Compax3 Misc - ASCII Serial Communications (With Examples)

For ASCII serial control for the Compax3 I12T11, first set device assignment as M00:

Second in the drive configuration, set the I/O Assignment to Free. (If it is set to Fixed, the physical inputs and outputs control the I12T11.) With Free, the ControlWord can control the I12T11.

Sample .c3p file with this configuration can be modified for user units and motor:

C3_I12T11M00_serial_control_sample_file.zip

If the C3 is configured as I12T11M12, 24vdc must be wired in or 5117 Undervoltage - Additional I/O fault error will occur. (24vdc into x22/11, reference to x22/15. See help file - search 'x22' to find the Assignment of the x22 connector page.

The additional I/O can be used with serial control; set the drive configuration I/O assignment to Serial Control via RS232/RS485 to Yes. The I0...I3 inputs and O0...O3 outputs can be set as either fixed assignment or free (user controlled). The additional 12 points of I/O can be configured in groups of 4 (0-3, 4-7, 8-11) as either Inputs or Outputs. These are PNP transistor type.

For fixed assignment, these are listed in the help file (search 'x12' to find the Digital inputs/outputs (plug x12) page). O0 is No Error, O1 Position/speed/gear synchronization reached, O2 Power stage without current, O3 axis energized with setpoint of 0. I0 is a Quit (error acknowledgement) on the rising edge and Axis Enable. When I0 is disabled, it will decelerate the motor, hold current for the brake engage set time and then disable the amplifier. I1 is a No Stop (has to be turned on for motion). Jog+ and Jog- are I2 and I3.

With serial control, Control Word1 [1100.3] controls the C3 I12T11 and StatusWord1 [1000.3] gives C3 status.

Note there are two No Stop bits that must be asserted before motion can occur!

The Start (edge) bit13 scans the address bits and binary weights the address bits to start the moves in the Motion Profile table stored in the Compax3. The jog inputs are independent of the Address and Start bits and motion will occur immediately when the Jog bits are set and stopped when cleared.

Move0 is the homing move. If any of the Motion Profile moves are absolute moves, the absolute reference must be set first before commanding motion after powerup. If any absolute move is commanded after power-on without homing, the Start(edge) will trigger the Home move.

For any error, bit0 of Control Word1 (Quit rising edge / Energize the motor) must have a rising edge to acknowledge the error. Thus the Quit (rising edge) is an error acknowledgment in addition to energize the motor.

The Homing mode is set in the Drive Configuration and can be homing to a home sensor(Machine zero initiator x12/7 input), reference mark on encoder (or sine/cosine crossing if resolver), end-of travel limit sensor, hardstop (with configurable current/torque level). For absolute encoders, use Home Mode 35 which doesn't move the motor but reads the absolute encoder information as its home reference.

Statemachine for I12T11 from help file

You're not limited to only the ControlWord and StatusWord objects. Other objects can be sent and modified serially as well or read back, such as the motion profile table. Row1Column1 is 1901.1 Row1Column2 is 1902.1, etc

With the I12T11, the array table serves as the Motion Profile Table:

An example of how to connect and control the C3 I12T11 from MS-Excel with ActiveX and change the motion profiles and is contained in the following zip file as well as I12T11 Extended Positioning via RS232/RS485 PowerPoint training presentation and helpful reference pages from the C3 ServoManager online help for the State Diagram, ControlWord1, StatusWord1, and I/O Assignment for the x12 connector.

The I12T11 Extended Positioning via RS232/RS485 also shows how to connect via Hyperterminal. Serial connection could be used or WinSock connection with Compax3 I30 (EthernetPowerlink hardware) which supports TCP/IP connection with Port 44821. Note that with TCP/IP the hardware is I30 but the drive is configured as I12T11. The EthernetPowerlink isn't used for serial control; only as a communication port. For further details see FAQ:

TCP/IP via I30 EPL Hardware

Note for Windows10:

This uses the c3_com.ocx Locate this file in your program folder. Open a Run window as Administrator and then register. When this is successful the Compax3 icon will appear in the top right of the Excel tool. If it hasn't been registered, it's black and won't communicate.

Microsoft no longer include Hyperterminal with Windows after XP. For Win7 and Win10, free terminal programs can be used such as Putty.

I12T11_serial.zip

Here's also a free example showing VisualBasic 6 control of I12T11:

I12T11_RS232_VB.zip 17K I12T11 Visual Basic interface via RS232.

Xpress Examples:

5/8/12 jh

12/3/19 jh Added win10 notes