Controlling myrio with delta asda-a2 ac servo motor driver

[constructionworker]

I can connect the ac servo driver to its ASDA soft software via usb, but there is no example in labview that can do this. I am trying to control it via CN1, but I cannot trigger the servo on/off command with the digital pin. I need some help on this. Does anyone have experience with this?

Every opinion given is worthy of respect.

[Bob_Schor]

You have a third-party motor (Delta ASDA-A2, model unknown) and vendor-provided software (again, no information on this).  It is unclear how (or why?) you want to use this software to control a myRIO -- I could understand using myRIO to "control" the Servo motor, perhaps through the ASDA soft (??) software, but, again, there are no specifics.

And what is "CN1"?

Bob Schor

[constructionworker]

Let me explain a little more. I currently have a Delta ASDA-A2-1521-M servo drive.
the driver can be connected to the program via ASDA_SOFT v5 usb.
-Labview does not have a sample application to talk to delta servo drives. At least I couldn't find it even though I searched.
-I am trying to trigger the servo on-off command from the CN1 port of the driver because I can't find how to communicate directly via USB.

If anyone can find a suggestion for communication over usb, it would be better, but if there is no sample application for communication over usb, it would be better to have an idea how to connect only the CN1 port to myrio.
I want to turn DI (DI1-DI8) pins on and off via myrio.

[Bob_Schor · Accepted solution]

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@constructionworker wrote:

Let me explain a little more. I currently have a Delta ASDA-A2-1521-M servo drive.
the driver can be connected to the program via ASDA_SOFT v5 usb.

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I have some questions about "The driver can be connected to the program via ASDA_SOFT v5 usb.".

• What is "the driver"?  Is this a piece of software provided by ASDA?  What does it do?  How do you interact with it?  Can we see a manual?
• What is "ASDA_SOFT v5 usb"?  Is this software (for example, a way of turning a USB port into a serial port that can talk to a GPIB or VISA device?  Is this some special USB hardware, and if so, what does it do?  If this is Software, can we see a manual?  [This would be a huge help ...].
• Is "the driver", perhaps, hardware, something that you connect to your PC via USB and can send (perhaps even Text) commands to make the Servo "do its thing"?
• When you mention turning DI Pins 1 to 8 on and off from myRIO, are these pins on the myRIO or somewhere on the ASDA controller?
• What is the CN1 port?  Is this another DIO port on the ASDA controller that can take a TTL (0 or 5 V) signal?

Since you are talking about using a myRIO, what version of LabVIEW are you running (and are you running 32-bit or 64-bit LabVIEW)?  Have you experience with using the myRIO?  Do you have the myRIO Software Toolkit installed and running properly?  [Note that if you are running LabVIEW 2020 or 2021, the answer to the last question, at the present time, is "No".].

Bob Schor

[rolfk · Accepted solution]

According to this manual CN1 is an analog and digital IO port, so yes you could control those lines from the myRIO but need to be careful. The myRIO digital lines are 3.3V logic level while the controller has 24V logic level signals. If you connect them directly together, the servo driver won't see the myRIO signals (for digital inputs on the servo drive) respectively destroy the myRIO digital lines (for digital outputs on the servo drive). This connector is mostly meant to interface to PLC type controllers, which the myRIO could logically be used for but it does not have the industrial type IO signals that you typically see on PLC IO modules.

CN3 seems to support both RS-232 and RS-485 but is really meant to connect to devices that are then controlled by the program loaded in the servo drive. It could supposedly be made to communicate to the myRIO but will require you to do both programming on the servo drive as well as in the myRIO to define a meaningful protocol over which you can communicate setpoints, and current values.

CN4 is the programmer port which seems a virtual serial port over USB. Technically you could connect it to the myRIO host control USB port but there are several potential difficulties with this. Depending on the USB controller used in the servo drive, the myRIO might or might not be able to recognize the port as a virtual serial port. And installing and configuring the right driver in the NI Linux system if it is not automatically detected, while usually possible, is an exercise in Linux command line hacking.

Worse, there seems no documentation about the used protocol over this serial line. The manufacturer seems to assume that anybody wanting to use this port should use their own software, which is a Windows executable, and likely comes with its own USB serial port drivers. If it is a custom serial port driver it won't even be easily possible to get that to work on Linux, but unless you have a full documentation about the protocol used, that is anyhow unimportant. Without a proper protocol documentation it is not possible to communicate with a device and once you manage to get that protocol documentation from the manufacturer you still have to write the LabVIEW driver to implement that protocol.

[constructionworker]

hello mr. Your rolf approach is correct, but can you give an idea to solve this problem. Is there a way to control DI pins with Myrio?

Can you give an idea about how the CN1 connector should be connected to myrio? I have the Breakout accessory.

Every opinion given is valuable.

[constructionworker]

mr. rolfk 

I have a breakout accessory that sticks out the pins of the CN1 port, but I have a problem with how to connect it to myrio. For example, how can I trigger the servo on-off command via myrio. I need some help with this.

[rolfk]

Unless you have a good understanding of electrical engineering, I recommend you to not try to do that. The myRIO interface is unprotected 3.3V CMOS IOs. If you even accidentally connect that with your 24V interface signals, the myRIO is definitely dead!

[constructionworker]

mr.rolfk

I definitely did not connect the pins directly so that marion would not be affected. But do you have an idea how to do this?I've seen it connect directly with myrio before, but right now I can't think of the connection method.

Also, I would like to ask: Can I control the DI pins of the Delta asda-B2 servo driver with myrio?

Ineed some more help.

[Bob_Schor]

Following the link that @rolfk kindly provided, I was able to find references to manuals for the Delta ASDA system (including a description of all of the "commands" that the Controller understands), the fact that the Controller can communicate with a PC using an ordinary USB cable over a Serial Port (I would definitely recommend using VISA for this), and even a download site for the Company's driver, ASDA-Soft, which includes a separate download for the Manual (marked "English", but some of the figures appear to show screens in Chinese) and the driver, itself.

The User Manual(s) seem to contain all of the information you need to connect the Controller to Digital Output ports of the myRIO.  I recommend you have a competent Electrical Engineer read these manuals and their recommendations.  It "appears" to me (I am not an Electrical Engineer) that the CN1 Pulse inputs expect standard 5V TTL signals, which the myRIO provides on its three sets of DO ports.

Here is a question I don't think you have answered (or I missed the answer):  If you connect the Controller to your PC using a USB Cable and turn the Controller on, what devices does NI-MAX show is connected to the PC?  Are there any VISA or COM connections listed?  A screen-shot of the "Devices and Interfaces" section of MAX would be helpful.

Bob Schor