Compax3 Communication with Labview

[jfc212]

Hello,

I recently purchased a Compax3 S150 V2 F12 I11 T11 M00 to use for controlling an MPJ motor from Parker. I have configured it and gotten my motor to turn and even ran some of the parts of a motion profile via the simulator in the Optimzation screen.

My goal is to control the motor via labview through RS232 but on Parker's website it says that for the I11 T11, "control is via the onboard inputs & outputs only. It cannot be controlled via serial communication." (link) The sales engineer from the company we purchased it from also told me that it would not be possible.

In the previous/older thread on this I saw mention that someone re-configured theirs to be an I11 T11 and managed to control it via serial through labview with work object codes (link). 

Even though mine is an I11 T11 I was able to click the options and re-configure it as an I12 T11 but I'm not sure if this will enable the use of these serial commands. Overall I'm a bit confused! Any clarification would be greatly appreciated. I'm confident once I know what I can do that previous threads have enough info to help me through getting some labview vi's running it. If not I'll continue to bug the fine people of the NI Forums.

Thanks,

John

[ChrisStrykesAgain]

jfc212,

I have looked over the documentation and want to make sure I understand the intended operation of this device correctly. Do you program the motion profiles and setpoints in properietary software? Do you then control the movements via digital input lines?

If the above is correct, you could use a digital output card to drive the device. I can't speak to serial implementation, however, beyond what is stated in the manual. Hopefully someone from the community who has more experience with this drive can chime in on that subject.

[Highland_Controls]

I believe that Parker is correct.  You must use digital I/O to control, but that doesn't mean you can't change parameters in the move table(and elsewhere) from serial comms.

[jfc212]

Apologies for the delay in reply.

I can understand using a digital output module to control the motor via the motion profile entries but I am confused as to how you would change the entries in a given configuration/motion profile via RS232. I have very little experience in digital I/Os and digital/analog communication in general.

Is there a spot in the manual that refers to serial commands I can send my I11 T11 that will change the motion profile entries? Would it then be pretty similar to controlling the entire thing via RS232 except I have the I/O module executing the motions?

[ChrisStrykesAgain]

Browsing through the manual, I don't remember seeing anything that explcitely broke down the serial command set, but I could be wrong.

If you are locked in to this hardware, your best bet might be to use a port sniffer (potentially I/O Trace, but I'm not sure if it will play nicely with 3rd party hardware). You would then need to manually parse what's going on. At that point you would likely need to make VISA calls emulating the same commands.

[Highland_Controls]

Look through posts here about the comms to the C3.  It is fairly straightforward.  You need to read and write the objects.  Each parameter has an object number.  Only thing to watch out for is scaling.