T249 how to program the motor to loop between two limit switches

Support Motor controllers/drivers and motors
1

Hi,
I’m wondering if there is a way to configure the T249 so that the motor will go forward until it hits the forward limit switch and then immediately go in reverse until it hits the reverse limit switch, and continue this motion back and forth. I also need this to run standalone without a laptop connected. Any help is appreciated!

Justin

2

Hello, Justin.

There is no option to configure or program the Tic directly to behave autonomously like that.

You might be able to set something like that up using the analog input on the Tic T249 and some additional circuity (e.g. something like an SR latch) to toggle the voltage between 0V and 5V when each limit switch is pressed.

Alternatively, you might consider using a separate microcontroller, such as our Arduino-compatible A-Star 32U4 Micro or one of our other A-Star programable controllers to control the Tic how you want through the I2C or TTL serial interface.

Brandon

3

You might be able to set something like that up using the analog input on the Tic T249 and some additional circuity (e.g. something like an SR latch) to toggle the voltage between 0V and 5V when each limit switch is pressed.

Brandon,
Thanks for the reply - I’m exploring this path. I have an SR latch circuit that will set and reset a signal based on the limit switch inputs. How do I configure the Tic to use that input to reverse the motor direction?

4

Sorry for the delayed response. You can find information about setting the Tic up for that kind of application in the “Setting up analog speed control” section of the Tic user’s guide. Essentially, once you have gone through the process in the “Configuring and testing the stepper motor” section, you can adjust the input and target values for the analog scaling so that your signal sets the target to the desired speed in each direction.

If you have problems configuring it to give you the behavior you want, you can post a copy of your Tic settings file and a description of what it is doing incorrectly, and I would be happy to take a look. You can save a copy of your settings file from the “File” drop-down menu of the Tic Control Center while the controller is connected.

Brandon