Improvements for the manual

Alright i started studying the manual and will write down the issues i encounter in this thread. I do this for improvement of the manual , anybody feel free to correct me, english is not my first language so that might cause issues as well. I will extend this post when i encounter new problems with the manual.

1- I'm trying to learn how closed loop position mode works, first the manual sent me to page 20 which is wrong, i had to go to page 139 so the links is wrong.

2- page 140: While in Open Loop, enable the Speed channel in the Roborun Chart recorder. Move the
slider in the positive direction and verify that the measured speed polarity is also positive.
If a negative speed is reported, swap the two encoder wires to change the measured polarity,
or swap the motor leads to make the motor spin in the opposite direction.
---- I use brushless motors with hall-sensors...you can't change the wires of hallsensors or the motors won't work properly anymore. Changing the motorleads is also no option. Instead there should be a minus-sign used for the number of poles to change the readings, right?

3- Preparing and switching to closed loop:
- there is no info at all how to setup the hallsensors for counting so i won't change the settings for min.limit and max.limit. Would be nice to read about it before testing it out on the road.

- sinusoidal settings, can my brushless hubmotors with hallsensors use that function? I can select the hallsensors there but have no idea what it all is since there is NO info about it in the manual.
-sensorless settings, no idea if my controller can use that since there is no info about it in this manual.

Each of the topics you say has no information in the manual IS in the manual, so I wonder whether you have the current version - it is V 1.8, August 28, 2017. Sometimes information about a given topic is spread in more than one place in the manual - there may be an introductory description, and more than one implementation description for doing something in different setups. It can be very useful to use the search tool to find all of them.

Sinusoidal commutation is only available on some controllers (check the specs for your controller) and there is a long write up about it in the manual as well as about Field Oriented Control which depends on sinusoidal commutation. Although it can be done with just Hall sensors, the one situation it's particularly useful, that is at low RPM, will not work well doing it that way. You really need an encoder or resolver.

Whether your controller can run sensorless is something that you'll find in the data sheet for your controller. Given that your motors do have Hall sensors, there's no reason to use sensorless control in any case.

thanks LRobbins, i use the manual online (latest) but since the roboteq website often isn't available lately (slow connection between asia-usa) i just downloaded it. But i still don't see the search function....how can i use that?

I even don't know which pdf-viewer i use...the file looks exactly the same as the online manual...

I'm back on the programming now and will update this thread if i find faults in the manual...i also use the latest firmware now and since i have it my robot doesn't drive that well anymore in closed loop speed position. Will try one more day or go back to the old versions.

I have PID-issues now, speed is not constant and it overshoots the endposition. I use the same settings as with firmware1.7 and that drove perfect.

The search function is not part of the manual, but is something that should be available in your pdf reader. Usually, it will be (from the menus) Edit/Find or (by shortcut keys) CTRL-F. I am using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC which can be downloaded for free.

i see, i boycot adobe and use another program to read it...guess thats why i don't have the search function. Never mind, it works.

Adobe gave me so much problems in the past, will never use anything from them again. I also don't understand why roboteq zips all their files, that gave me a lot of problems again today to unzip it with corel winzip...i have fibre-internet, no need to zip anything, it's so fast.

The manual is terrible. Most of the in-manual pointers (see pgXXX) are wrong. And this gem: The watchdog will only detect the loss of real-time commands that start
with “!†. The write-up for those of us trying to communicate via serial is nearly non-existent. To try to point to all the errata of the manual in this thread is a fools errand. Someone needs to spend some time to fix it.

And this gem: The watchdog will only detect the loss of real-time commands that start
with “!â€

Hmm, looks like a formatting error. That should just be an exclamation point (!) to denote runtime commands.

I will have it fixed. For now I recommend taking a look at SECTION 14: Serial (RS232/USB) Operation, which gives a rather complete guide to serial communication with our products.

If there is anything you need help with specifically, let me know and I will provide whatever assistance I can.