MDC2250C Support, Power, and Updating

Good morning,

I have an MDC2250c that I inherited already partially wired to a chassis. Hopefully I'm asking these questions in the right place--I've searched and wasn't able to find what I needed.

--Support
I was not able to find documentation for my controller. Perhaps support ended? I did find the manual online in a couple places, so I'm probably set.

--Updating
I attempted to update the firmware to v1.3 but it wouldn't interact with my laptop in DFU mode. I'm connecting through USB, Win7 ult. Roborun is working well with drivers installed.

--Power
I'm powering this thing with Power Sonic 12V 18A batteries. My motors want 24V. Can I wire this thing up with batteries in parallel? Lemme know if you want a diagram to describe what I'm talking about.

I'm sorry for the noob questions, but I'm working with a STEM 501c3 and won't be able to afford another controller if I fry this one :)

Thanks for any help guys! Reverse engineering has been fun but I really don't want to break anything.

vlad

The MDC2250C is a legacy product, however it is still supported. The usermanual is still the same. The datasheet can be found in the link below under MDC2460 or MDC2230. The difference is the voltage, and the MDC2460 is just a higher efficiency controller.

dev.roboteq.com/dev1/index.php/support/documentation

When you try to upgrade the firmware through the usb for the first time, 1 of 2 things will happen. The computer will install the dfu drivers (or may ask you to do so), or it won't. If it doesn't install the drivers, then open up device manager and see if there is an icon that has a yellow icon next to it. You may need to pull the USB out and plug back in.

You want to wire up the batteries in series, not parallel. Putting them in series will allow you to combine the 2 sources as 1.
2 - 12V batteries in series = 24V.

Griffin Baker wrote: When you try to upgrade the firmware through the usb for the first time, 1 of 2 things will happen. The computer will install the dfu drivers (or may ask you to do so), or it won't. If it doesn't install the drivers, then open up device manager and see if there is an icon that has a yellow icon next to it. You may need to pull the USB out and plug back in.

You want to wire up the batteries in series, not parallel. Putting them in series will allow you to combine the 2 sources as 1.
2 - 12V batteries in series = 24V.

Thanks for the info! I've been referring to the MDC2230 as I figured it was very close.

Yes, series--brain skipped a beat.
I meant to ask: Can I wire the two motor VMot pins in parallel with the batteries wired in series? I've looked over the power management circuit and it looked like should accept it just fine (to me).
I had some students help me with that earlier post, and...yep :)
Thanks for the help!

You wire the motors on M1 + and - and M2 + and -. They are already connected on the vmot line in circuit.

Sorry, my pc restarted on its' own a little bit ago and looks to be setting up something. Maybe force upgrading to windows 8.1.

Thanks for the help so far!

Learned that the Vmot tabs are common, which I was not expecting for some reason.

In DFU mode, Windows is happy with drivers and communicating, but the DFU Updater program has issues on my Win7 machine as well as my XP machine. I'll edit/update with specific issues later.

Other than that, I'm having trouble with a specific motor not running at all. Is there a somewhere I can read about troubleshooting these things? I know this is simple stuff but it's not responding at all, with or without position sensor hooked up, closed/open loop....

In the run tab there are status led's that will monitor a fault flag. If you use the slider, and move it, does anything trigger a fault status flag?

DFU mode seems to have stopped working on pc's for some reason due to windows updates. You can try using the one in the link below.

dev.roboteq.com/dev1/index.php/forum/11-...-has-stopped-working