Skip to content

Getting started

Spectral Micro BLDC driver

You can buy a Spectral Micro starter kit here: Link
Or buy a single motor driver here: Link

  1. Diametrically magnetized magnet
  2. BLDC motor; check here for all tested motors
  3. Programming adapter
  4. Serial adapter
  5. CAN adapter
  6. Termistor
  7. CAN wires and power wires

Hardware setup

Mounting PCB to Motor

To mount your BLDC to PCB you can use example motor bracket and modify it for your motor.

drawing

Some hardware considerations:

  • Distance between motor encoder and magnet should be around 1 mm.
  • Hole spacing of Spectral micro is 31 mm

drawing

Electrical connections

REVERSING POLARITIY ON DC+- WILL DESTROY YOUR BOARD.

drawing

  1. Solder motor phases to U,W,V
  2. Connect motor power to one of the Power connectors terminals
  3. If you are using UART comms. Connect Uart adapter to UART connector
  4. If you are using termistor, connect it to Termistor connecor
  5. If you are using CAN comms. Connect CAN adapter to one of CAN connectors
  6. When uploading code connect JTAG adapter to JTAG connector

Cable orientation

ALL cables used for dasiy chain (CAN and power) need to to follow orientation as shown on the image below! Failing to follow that will destroy your motor controller! All correct cables can be bought here: https://source-robotics.com/pages/connectors-and-cables

drawing

Connecting multiple motors (daisy chaining)

Multiple Spectral BLDC drivers and nodes can be connected to single CAN bus using daisy-chaining. First an last nodes on can bus should have termination resistors. On Spectral micro you can flip the CAN switch to "ON" positon to enable termination resistor.

Power connectors can handle max 4 A DC. Usually if you are using 10ohm gimbal motor you can daisy chain 3-4 of them.

drawing

Thermistor connection

Solder the termistor like shown in the image.

Thermistor is disabled by default. To enable it use command #Term 1

drawing

Thermistor needs to be placed inside the motor coils. You can usually do that thru the one of the mounting holes on the bottom of the motor. You can apply thermal cement on the thermistor in the motor coils to secure it in place and improve termal conductivity.

drawing

Status

Normal operation Calibration Error mode
3 short flashed and a pause

drawing

Flashing every 0.5 seconds

drawing

Solid LED, no flashing.

drawing

If you have spectral firmware uploaded on your spectral BLDC LEDs will be in one of 3 states.

  • Normal operation is when motor controller has no active errors and is calibrated
  • Error mode is active if any error on the motor driver is active. List of possible errors:
    1. Temperature error
    2. Drv error
    3. Encoder error
    4. Vbus error
    5. Velocity error
    6. Current error
    7. Not calibrated
    8. Received ESTOP
    9. Watchdog error
  • Calibration will flash when in calibration routine

What next?