Comments on: Blinking LEDs

By: lubchi

lubchi — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:24:01 +0000

Good discussion. The clearest way is to have only few combinations.
For example:

Green ON Orange OFF – drive OK but not enabled.
Green blinking Orange OFF – drive OK and enabled.
Green OFF Orange ON – drive fault – torque off, the drive couldn’t operate w/o the operator done something (error reset, power on reset etc.).
Green OFF Orange blinking – drive warning – there is a problem, but the drive still can operate w/o operator’s influence (temperature warning etc.).

The further diagnostic should be made by a special tool – it could be the Granity SW, a third party operation panel or a dedicated GD operation panel which is optional to the Argon – one system integrator needs only one dedicated panel. If the end customer wants to invest in such an operation panel – it’s also OK. From the marketing point of view it’s the better solution. It’s more useful for the end customer too. Lot of the industrial drive suppliers make it like this since decades.

By: Tero

Tero — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 18:17:35 +0000

Sounds very understandable! I will give time for the ideas in my mind and try them some day.

BTW, LED blinking is done in open source firmware, so anyone will be able to experiment/improve the indicators.

By: Weerasak

Weerasak — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 17:20:14 +0000

Here what I meant, sorry to mess it up ;-)

{latch LED 5 secs = please prepare to count and jot down }
(21 encoder problem) bb pause b { long pause for jot down }
(also 32 under voltage) bbb pause bb { long pause for jot down }
(also 53 unknown) bbbbb pause ppp { long pause for jot down }{ latch LED 5 secs again}

By: Weerasak

Weerasak — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 17:12:31 +0000

Sorry the message didn’t show up, preserve character has blocked some contents, here try again

{long fast blink = please prepare to count and jot down }
(21 encoder problem) bb pause b { long pause }
(also 32 under voltage) bbb pause bb { long pause }
(also 53 unknown) bbbbb pause ppp {loop back to fast blink again}

{latch LED 5 secs = please prepare to count and jot down }
(21 encoder problem) bb pause b { long pause }
(also 32 under voltage) bbb pause bb { long pause }
(also 53 unknown) bbbbb pause ppp { long pause }{ latch LED 5 secs again}

By: Weerasak

Weerasak — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 17:02:53 +0000

I like your two digit method, plus long pause as describe below, because It‘s simple no need learn other combination.

(21 encoder problem) bb pause b
(also 32 under voltage) bbb pause bb
(also 53 unknown) bbbbb pause bbb

or similar to…

(21 encoder problem) bb pause b
(also 32 under voltage) bbb pause bb
(also 53 unknown) bbbbb pause bbb

By: Johann

Johann — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:09:24 +0000

Good idea to reduce the number of counts
This also avoids mixing short and long which could create confusion
But be careful not to make too quick short flashes, which would be more difficult to counted in industrial or inaccessible environments.

By: Tero

Tero — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:59:40 +0000

Hmm, I guess in this method you’ll need 2 pauses: one between binks and one (longer one) before the sequence is repeated. Worth considering.

One quite similar idea I like is:
b=1
bb=2
bbb=3
bbbb=4
bbbbb=5
B=6
Bb=7
Bbb=8
etc

Where B=long blink b=short blink

By: Tero

Tero — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:53:10 +0000

Yes, digit display would be preferrable but there are reasons why we chose leds:
1. No empty space left for digit display at least without stacking second PCB inside. Didn’t want to make drive 20 mm bigger to fit the digits.
2. No enough free I/O on MCU to control them. Would need larger MCU just for digits.
3. In 95% cases user can connect drive to PC and view detailed status from Granity software if error reason is unclear.

By: PowerQuestion

PowerQuestion — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:05:51 +0000

There was any special reason not to use 2 digits ?
Much better, and it would not get the drive much more expensive.
Counting leds blinking to solve a problem while under stressing working conditions (for example working in a client installation) will result in wrong counts. Also a client to diagnostic a fault will be hard.
For me a bad idea.

By: Johann

Johann — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:07:59 +0000

Hi Tero
To identify the various errors with a single LED
I propose the following solution
Each error is assigned to a 2-digit number
Error> 11 = general fault
Error> 12 = default encoder
Error> 32 = default engine link

Numbers are represented by the LED in two sequences
for 11
blink pause blink

for 12
blink pause blink blink

for 32
blink blink blink pause blink blink
etc …

blink = 0.5s
Pause = 2s

You can also turn on the LED for 2 seconds between two error codes to distinguish them