Simucube1 - New Build, firmware issues

Simucube 1
15

it is an accurate value but maybe it is in rms and not in peak of sine. When using a 48v power supply though you may need a bigger supply since amps * volt = watt . Although it is not simple as that since in driving conditions max is not always needed. Amps though are also tied to the ioni you are using, is it the ioni pro hc model ? If i am correct 15A IONI , 18A IONI Pro and 25A IONI Pro HC (peak of sine) . So you could try for example Mcc = 19 or 19.5 and Mmc = 20 and go from there.

since you are using 24v psu , try fuv = 15 and fov = 27 and Foc at max.

also make sure that the mms setting is the rpm for your motor , in case you used a drc for another motor. Also after setting everything up , click “Measure resistance & inductance” button to get MR and ML values

Since you have the AKM52K which has a high rpm speed using an 24v should not be a bad combo, maybe it is even better than using a 48v .Someone else with more knowledge could elaborate on that.

This is from Beano a long time ago:

[QUOTE]
Some time ago, I got my hands on a brand new AKM53K servo, it was from a sale Davy Watts had on iRacing. I got one of the few with the 40k Comcoder option, as such it will make for a very good platform for an OSW, wouldn’t you think?

Well, the one caveat about using the AKM-K series over the AKM-G series servos, is the fact that the K series is wired for speed, as opposed to the G-series’ torque. The K have a speed of 4,500 rpm, and as such, it would be totally animalistic if paired with a 48V psu.

Well, Ollie Aina over in the UK has requested me to do some 24V testing on the SimuCube, as he has experienced phasing issues at this voltage with some of his earlier IONI builds, and I have decided to pair a very nice NDR-480-24V psu, with the AKM53K. (Thanx Ollie!)

The absolute beauty of this NDR-480-24V is, that it seems to be using the same enclosure as the SDR-480-48 psu…why is this important…SimuCube was released recently, and I ordered 2 upgrade kits, which, as we know, allowed for several psu options…mine was the SDR psu upgrade.

One unit has the SDR 48V psu installed, it is up and running and powering my Lenze setup currently - whilst I have decided to pair the 2nd unit with this 24V psu, and use it to drove the AKM53K servo. It works out really well, as now I can drive the K-servo to its peak of ~30NM as well, having heaps of torque, with realising the benefits of a super smooth servo[/QUOTE]

16

Loukas,

I recall reading that quote from Beano when I was researching/acquiring my hardware. My AKM52K was a bargain on eBay (~$250 USD including shielded cables). It only has the 2048ppr encoder (AKM52K-ANCN2-00). Accu-Coder couldn’t tell me much about it besides pin-out, as it’s a Kollmorgen proprietary encoder. I should also note, the label states it’s max RPM at 6,000; perhaps the bigger AM53K is a bit slower.

Anyways, I recall a thread about calculating those values RMS/peak of sine - need to brush up on my math and see what I can figure out. I hope to update this thread with what I land on. For whoever in the future stumbles across this :nerd_face:

To answer your question: IONI ProHC is my drive. I was able to turn a few test laps and confirm it works - yay! Now to spend some time tuning. Should anyone swing by and have a setup - or near enough to server as inspiration, I would appreciate it.

Also, if anyone has details on converting the AKM servos to a higher resolution encoder, I’m all ears. Heidenhain in the 21-bit are rare, and seems no one is parting Kollmorgens with their 10k/BiSS encoders. Uncertain what other Frankenstein conversions are possible - thought is saw mention of fitting a Mige BiSS-C somewhere, though I can’t find the encoders if I wanted to. I’ve seen some encoders similar spec’d to the Mige/Heidenhain on Alibab, but I’m hesitant to buy site unseen and take my servo out of action for too long (after all I just got it working!).

Thanks for all the help! And if Beano swings by, thank you to him for all of the info - made this a relatively straight forward build.

17

Then set Mms to 6000rpm . Try the values i told you if you have time , no need to invest your time in calculating all those values , just drive! :smiley:

18

@Loukas_Bourdas - first, thank you very kindly for offering your suggestions above. Using those settings with my AKM52K really brought the wheel to life.

Seems upon a cold start, I have MCC/MMC too close as I get an undervoltage error; I’ve read in another thread Brion commented on how to address that - will attempt next time I’m at the wheel.

I will continue to tweak. But for the time being I expect I will have plenty of fun with my wheel. Might stick some kind of heat sink on the servo’s body as I noticed it’s finally warm from use with the higher settings.

In the future, I will be looking to upgrade the encoder in this servo as it’s the base AKM 2048PPR; in correspondence with Brion when purchasing some PenguinRC gear - he recommended the Mige BiSS-C could be adapted, and would be more cost efficient than trying to find an AKM Heidenhain or Hengstler.

Thanks to the Granite Devices team, Brion, Beano, and Loukas - I’m in a good place to go racing for a while. Will add any tips specific to the AKM here for future DIY folks.

  • Ian
2 Likes
19

what values do you have now for mcc/mmc ? we could help eliminate that undervoltage error upon cold start.

20

19 MCC
20 MMC

Reading through a post from Brion over here: Can’t run higher amps without undervoltage

It’s most likely I’m just getting tripped up due to those values being close together. I’ve tracked down the DRC files mentioned in that post and hope to review them sometime today and test a bit. Have to complete house chores first though :nerd_face:

Granity does warn against a value lower than 20V for the FOV/FUV settings - I set as you suggested, as I have a 24V PSU. Safe to ignore that warning? Obviously worked well with those settings, but my electrical engineering skills are not strong so missing a lot of the power/amperage/resistance stuff and therefore assuming.

Thanks!

21

Ok so my Fuv setting doesn’t work as intended , so best to use Fov=20 that works for you. Does Fuv=27 work ok ?

Maybe try Mcc 18 and Mmc 19 , because i don’t think that the problem is that those values ar close but maybe 20 is a bit high with the winding resistance of your motor.

22

Thanks Loukas - will make changes and report back. Will also report MR/ML values. Which I think differed from those I entered during initial configuration from the motor’s spec sheet.

Thanks again!

23

i think it’s best practice not to use the values from the motor’s spec sheet and use the ones that are generated through “Measure resistance & inductance” button

24

With a 24V PSU you will have to have an FUV between the 20 low and 24V otherwise the IONI will think it is ALWAYS in Under voltage… There is a point at I think around 10 volts where the IONI will go into protection mode and FAULT with the Undervoltage fault automatically… But it will also do this if FUV is below supply voltage normally…

As for MMC and MCC you can set those to what ever the motor is capable of and that depends on the Servo you have (which do you have?) Setting MMC two high for your servo will burn wattage and overtax your PSU for no reason other than heat… In the .drc files I created I have MCC set to the Rated Average Amps for the servos listed.

If the MMC and MCC are too close together in number there will be times that the IONI will not initialize but that will be it it won’t register under voltage faults or anything like that, Over and Under Voltage are directly related to PSU and Power supply issues EXCEPT in the case where a Braking Resister has blown and OverCurrent occurs due to back current from the servo.

NOTE: the Motor Amps are RMS and Not Peak of Sine which the IONI uses… RMS numbers are lower than those of Peak of Sine

25

20v for fuv should be ok though , or 21v.

I don’t have the spec sheet for his motor but if he can post the max amps in rms he can multiply it with 1,414 to get his max mmc. Maybe setting it 20 or even 19 is a tad too high and that’s the reason for the heat. If he gets it right i think he will not need the heatsink that he mentioned

26

AKM52K-ANCN2-00

Looks like the recent Kollmorgen/Danaher brochures no longer call out this winding, so I’m guessing it’s an older model.

Anyways, attached are a shot of the servo’s label, as well as screen shots of the data sheets I’ve found listing it. Here’s a link to a brochure which I captured one of these screenshots from: http://www.diegm.uniud.it/petrella/Azionamenti%20Elettrici%20II/Motori%20e%20azionamenti/AKM_Motor_Selection_Guide.pdf

Summary

IMG_3382
IMG_3382750×1334 272 KB
IMG_3381
IMG_3381750×1334 240 KB
IMG_3383
IMG_3383750×855 88 KB

27

Even if that Rm= 0.96 isn’t completely accurate , i think that you are not limited from the volts that your supply is providing.

If it gives 24v , then ( 24v / 0.96 ) * 0.92 = 23 , so basically you could provide 23 Amps for Mmc with that Rm if needed . But let’s say that this is not accurate , when you pressed the “Measure resistance & inductance” button , what was the result for MR ?

In any case though you can safely set the Mcc at 8.9 * 1.414 = 12.58 A

I couldn’t find in the chart the Ips Arms (current@peak torque) for your exact motor , since the ones there don’t seem to match the label on your motor. But you could Try Mcc 12.58A and Mmc 13.58A (or higher) if you want to see if it eliminates the cold start problem and the heat problem. I don’t believe that 1A difference should cause you trouble , i had it at 0.5A difference for a long time with no problems but it is a different motor. Also i do agree in theory with bsohn that mcc should not affect anything , but testing in assetto corsa , having mcc and mmc close to each other gave me a stiffer wheel. Placebo ? Maybe. Feel free to try if you play AC.

28

This Sigmatek link actually seems to be more relevant.

Sigmatek AKM data sheet

Peak current of 27.9 - is that what we’re looking for?

Thanks for the advice - looks like I won’t get to testing until tomorrow. Will follow up as soon as I’m able.

29

It still doesn’t seem corect , since the data doesn’t match the label but anyway , 27.9 amps rms can not be done. Even if ioni pro hc could (it can do 25A peak of sine so roughly 17.6 rms) , as i said due to 24v psu you can go up to 23A peak of sine so rougly 16.2 rms. I doubt you even need to drive with so much power but maybe this info can help you in someway.

30

For the 52K based on the Kollmorgen specs…

OK You can run a MAX 24.51A MMC into that servo @ 24v and you will get a Torque output of 16.12Nm .

So I would set MMC at 24.51 and MCC to about 10 - FUV to approx 20 or 21 as Loukas mentioned.

Set the Inductance/Resistance by the auto.

After this point it is up to your power supply to give enough wattage… if it cannot it will have an under voltage Fault… if it can things will run smoothly.

That particular servo is NOT designed for torque and is more of a Speed servo so it is very possible that it will heat up more while trying to produce the torque demanded from it.

31

Understood - thank you both Brion and Loukas!

Will set as advised, and then back down if it seems the servo is over worked/stressed. At much tamer settings, it’s quite nice, so even if it can’t be full output all of the time - I am very pleased. If I want more power, I can always look for an AKM-G, or Big Mige.

Cheers!

32

Yes you could but those would also run into possible the same Wattage issues if that is the case… Especially with a Large mine… The Small Mige actually is one of the most efficient servos but the G did Kollmorgens aren’t too bad… The Large Mige is a power hog as well as the K winds … But the K winds are actually better suited to the IONI the 52 though is a pretty Rarely seen K wind but the 53 and 54 K’s are quite good matches as well as if you want serious power the 64 and 65 K and L’s but those are BIG. I have a 72L which is Massive that I haven’t yet had a chance to set-up because I don’t have a rig capable really of withstanding it.

33

Sorry for the delay in replying - I wasn’t able to get to my rig until last weekend and the day job has kept me busy. Anyways, using Brion/Loukas’ advice above re: MCC/MMC/FUV, I was able to successfully configure (and over a restart) my AKM52K. Feedback within iRacing was amazing, actually bordering on too much - until I get used to it’s characteristics and tune a bit more precisely. I also need to improve my mounting, as it’s in a temporary setup while I build a proper rig.

I’ll post screen shots of my current settings when I next get back to my wheel for anyone else who may be curious. And then I’ll dive into what, if any, additional tweaks need to be done in Simucube software to make sure iRacing/AC/rF are smooth.

Thank you very much to Brion and Loukas for assisting!

34

Did you end up going with a 24V power supply? I have a AKM54K and wondering if there is a difference in using a 24V and 48V power supply, other than slightly lower torque output with the 24V. If you reduced current to match the 24V, would the 48V power supply basically be the same?