Errors and recovery

When the driver detects a fault it disables the motor, goes to idle, turns the status LED on steadily and sets the error bit in every CAN frame it sends. A disabled motor coasts, also when #Brake 1 is set. The driver stays there until the error is cleared.

Seeing the error

• The LED: on and not flashing means error mode (or not calibrated). Three short flashes and a pause is normal operation; fast flashing, about 10 times a second, is calibration.
• #Error prints In error state! or No errors!, followed by one line per active error.
• Send_Respond_State_of_Errors returns every flag as a bit; the error bit of any frame says whether there is one.

Normal operation	Calibration	Error mode

In error mode the LED does not flash: it stays on, as in the photo on the right.

The errors

Error	#Error line	Cause	What to do
Vbus	Vbus error	the supply voltage is below 9 V or above #Vmax (29 V after #Default)	check the supply and the cable; a decelerating motor can push the voltage up
Encoder	Encoder error	the magnet is not detected or the reading is invalid	magnet distance and type, see The encoder magnet
Driver	Drv error, and FAULT pin is HIGH while the fault lasts (the pin is low then: the text names the wrong level)	the MOSFET driver's own protection tripped: undervoltage, thermal shutdown or overcurrent	lower the current limit, cool the driver, check for a short between the motor leads
Velocity	Velocity error	the measured speed exceeded 20,000,000 ticks/s (about 1220 revolutions per second), a fixed limit that #Vlimit does not change	a runaway or an encoder fault: check the magnet and the encoder, see The encoder magnet
Temperature	Temp error	the thermistor reads more than #Tlim (75 °C by default), with #Term 1	let the motor cool; lower the current limit
E-stop	Received ESTOP command	Send_ESTOP was received	clear it when it is safe
Watchdog	Watchdog error	no motion command or status request over CAN within the watchdog time (Send_Watchdog)	the host stopped sending; fix the host, then clear. See The watchdog
Not calibrated	Not calibrated	the motor has not been calibrated since #Default, or the EEPROM is invalid	run #Cal and #Save
Current	Current error	reserved; this firmware never raises it	—

Clearing

#Clear or Send_Clear_Error clears the flags and goes to idle. An error whose cause is still present comes straight back: a Vbus error at 2 V stays until the supply is right; once the supply is 24 V, one #Clear returns the driver to normal operation. The calibration error clears only by calibrating (or, for a motor you know is calibrated, #Calibrated 1).

The watchdog

The watchdog is set over CAN only, with Send_Watchdog; there is no UART command for it. It counts the motion commands (Send_data_pack_1, Send_data_pack_PD, Send_gripper_data_pack) and the status requests (the Send_Respond_ remote frames). Other CAN frames and UART commands do not reset it. Send_Save_config keeps it over a power cycle, like the heartbeat interval.

A driver with a saved watchdog that is used over UART only, or by a host that sends no motion command, raises a watchdog error each time the watchdog time runs out, also right after #Clear. To turn it off, send Send_Watchdog with 0 and then Send_Save_config over CAN. Without a CAN adapter, #Default turns it off too, but it also erases the calibration and the node ID (Saving the configuration).

When the driver does not answer

• No LED at all: no power. Check DC+ and DC− and the cable orientation.
• LED on, no answer on UART: the baud rate (256000), TX and RX crossed, the adapter's port.
• No answer on CAN: the node ID, the termination (about 60 Ω across the bus, unpowered), 1 Mbit/s on the adapter.
• #Info shows -1 or nonsense: the EEPROM holds values the firmware does not expect, usually from an older release (see Saving the configuration); #Default, then calibrate again.

Troubleshooting goes through the symptoms one by one.

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