W2DRZ Controller Support Web
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| This page contains answers to common questions
handled by our support staff, along with some tips and
tricks that we have found useful and presented here as
questions. Note: In these answers we will follow a few shorthand conventions for describing user-interface procedures. Key combinations will be presented like this: Ctrl+Alt+Delete, which means that you should press and hold down the Control key, the Alt key, and the Delete key at the same time. Menu selections will be presented like this: File->Open, which means that you should open the File menu, and then make the Open selection. |
| The W2DRZ controller board's firmware has a built in communications loss timer. If it detects that no RS232 serial communication has been received from the PC for over 2 seconds, it will stop all antenna motion and go into a wait mode. When serial communication resumes the controller will accept new movement commands. |
| If the antenna fails to move, it's position as
reported by the encoders will stop changing. The
controller will sense the lack of position change and do
an emergency shutdown. There is a timer that determines
how long the antenna must be stopped before the shutdown
will happen. The timer is called the "Move
Timeout" and it is set in the DrzComm.exe
program's Configuration window. The default value is 5
seconds but you can change it to any decimal value
between 0 and 15 seconds. There is also another setup
value related to movement timing, it is called "Move
Precision". This value specifies how much motion is
considered to be real motion. If the antenna was to hit a
tree branch, it might rock back and forth and the sensor
readings could change enough to cause the movement
detector to think the antenna was still in motion. By
setting the appropriate value for Move Precision, this
problem can be avoided. Move Precision is specified in
tenths of a degree, and can have a maximum value of 100,
or 10 degrees. If the antenna is out of calibration with the controller it is possible that the controller could command the mechanism to run against the end of travel. When this happens the loss of movement detector will also stop the motor within the time specified. But, for more safety, it is recommended that you install some electro-mechanical limit switches on your antenna mount to quickly turn off the movement motors if the limits are reached. |