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Re: [TowerTalk] SteppIR

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] SteppIR
From: Jim Lux <jimlux@earthlink.net>
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 2015 05:42:33 -0800
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On 2/28/15 8:33 PM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:


On 2/28/2015 5:46 PM, Jim Thomson wrote:

##  whats wrong with installing a shaft encoder on the plane jane
DC..or AC
motor?    That’s what K7NV  does on his prop pitch conversions..and works
slick..simple concept, easy mod to any motor.  Its all fed to the
Green Heron
box...which is a modified RT-21.

Jim  VE7RF

What is wrong with it is unnecessary complexity.
The SteppIR stepper motor scheme works perfectly, with
occasional recalibration.  Don't fix it if it ain't
broke.  The SteppIR antennas have had their share
of reliability problems, but the stepper motor isn't
one of them.  They just work, even if other stuff
in the antenna may not always work.


This is why steppers (or their close cousins brushless DC motors) dominate in industrial applications, particular where you need slow and stop speeds. For "continuous run at variable speed", variable frequency drive induction motors are popular.




 If there is
a weak point, it is the controller that operates
the stepper motor.

I would think that the stepper drivers are vulnerable. Particularly with long runs: a lot of inductance, and very sensitive to lightning and transients. The SteppIR remote driver box probably fixes this.. put the driver close to the antenna, and use RS485 as the comm link.

A previous TT post (in 2007) said that they use a L6219 chip as the driver.



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