Specifications

4.1.2 Troubleshooting
If the motor is not responding to voltage signal, go through these steps:
 Verify that the power amplifier is functional. For example when using the Quanser VoltPAQ device, is the
green LED lit?
 Check that the data-acquisition board is functional, e.g. ensure it is properly connected, that the fuse is
not burnt.
 Make sure the voltage is actually reaching the motor terminals (use voltmeter or oscilloscope).
 If the motor terminals are receiving the signal and the motor is still not turning, your motor might be
damaged and will need to be repaired. Please see 5 for information on contacting Quanser for technical
support.
4.2 Encoder
4.2.1 Testing
Follow this procedure to test each encoder on their respective motors:
1. Measure Encoder Input Channel #0 and rotate the pitch angle by moving the helicopter nose (i.e., front
propeller) up and down. This encoder measures 4096 counts for every revolution. Moving it from the
downward, resting position to the horizontal is about 40 degrees. Thus it should read approximately 455
counts.
2. Similarly, measure the Encoder Input Channel #1. This encoder measures 8192 counts per full revolution.
Rotate the helicopter body one full rotation and verify that 8192 is being measured.
Note: Some data acquisition systems do not measure in quadrature and, in this case, one-quarter of the expected
counts are received, i.e. 1024 counts in the pitch. In addition, some data acquisition systems measure in
quadrature but increment the count by 0.25 (as opposed to having an integer number of counts). Make sure the
details of the data-acquisition system being used are known. The counters on the Quanser DAQ boards measure in
quadrature and therefore a total of four times the number of encoder lines per rotation, e.g. 1024-line encoder
results in 4096 integer counts for every full rotation.
4.2.2 Troubleshooting
If the encoder is not measuring properly, go through this procedure:
 Check that the data-acquisition board is functional, e.g. ensure it is properly connected, that the fuse is
not burnt.
 Check that both the A and B channels from the encoder are properly generated and fed to the data-
acquisition device. Using an oscilloscope, there should be two square waves, signals and B, with phase
shift of 90 degrees. If this is not observed then the encoder may be damaged and need to be replaced.
Please see section 5 for information on contacting Quanser for technical support.
5. Experiment Sample Files
5.1 Overview
Table 6 below lists and describes the various sample files supplied with the 2DOF Helicopter experiment.
File Name Description
Table 6: Sample Files supplied with the 2DOF Helicopter experiment
File
Description