Connecting and controlling Omron Smartstep wiht labview

[JAlmeida]

Hi there,

I want to control an omron smartstep drive with a LabviewVI, i already tried communicating by VISA protocols but it only yielded either inactivity or errors, has anyone tried to control something like this? and if someone has can you give me some pointers?

Best regards

Jorge

[kbbersch]

Looking at the manual online it looks like the only thing you can do with a computer connection is set parameters.  The position functions are controlled with a pulse train, one pulse for each step.  I didn't see any way to control position directly with the computer interface.  If this is true you'll need some hardware that LabVIEW can control that will output the correct pulses.

[JAlmeida]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

You´re saying that we can only read information from the drive, while we have to have an extra controller that labview can control to control the motor with pulse trains?

Best Regards

[kbbersch]

When all else fails, read the manual.  It appeared to me that the computer connection (CN3) is just for setting and reading parameters.  There is a reference to attaching the computer to CN1 but I'm not clear on what you can do with that, although that is where the position controller attaches.  In my quick perusal I didn't see any explanation of that.

This unit is made to accept the input pulse train that would go to a stepper motor and use that to position a servo motor.  You may be able to use an input at CN1 to drive the servo position as well but how is not obvious.  Contact Omron.

[JAlmeida]

Thanks for your input on the subject, i'll see what can be done tacking into acount your explanation.

Best regards

Jorge