8 years, 3 months ago.

Strange Encoder Behavior

Hey!

My name is thiago and I am finishing a project in college, I have to use one quadrature encoder, a borrowed one from a friend, the model is BA4162-0360. It sends 360 pulse in one rotation, and is connected to a 5 or 4 wires, i couldn't find much information about this particular model in the internet, only about the BA series, now i dont even know if it is uni or bi directional... This is it:

/media/uploads/Jamess/encoder.jpg

When I plugged in a oscilocope to check what was going on, I had a surprise. One of the chanels is ok, but the other one looks like this:

/media/uploads/Jamess/p18-01-16_12.17.jpg

This is my first time working with encoders, but as far as I know it should be simpler, i connect everything where it should be connect and still, it didnt work. Any thing would help me out, please comment =)

Thanks

I just found a very important piece of information. I had a hard time finding the datasheet, but the suplier sent one to me, what happens is that this is not an bidirectional encoder as I thoght it was. This is actually an uni-directional encoder with a reference signal. The reference signal still looking weird thogh, but now I believe I know I was aproaching this problem the wrong way.

posted by Thiago . 20 Jan 2016

1 Answer

8 years, 3 months ago.

According to the manufacturer's data sheet:

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/44170.pdf

The device needs 5 - 24V to operate. Are you running the device in that range?

Important Note: Since the device's output is push-pull, you will need a resistive divider to translate the device's 5-24V output signal to meet the mbed's 3.3V(max) GPIO input pin voltage!!!!

...kevin

Hey Kevin, Thanks for the answer! Yeah, I am operating in 24V. But this is not the datasheet of the encoder that I am using. I was going to use a resisive divider, but since the signal looked weird in the osciloscope, I decided to understand it first. The encoder that I am using is manufactured by veeder-root, aparently, a brasilian brand that doesn't bother showing their datasheets easily.

Thiago.

posted by Thiago . 19 Jan 2016

Wait - is your oscilloscope DC coupled? It looks AC coupled to me.

...kevin

posted by Kevin Braun 19 Jan 2016

Yes, I was using the CC mode, even tried a diferent DS to check if there wasnt a problem with the scope problem. I just found a very important piece of information. I had a hard time finding the datasheet, but the suplier sent one to me, what happens is that this is not an bidirectional encoder as I thoght it was. This is actually an uni-directional encoder with a reference signal. The reference signal still looking weird thogh, but now I believe I know I was aproaching this problem the wrong way.

posted by Thiago . 20 Jan 2016