ELL18K Rotation Stage Evaluation Kit
Chapter 5: Troubleshooting and FAQ
Rev A April 2019
Page 13
Chapter 5 Troubleshooting and FAQ
5.1. Frequently Asked Questions
Stage is moving back and forth after power up
If the digital line “bw” is driven low before powering up the stage, the module will go into calibration mode.
Remove power to exit calibration mode. Keep line tight up to 3.3V or 5V rail during power up or use a serial
communication line instead.
Stage not moving
Check power supply lines ratings (polarity, voltage drop or range, available current) or reduce cable length.
Check module is not in boot loader mode (power cycle the module to exit boot loader) consumption must be
higher than 36mA at 5V.
Stage does not complete homing commands
Power cycle the unit.
Perform a frequency search on both motors.
Stage switching time increased / max load decreased
Check power supply voltage provided on J1 connector, increase voltage within specified limits if voltage drop
along cable goes below 5V during system operation.
Clean the moving surfaces. To avoid grease contamination, do not touch the moving parts.
Temperature change may affect the stage performance. Using the software to perform a frequency search will
compensate frequency as needed (required current could reach 1.2A during frequency search, use an addition
5V 1A power supply and a USB connection).
Integrators should search for optimal frequency on every power up sequence
(commands “s1”, “s2” see ELLx protocol document).
How do I restore the factory (default) settings
Factory settings can be restored during the start up (calibration) test – see Section 3.5.
Motor optimization does not work.
The optimization may fail if the device is damaged, if the load is heavily unbalanced or changed in position
during the optimization, or if the power supply is not stable.
Note
Do not run more than one device optimization at the same time on the same bus and power supply.
The current drawn can overload the power supply. Allow 20 minutes of cool down between consecutive
optimizations on the same device.
If the optimization fails, the device will try to reload the previous settings. If this reload fails, perform a frequency
search (see section 4.3) to reload the settings.
The unit is not responding after power up
During the power up sequence, if the user holds down the JOG, BW and FW lines to ground, the module will
go into a bootloader (firmware update) mode.
Power cycle the unit again without pressing the 3 buttons at the same time to exit from the bootloader mode.
