User Manual

MCP Series
Brushed DC Motor Controllers
MCP Series User Manual
12
1.0.8 Power Sources
A battery or DC power supply can be used as the main power source for the MCP motor
controller. When using a DC power supplies, motor deceleration can cause excessive regenerative
voltages. Typically excessive regenerative voltage must be bleed off using a voltage clamp
circuit. This can also be resolved by limiting motor deceleration. This will reduce the regenerative
voltages.
The MCPs minimum and maximum voltage levels can be set to prevent some of these voltage
spikes, however this will cause the motors to brake when slowing down in an attempt to reduce
the over voltage spikes. This will also limit power output when accelerating motors or when the
load changes to prevent undervoltage conditions.
1.0.9 Primary Power
The MCP can operate as a single power source motor controller. The MCP has a built in DC/DC
switching regulator to power the logic. The DC/DC circuit also supplies a +5VDC rail to power
user devices. When powering external devices from the controller, ensure the maximum current
rating is not exceeded. This can cause MCP to suffer logic brownouts which will cause erratic
behavior.
1.0.10 Secondary Power
The MCPs logic circuits can be powered from a secondary power source. The logic power source
will also power the DC/DC switching regulator. The main and secondary power sources are feed
through a diode circuit to the DC/DC switching regulator circuit. The higher voltage between the
main and secondary power sources will power the DC/DC switching regulator. When the MCP is
under heavy load and the voltage drops below the secondary battery source it will become the
preferential power source for the DC/DC circuit.
1.0.11 Manual Voltage Settings
The minimum and maximum voltage can be set using the Ion Studio software or packet serial/
CANopen commands. Values can be set to any value between the boards minimum and
maximum voltage limits. This is useful when using a power supply without using a voltage
clamp. A minimum voltage just below the power supply voltage (2 to 3v below) will prevent
the power supply voltage from dipping too low under heavy loads. A maximum voltage set just
above the power supply voltage (2 to 3v above) will help protect the power supply and MCP from
regenerative voltage spikes if an external voltage clamp circuit is not being used by braking the
motors to dissipate the over voltage.
1.0.12 Minimum Power
Depending on the model of MCP there is a minimum main power requirement of at least 10V.
Under heavy loads, if the logic is powered from the main battery, brownouts can happen. This
can cause erratic behavior from the controller. If this is the case a separate logic battery should
be used to power the logic of the motor controller.
1.0.13 Easy to use Libraries
Source code and Libraries are available on the Ion Motion Control website. This includes libraries
for Arduino(C++), C# on Windows(.NET) or Linux(Mono) and Python(Raspberry Pi, Linux, OSX,
etc).