[CoAMarcus]

Just letting you guys know we are running our annual "Customer Appreciation Sale" right now until August 23rd, 2009. This means that all motor controls are on sale for the 100 piece price in single quantities and even more discounted in higher quantities. You can go to the product page here to see all of the prices:

http://www.geckodrive.com/products.aspx?n=698865

Also, we have just released our newest servo drive, the G320X. Below is a quick rundown of the new features:


Built in step pulse multiplier
Current mode or voltage mode servo
Stall torque time limit
Four settable following error limits
Encoder fail detect
Short circuit protection
Dynamic motor braking during fault condition
STEP and DIRECTION COMMON can be either +5VDC or GND
PID trimpots with settable integral coefficient
IN-POSITION, WARN, FAULT and POWER indicator LEDs
STEP and DIRECTION is +3.3VDC and +5VDC compatible at 6mA
20A 80VDC continuous operating maximum
PID loop closed internally
Quadrature encoder inputs
+5VDC 50mA onboard encoder supply
Opto-isolated STEP and DIRECTION inputs
20kHz PWM frequency
Settable current limit from 0A to 20A

You can go to it's product page here:

http://www.geckodrive.com/product.aspx?c=2&i=14474

As always, if you have any questions just let me know either here or at [email protected]. Have a great weekend!

Marcus

[LeeWay]

Marcus, the 540's look to be free on the site right now. Dangit! And I just received mine today.

[CoAMarcus]

Lee,

Well, I suppose its a good thing I didn't decide to knock off early on Friday! I fixed it, and it should show up with the appropriate pricing now. Thank you for catching that!

Marcus

[Eurisko]

... This means that all motor controls are on sale for the 100 piece price in single quantities ...
Marcus

Marcus, I was told to never look a gift horse in the mouth, but shouldn't the G540 be sale priced at $210 instead of $240 ?

btw, the new site loads fairly quickly on my painfully slow dialup connection.

Thanks.

[joeybagadonuts]

Marcus, I was told to never look a gift horse in the mouth, but shouldn't the G540 be sale priced at $210 instead of $240 ?

btw, the new site loads fairly quickly on my painfully slow dialup connection.

Thanks.

Eurisko,

How did you come up with $210 for a G540?


JoeyB

[the4thseal]

i checked the the price on the540 and was wondering if there is a different price schedule. don't get me wrong,,,great price but was not the 100 price 210 and not posted discounted price? maybe the casing and other components can't be discounted as steeply? i am hooked either way. thanx for the sale by the way.

[CJL5585]

Thinking about purchasing 3 of the 320X.

What brand servos and encoders do you guys recommend for the G320X?

I have 3 used 4000 RPM servos without encoders that I have considered using, but they are only rated at 24 VDC, (No current rating shown) and I am afraid to attempt operation at a higher voltage. Will the voltage and/or current mode allow one to operate such servos at a somewhat higher than rated voltage? With 1.5 VDC "D" battery as voltage source, I cannot apply enough pressure with my hands to stall the servo. I was told the servos were about 3 or 4 HP units.

I am running 3ea G320's on a system with 65 VDC and 500 line encoders, and it has worked perfectly for about 4 years without a single problem. I am a fan of your drives.

Jerry

[sehast5]

Marcus,

Is the anti-dither feature that prevents motor groaning implemented on the G320X? It was in the early G380 spec but I don't see it as a feature on the G320X.

Steve

[Toymanf]

Marcus,

Is the anti-dither feature that prevents motor groaning implemented on the G320X? It was in the early G380 spec but I don't see it as a feature on the G320X.

Steve

I am also curious about this.
Thanks
Frank

[nicad]

I, too, am interested in the anti-dither feature. Is it in the 320x?
Thanks-

[Mariss Freimanis]

Anti-dither is not an option in the first revision (REV6) of the G320X. It will be included in the next revision.

Anti-dither is not a panacea. That means there is a drawback for every perceived advantage. Anti-dither works by decreasing the PID coefficients by a set percentage when the motor is within a very small distance of where it should be. The drawback is it makes the servo response sluggish (detuned) over this range.

The advantage is a nearly complete audible silence in the servomotor while it's stopped or turning slowly. The disadvantage is the servo stops trying real hard to pull in the position error to zero when it's within a few encoder counts (+/-2) of the desired position.

Who wins in the end? I don't like to listen to noise so anti-dithering wins for me. I modified a G320X with an anti-dither circuit and it is silent; anechoic room silent kind of silent. The PID coefficients can be cranked up to be really aggressive yet be totally milk-toast when the motor position is within +/-2 counts of perfect. People who don't like this kind of sloppiness will have the option of switching the anti-dither circuit out. SW1 (presently uncommitted) will control its presence or absence.

Mariss

[nicad]

Thanks for the update.
Might be a stupid question (yes they do exist), but if I were to purchase 8x of these Rev6 G320x tomorrow, and then the anti-dither gets implemented later down the road, would the be any way to get these Rev6 units traded in or upgraded to have that feature? I would at least like to have it available for future use, even if it is not used on an axis for now.
Thanks-
Colin

[Mariss Freimanis]

No. That's not how it works. A new revision means a new printed circuit board, not something that can be tacked-on afterward. It also means earlier revisions stand on their own; this is not a correction, it is an improvement.

Most companies do not talk about future product improvements and perhaps it's a mistake that we do. They simply roll them out as a fait accompli. As an example, the G201 is in its 17th revision. There were many people that bought revision 1 and the drives have worked for them as advertised. A lot of features were added between REV1 and REV17. If we had been expected to retroactively upgrade previous versions every time a new revision came out, the G201 development would have ended with REV1.

The G320XR6 does a heck of a lot more for the same price than the G320 ever did. The G320X is new and it will have at least as long of a product life as the G320 did; 10 years. Over that expected lifespan it will go through at least as many revisions as the G320 did. Each new revision will do more than the previous one.

I'm just laying out the facts here because I believe most people appreciate knowing them. You as a customer have the option to purchase what is available now, or at the other extreme, to wait a few years for revision 25 or so.:-)

Mariss

[nicad]

Answered my question with flying colors.
The honesty is much appreciated.