signal will have a polarity so it will have scaled and offsetted..
It will also have a different "meaning" as the encoder in the THCAD, so it will have to be 'read' in a different way.

Has anyone used mesa systems to read PWM?

Is it more suitable to read it with a THCAD?

PS: Im guessing I could also use the polarity of PWM signal to generate two inputs: Move Torch Up & Move Torch Down, and use QTPLASMAC in Mode 2 (Up/down signals). But this wouldn't provide such a fast thc response as the "arc voltage" does.

This post will be advanced as more progress is made.
 

Yes, across the THCAD input side.

I would put at least two of those 5K resistors in parallel, in parallel with the input of THCAD.

Same subject has been answered on 2 other topics with similar tittle.

No need for all that, just add a resistor to THCAD input to raise the required current for triggering.
What voltage is ohmic using?

So your recommending the mesa 7i96s a 7i85 and a 7i83 and THCAD and I could use the stock motors see if they work with this combonation of cards then upgrade down the line if I decide I want better performance. Would this combo of cards support large servo motors and offer great motion control? I included a photo below of the rails turns out I actually have enough to make a 50 foot long cnc. I don't think I will ever need to cut 10 sheets In one go but i was thinking of making 25 foot a water table and keep the other 25 foot to plasma cut beams and maybe a large rotory axis. May aswell set it up am I right?