disabling automatic reference search when using incremental encoder only

Hi all,

I'd like to only use an incremental encoder as feedback in my application, and I've seen in the manual (ref Roboteq Controllers User Manual v2.0, pg 107) that when using only incremental encoder for feedback it's required to do a reference search on every power up. It says that the reference search is automatically performed at power up. However, in my application (a mobile robot), ideally what I'd like is for it not to be performed automatically, but rather triggered manually at the same time as when the first move of the robot is commanded. That way, rather than the robot moving a little bit on its own the first time power is applied, it could be relatively seamlessly incorporated into the first move, pretty much masked from the user. I see that the search can be forced manually, but it doesn't say anything about disabling the automatic search, so I'm wondering if this is possible to achieve.

Another question I have is regarding the automatic reference search with respect to STO. I'm using the SBL23xx series controller with STO, and am planning on using the STO functionality. If I wait until the first move is commanded to enable the STO, and the automatic reference search isn't performed unless the STO is enabled, then perhaps this is a way to achieve my desired behavior?

Edit: Another thing that I forgot to mention was that ideally the direction of the reference search could also be chosen to match the commanded move direction.