E-Stop function does not work as expected

General discussion of using Roboclaw motor controllers
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stef308
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:40 am
E-Stop function does not work as expected

Post by stef308 »

Hello,

I have updated my Roboclaws today with the new firmware 4.2.1.
Now I have tested the E-Stop function on S3 (with my Roboclaw 2x60A), but when it is pulled low during the motors turn, one of the motors will go full speed and is out of control until i reset the Roboclaw or power it off and on again. Sometimes it works good (almost with low speed) and most of the time one of the motor will turn full speed after the E-Stop.
On pin S4 and S5 the E-Stop function does not work for some reason.
What is going wrong with it?

What I have noticed, when the motors turn in one direction, it makes some "click" noise at the beginning. The other direction it does not have this noise. Also when I turn the motors in the direction it makes this "click" sound, one of the motors will turn with full speed after the E-Stop is activated. In the other direction it seems to work.
FeetMotor_V3.1.PNG
FeetMotor_V3.1.PNG (93.93 KiB) Viewed 6122 times
Best regards

Stef
Last edited by stef308 on Sat Jun 11, 2022 10:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
stef308
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:40 am
Re: E-Stop function does not work as expected

Post by stef308 »

After testing a bit, when the motors both turn at the left side in mix mode, the E-Stop works perfectly. When the motors turn to the right, forward or backward in mix mode the E-Stop will set one motor at full speed and stops it when the Roboclaw E-Stop pin is HIGH again. That is for sure an issue. How it was with the firmware version 4.1.34 I can not say. Back to this version I can not go for some reason for testing it out. Please help with that problem.
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Basicmicro Support
Posts: 1594
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:45 pm
Re: E-Stop function does not work as expected

Post by Basicmicro Support »

I will be looking at this asap.

Until then I recommend changing from the Mixed Mode Compatibility commands to using the MixedDuty or M1Duty and M2Duty individual motor commands instead. I suspect this has something to do with the internal variable used to keep track of L/R and F/B power when using the mixed compatibility commands.
stef308
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:40 am
Re: E-Stop function does not work as expected

Post by stef308 »

Where can I find the MixedDuty commands in the manual? Or what command I have to send instead of 8/9 and 10/11?

But it would be great if you could solve that. I need the mixed commands for my robot.

Edit:
I have found it I think. It is the command 32/33 for motor 1 and motor 2 with the values from -32767 to +32767. I have to try if that works for me, but makes things more complicated...
stef308
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:40 am
Re: E-Stop function does not work as expected

Post by stef308 »

I have tested now the normal motor commands M1 (0 and 1) and M2 (4 and 5) and also the duty cycle commands M1Duty and M2Duty (32 and 33). Exactly the same problem as with the mixed commands. The E-Stop turns one motor at full speed after setting pin S3 LOW.

I will try to install the legacy version and test it again. If it works there, the new update has a fault I think. I will post the results when I have tested it!
stef308
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:40 am
Re: E-Stop function does not work as expected

Post by stef308 »

After testing it and does not found a solution or any updates from Basic Micro, I have built my own E-stop circuit with some transistors. Now my system will shut down if my microcontroller sends a LOW signal. After power on again and the fault is repaired, the system is working again. The other way it does not turns on if the fault is not solved.

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