Peter Norberg Consulting, Inc.

 BC4E15PotRouter Firmware
 

 

 

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The BC4E15PotRouter firmware is designed to allow the BC4E15 controller to operate four stepper motors independently of each other, and to "daisy chain" controllers to allow multiple controllers to be operated off of one serial port.   It permits use of a single potentiometer (user provided, according to the desired top speed of the motors) to uses a rate control for the motors.

The following table summarizes the currently released BC4E15 bipolar stepper motor control product key capabilities.    You will first want to review the calculating motor current faq in order to determine the current requirements for your motor.

Product Bipolar Current/Winding with 4 motors Motor Voltages
BC4E15 x 0.2-1.5 Amp up to 34
 

The BC4E15PotRouter key capabilities may be summarized as follows:

bulletUp to four stepper motors may be independently controlled at one time.
bulletA single potentiometer (user provided) may be used to control the stepping rates of the motors.
bulletLimit switches may be used to automatically request motion stop of any motor in either direction.
bulletRates of 1 to 32,000 microsteps per second are supported.
bulletStep rates are changed by linearly ramping the rates; the rate of change is independently programmed for each motor, and can be from 1 to 32,000 microsteps per second per second.
bulletAll motor coordinates and rates are expressed in programmable microstep units of 1/16 to one full step.  Once the base step size is selected, changing stepping modes between half, full and micro does not change any other value other than which winding pairs may be driven at the same time. Each motor may have its own microstep size.
bulletMotor coordinates are maintained as 32 bit signed values, and thus have a range of –2,147,483,647 through +2,147,483,647.
bulletBoth GoTo and Slew actions are fully supported.
bulletA TTL "busy" signal is available, which can be used to see if the motors are still moving. Note that this information is also available from the serial communications subsystem.
bulletSimple control of the motors may be done by switch closure: i.e., each motor can be told to slew left or right, or to stop by simply grounding some input lines. Similarly, the rate of motion can be controlled via a user-provided potentiometer.
bulletComplete control of the motors, including total monitoring of current conditions, is available through the TTL-serial connection.   USB communications are built into the board; use of the RS232ToTTL conversion board allows RS232 control.
bulletYou have full control over the current which is sent to the windings, both when the motors are in motion and when they are idle.
bulletCan run off of a single user-provided 7.5 to 15 volt DC power supply.   The board may also be configured using a split supply, wherein the motors run off of a separate DC power supplies (6 to 34 volt), while the logic circuit runs off of either a 5 volt DC supply or a 6.5 to 15 volt DC supply.
bulletTheoretically, an unlimited number of boards can be controlled via one serial line.  The firmware is also compatible with the most commonly used mode of the SerRoute product.

Click Here for the full PDF manual for the BC4E15 series of products with the BC4E15PotRouter firmware.

Hint: If you want to save your own copy of the manual, right click on the appropriate link (above), and then select the 'Save Target As...' option which appears. Tell the system where to save the manual, and then you will be able to browse it at your leisure.

Click here if you need to download the current version Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe's site.

 

 

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