Phidgets & V2.0 with multiple servos & Encoders

[dmccommon]

I am running Flowstone 2.0.0 Pro version on subscription.

I am working on a project and I am using Phidgets 1019 8/8/8 + 1047 (4) encoder board + 1061 (8) Advanced servo controller. I can build a schematic passing joystick control through the 8/8/8 to the servo control and read back position from my encoder for one setup.

My problem is I have a 4 axis device to operate. I need to be able to run 4 versions of the 1061 servo contol module and 4 versions of the encoder module to cover all of the elements I am using. I have tried bringing them in and setting their ID# etc. but only the first setup works. The others are dead and if I mess with it too much the sysytem becomes unstable and Flowstone 2 crashs.

I may be missing something but I think I am doing it right? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[DSP]

Yes you are missing something:

You can control all 8 servos using just one FS PhServo module, you just have to dynamically change the Servo Input address, FlowStone is way faster then the Phidgets board so it can appear that you are controlling all 8 in real time.

The ID input is only if you have multiple 1061 boards.

The servos are addressed through the 'Servo' input (0-7), so if you set the servo input at 3 you will be controlling servo 4 etc.

Here is an example:

[dmccommon]

I'm still not sure I see this .. I am running a camera crane with 4 axis up/down on boom .. rotate on boom right /left on camera head ... up/down on camera head ...Running this with two joysticks .. everything moving at the same time .

I understand the indexing assignments for each servo selections .. I can get that one by one.

Are you talking about setting up an "on demand index control" to jump between the different servo loads and is it the same situation with reading the encoders back.

I thought you would be able to pull in 4 sevro modules and 4 encoder modules then set the different indexs 0-3 for each then they would run as separate units. That sounds much easier to me .. ?

[DSP]

I see what you are saying but it's just the way the Phidgets boards work. The good news is that it's not a big deal using the FlowStone trigger system.

Here are a couple of examples that should help you:

[dmccommon]

Ok ... Thanks!

I'll use these and see how it goes ..

[dmccommon]

Ok .. the encoder trigger module works great .. but I having stabilty issues with the servo trigger setup.

Because the joystick inputs are analog to the PH 8/8/8 the integer input at idle isn't stable .. it oscillates between two numbers making the trigger jump all over ... then the triggers making the motors run jerky and out of time.

Do you have any suggestions to stablize this issue.

Thanks in advance ...