Encoder Question / Recomendation

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by RacerX

Very good question. Unfortunately, I do not have a good answer as I was going with what others had said.

Trying to learn as quick as I can..... How best to check that, to confirm just what is the issue?

That's an interesting question. The easiest way is to have your programmers write a little test program (or debug code in your real program) that spits out what angle it thinks the arm is at. Rotate the arm to one extreme and record the value somewhere, then rotate it to the other and record it. That gives you values for 2 fixed, known points of reference. Then drive around, play the game a while until you think things are off, and repeat the test. Are the values the same (or at least very close to the same), or are are they different?

Do that several times and you might notice a pattern that shows slippage in the system.

If, on the other hand, the values at the extremes stay the same but you notice the arm is "drooping" from where it should be, or oscillating around where it should be, that would indicate an issue with your feedback loop in maintaining the proper position, not an issue with the sensor.