Hello Guys I started a ceiling projector project, where I have a 2 Nema 11 motors and 2 MB6600 controler and an Arduino, I couldn’t get the coding right to motors raise up and down, so I decided to use Tik step board, so I just got mine yesterday and I would like to know if any one could guide me to get this done. So what I understand I will eliminate the arduino and both MB6600 controller, so Should I wire in Parallel A+ A- B+ B- , feed the board with my 24v power supply and do the setup with usb laptop? here is some pictures from my project
From the email you sent, it sounds like you were able to get the motors connected and moving already, and you want to now set up a switch as an input to control the stepper motors. Before getting to that, if you have not done so already, I recommend following the steps in the “Configuring and testing the stepper motor” section of the Tic user’s guide. That will guide you through setting the current limit to a safe value and configuring the movement parameters for your motors (such as the microstepping mode, speed, and acceleration). Please note that it might be helpful to mechanically decouple your stepper motors from the rest of your system while you’re doing this so they do not run into a physical limit.
It sounds like you want to use a switch that essentially controls whether your projector is in the “up” or “down” position. There are a couple ways you could go about doing that.
One option would be to configure the Tic for analog position control, so your switch would be setting the target position for the stepper motors directly. However, please note that this would be relative to where the motors are when the system is turned on, so if you configured to start with the motors in the “up” position, you would need to make sure the system is in that position before powering up every time. Alternatively, you could add a homing switch and have the Tic automatically home to that switch when it is powered up.
The other option would be to use the Tic in analog speed control mode and use limit switches at either end of the movement to set the stopping points. In this setup, the input would set the motor speed (and direction) rather than a certain position, and the motors would just keep spinning in the specified direction until the corresponding limit switch is triggered.
In either of those cases, your switch would be connected to the Tic’s SDA/AN pin. I recommend setting the configuration for the “SDA/AN” pin to “User input” in the “Advanced settings” tab, and enabling the “Pull-up” and “Analog” options. Then you can connect your switch between SDA/AN and GND.
If you need more guidance on configuring the Tic for your application, you can let me know which approach you want to take, and I’d be happy to help.
Hey Brandon Yes I got your email, I will try to work on yhe switch tonight, I will also do the fine tuning to make sure the voltage settings is right, very excited to hang on the ceiling but I need setup that switch first.
It looks like you’re driving it to a position that’s beyond the physical limit of your system. The “Target position” is set to 32430 and the “Current position” when it hits the top of your setup is reporting closer to 29500.
By the way, it looks like you’re using a momentary pushbutton; if you want it to stay in the up or down position, you might consider using a switch.
Hey Brandon Thanks for the info I was able to get it working properly now my swtich momentary was just a temp for testing I am doing a dried switch for Apple home kit so I can integrate my
home automation, now it operates on the decent noise and stops where I need it to, only issue I am facing now motors are very hot in idle is anything we can do I am afraid of burn it
It is normal for stepper motors and stepper motor drivers to get very hot when operating. As long as the current limit is set less than or equal to the motor’s rated current per phase, it should be fine. It looks like you have the current limit set to just over 3A, so if your stepper motors are rated for less than this, you should lower it. You could try reducing the current limit below the motor’s rating so it will run cooler, but please note that can impact the speed and torque that the motor can achieve.
Hey Brandon Thanks for the info, yes I setup to 3a because it had power enough to go up and down, they are 2 motors in parallel they dong go hot when they operated, since is a screen projector it will work very fews time, it actually overheats when is in idle, on both positions either up or down, when is disconnected from the power and I turn it up or down once it doesn’t get hot but if I leave it energized it get very hot like 100
degrees.
Can you post a link to the specs for your stepper motors? If they’re overheating, then you are probably running them beyond what they are rated for. Are you saying you need to do this in order to get them to work for your application?
The listing shows that those stepper motors are rated for 0.5A, so running them at 3A would be pushing them well above their intended operating point and could damage them.
Even with your stepper motors are wired in series, you should set the current limit to 500mA or lower. When in series, the voltage is essentially split between the two and the same current passed through both.
If you find that 500mA does not get you enough torque or power from the motors, the best solution is to find some different motors that are more appropriate (and probably rated for a higher current).
I got it and agreed with you 100% , however my issue is clearance inside the ceiling, the idea is have the projector hidden inside the ceiling and thoses were
the only motors I founded that fits inside the ceiling joist under 10", I have not problem getting something more powerful, but if use a bigger motor the linear track wont fit, like I said if doesn’t overheat at first cycle even up and down, I wont be working everyday 24/7 it probably will be just when I use the home teather, so it will last but overheating in stand by is not good , so if there is not a option on the Tic board to turn it off I will think in a dry relay solution if I drop to under 2 it will fail and wont do its job I had to set at 3 in order to get it open and down, I will try to finder another motors but I doubt
Unfortunately, the Tic 36V4 does not have a way to dynamically reduce the current limit when the motor is idle while using it in analog position control mode.
However, you could use a separate microcontroller, such as your Arduino, to process your switch input and control the Tic in that way through its TTL serial or I2C interface. You can use our Tic Stepper Motor Controller library for Arduino to make the programming easier. The command timeout feature can be configured to automatically lower the current limit when the Tic hasn’t received a serial or I2C command for some amount of time (the default is 1 second). Alternatively, you could have it de-energize the stepper motor completely if you’re keeping track of the position in your Arduino code (and assuming they do not need to be energized to hold the load on the actuators). You can configure how long the command timeout feature takes in the “Input and motor settings” tab of the Tic Control Center, and configure what happens during a command timeout error by modifying the soft error response in the “Advanced settings” tab.
If you try switching to this kind of setup and have problems getting it to work, I would be happy to help further.
Hey Brandon How are you? Yes I will need some help if you can help me, I did tried add a z wave to cut the power of tic board but when I turn it back on the Tic forgot last state position and make an annoying noise when turn it back on, also it takes almost a minute in order to be ready to operate.
So How I do I connnect the tik board to the arduino?what wire I neee to connect both together or cable?
I have zero knowledge of coding, but I can upload the code easy on the arduino I am assuming there is not a lot coding. if you can hep me out I will really appreciate
There are some instructions making connections between the Tic and Arduino and downloading the library on the library’s github page. Either the I2C position control or serial position control examples (depending on what communication method you use, I would recommend I2C if you are unsure) seem like they best place to start. Both of those examples reset the command time out in their loop, but as Brandon mentioned, you could leave that code out and change the command timeout behavior in the Tic settings to lower the motor current.
Writing the rest of the Arduino program that reads the input from your projector and decides when to lower or raise will not be trivial, but the button example in the digital section of the Arduino’s built-in examples could help you get started.
Hey Guys Thanks for all the answers, I had to put this project in Hold for a couple days since I was working on my regular job and got very busy and now I am trying to get back with this project again, so I put a z-wave switch that cuts the power from the Tik board so the motors doesn’t overheat, I added as automation on my Home Automation system is working “pretty good” however I noticed that the tiktok board once is powered off looks like is forgets the last status (position) and looks like has a boot of little over a minute to start working again so my on off switch will start responding after a minute , so I had to add this delay to the automation but still wierd when I turn the automation on it does the grinding noise because it wants go up but it’s already in there, So I was thinking keep the tik board on and put that relay on the wires that feeds the nema11 motors , so I can add to the automation to turn on 2 second before and turn off 2 seconds after, my question is does it affect on the last position stored on the board? will it work? relays are pretty cheap even multi channel one. it’s almost there working like 70% but still not the way I really want.I really dont want deal wirh arduino looks so complicated to me.
Just to avoid confusion, please note that your stepper motor controller is called the Tic, not the “Tik” or “tiktok”.
I strongly recommend that you do not use relays (or any other method) to disconnect your stepper motor leads while it is energized since that can damage the Tic.
The Tic does not have any way to save the last position it was in through power cycles.
It is difficult to follow everything going on with your current system, but keep in mind that the Tic should essentially start up as soon as it is powered, so if your system is taking over a minute to boot up, that is probably a result of how some other component is behaving.