Connecting the Motor

It is time to connect your encoder. Not the motor, just the encoder.

Wire up the A, B, GND as shown on the controller board. The output of the board is 5V. And it expects that the return signal is 5V or under. I have had to power up encoders with higher voltage and then step down the voltage on the signal to under 5V. It just takes some extra time. Having a 5V signal is best.

When the encoder is connected, turn on the controller.

Type in these commands to see the encoder signal

It will look something like this on your computer

Turn the motor shaft by hand and it should change, like this.

If it doesn't change, check the voltage to your encoder is good, and that you are getting a changing signal from your encoder. 24VAC setting on your meter, between terminals A and GND, or B and GND,

If got to here, write down the encoder number, then turn the motor on e revolution or as close as you can get. Write down the encoder number again. This is your pulses per revolution. Actually, it is 4 times your pulses per revolution. Divide that number by 4 and put into this setting

pulse-per-revolution=

SAVE

Now the controller knows how many pulses to expect each time the motor turns once.

This is your fourth milestone. The controller is putting out power signals.

If you have trouble getting any encoder signal, check the appendix for troubleshooting.

Turn off the controller

Time to check how your motor is wired.

At the motor, the 3 terminals should show about the same resistance from U to V, V to W and W to U. This is good.

There should be very high resistance between each of the terminals and the metal outside of the motor. This is good.

If the resistances are not about the same, or there is under 1000K ohms between a motor terminal and the metal outside the motor, do not connect this motor to your controller. It could damage the controller.

It is finally time to connect your motor to the output of the controller.

Connect U, V and W to your motor leads. If the motor leads are not labeled, choose which wires go where to make it easy to wire up, with no wires crossing if you can. Then label the motor wires.

When all is tight and you are ready to go, power up the controller

After the controller is powered up and ready, press the throttle a bit. The motor should hum or turn. It won't be smooth, but you should see or hear something.

If the controller faults, the motor may not be internally wired the way the controller expects it to be.

This is your fifth milestone. The controller does something with the motor connected.

If you have trouble getting any sound or motion from the motor, check the appendix for troubleshooting.

Turn off the controller