Hi! One of the motors in our Amiga robot turns red on the dashboard. We are sure that the motor is working since we operated the robot before. CAN bus problem is ruled out since the dashboard did not prompt a CAN bus issue. We suspect that it could be related to the ESTOP system. We are running out of idea about this problem and hopefully, you guys here can help us sort this problem out. Thanks! - Van
Hi @vanzky102 ,
Thank you for the screenshot with the error codes, this is very helpful in debugging!
You are correct that it is likely not an issue with the CAN bus as the dashboard did not indicate an issue with the full bus. Additional indication of this is that the other motor controllers and the pendant are healthy, indicating the issue is isolated to this wheel hub. Another way to check the health of the full CAN bus is the CAN health metrics on the right side of the second screen tab.
The motor 12 motor controller is reporting an error with the Hall effect sensor. This indicates the issue is isolated to that motor / motor controller and is likely not an issue with the full system or the ESTOP system.
Could you please provide the firmware version running on the dashboard (found on the ID page of the settings tab)?
Could you also please provide additional information on:
- Does pressing → releasing the physical estop clear this error?
- Does power cycling the full robot (disconnect all batteries → reconnect) clear this issue?
- How the Amiga was being operated leading up to this error?
- Any odd behaviors experienced leading up to this?
- Do the error codes for motor 12 change or does it always settle to the values in your picture above?
- Any intermittent errors popping up prior to this persistent error?
- Any particularly heavy loads?
- Any added components to the system?
- Anything else you think may be relevant?
Additionally (depending on how up to date your dashboard firmware is), you should have a setting in the settings list called m12_on. By setting this to false, pressing & releasing the physical estop, you can continue to operate your amiga with three wheels and the faulting motor will spin freely while the other three drive. Not ideal for heavy use, but depending on your goals/usage this may allow you continue your work with the Amiga. You could also disable motor 13 for a real wheel drive only configuration. If you don’t have these settings available, I’d recommend updating to the latest firmware release as documented at:
Looking forward to hearing back from you with more information so we can get to the bottom of this.
– Kyle
Hi Kyle!
Thank you for the quick response. The dashboard firmware version is v0.1.7. As for the questions:
- Does pressing → releasing the physical estop clear this error? - no
- Does power cycling the full robot (disconnect all batteries → reconnect) clear this issue? - no
- How the Amiga was being operated leading up to this error? - the Amiga was on standby for 4 months without battery connected
- Any odd behaviors experienced leading up to this? - when we power up the Amiga, Motor 12 was in red and we cannot control it
- Do the error codes for motor 12 change or does it always settle to the values in your picture above? the error code changes from 12 to 13 then back, the rest of the values are the same
- Any intermittent errors popping up prior to this persistent error? - no
- Any particularly heavy loads? - we have not moved the robot with the load on it due to this error
- Any added components to the system? - no
- Anything else you think may be relevant? - there was just one time that Motor 12 turned green, then it turned red again
As for your suggestion to update the firmware and disabling a motor is not possible in our application and we are afraid that running it with three motors might put more stress on the active motors. Nathan sent us a replacement can bus controller (letter C) since he suggested that it might be the cause of the issue. However, upon replacing the controller, it still has the same problem.
Hoping you can help me find a solution to this problem. I’m under a lot of pressure to fix this problem. Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Van
Hello @vanzky102 ,
Thank you for the thorough response. This is helpful information, especially that you already tried replacing the motor controller!
After some discussion with @TravisT, a helpful bit of information would be an up close / clear photo of the white connector going into the bottom of the motor controller (or even a couple such photos).
You can also try manually rolling the amiga with the estop depressed and then releasing it. This may return the hall effect sensor to a better position (unlikely cause of the issue, but easy to test).
Typically we would recommend that you can try reseating the white connector into the bottom of the motor controller, as well as the black cable that goes to the actual motor. These would’ve been done when you replaced the motor controller.
– Kyle
Hello
There is silicone and dielectric grease to help manage corrosion. sometimes the grease does not clear enough on the contacts. Sometimes unplugging and plugging in the white connecters 2-5 times clears the grease and provides a reliable enough contact to get operating again.
It is possible that there is a wire on that harness that is having a quality issue. It is also possible that the hall sensor in the motor failed. But before we consider that please try reseating the connectors.
The motor controllers are communicating and displaying the errors so it is powered and communicating over CAN.
Hi Travis and Kyle,
Van and I managed to make all the motors green and were able to move the robot without any errors. We did what you guys suggested about moving the robot with the estop depress and then releasing it back. We checked the connectors particularly the connectors to the motor from the motor controller. We adjusted the position of the connector and pushed the connector hard to make sure full contact. But we are not still sure about the cause of the problem and whether what we did solved the problem. We are glad it is working now and we will continue to observe the robot and will get to you if anything comes up. Thank you very much for your help.
Thank you for the update @Mohd_Fazly_Mail and please keep us in the loop with observations if this behavior repeats, even intermittently.
– Kyle