T-Series/Tutorial/A-MCA

Quick Tutorial

Follow the steps below to familiarize yourself with common commands used to control a motorized device using A-MCA.

Setting Up the First Time

Follow these steps when setting up Zaber products the first time.

Step	Command to send			Description
	Device#	Command	Data
1	-	-	-	Ensure that the motorized peripheral is unplugged from the A-MCA controller. Unless the A-MCA controller is previously configured with the appropriate Peripheral Id or put into Safe-Mode. By connecting a motorized peripheral before the controller is properly configured, you may risk damaging the motor product.
2	-	-	-	Power up the devices and open the communication port in the Zaber Console.
3	0	Renumber (2)	0	If more than one devices are connected together, use this command to automatically assign device# to each device. First device in the chain is assigned device# 1, second device #2, and so on.
4	1	Set Peripheral Id (66)	Peripheral Id	Assign Peripheral Id to the A-MCA controller. The controller will then load the default settings for the peripheral specified. In this example, the A-MCA controller is device #1. Select only the device # that matches your A-MCA when sending this command. If you ordered the A-MCA together with a peripheral , the Id for the purchased peripheral may have been assigned to the A-MCA at the factory for your convenience. You may verify this by observing the Device Type column in the Zaber Console. The Peripheral Id can be found on the label of the peripheral. The full list of Peripheral Ids can be found at https://www.zaber.com/support/?tab=Peripheral%20IDs&version=6.
5	-	-	-	Connect the motorized peripheral to the A-MCA controller.

Device Initialization

Follow these steps every time you power up your devices.

Step	Command to send			Description
	Device#	Command	Data
6	1	Home (1)	-	Initialize device position by sending a Home command. The device will move to its home location and reset its Current Position. The Current Position value is now valid.

Using the Device

Below are several commonly used motion commands. Please refer to the command reference sections for a full list of available commands.

Step	Command to send			Description
	Device#	Command	Data
7	1	Return Current Position (60)	-	Query the position of device #1. (This is equivalent to issuing a Return Setting (53) command with a data value of 45 (Set Current Position))
8	1	Move Absolute (20)	10000	Move device #1 to position 10000 microsteps
9	2	Move Relative (21)	-12800	Move device #2 in the negative direction by 12800 microsteps
10	0	Move at Constant Speed (22)	153600	Move ALL devices in the positive direction at the speed 153600
11	0	Stop (23)	-	Decelerate and stop ALL devices. (If you send a second Stop command immediately, devices will not decelerate and will instead perform an "emergency" stop)

Reading, Writing and Restoring Device Settings

Here are some examples if you would like to customize particular device settings. Refer to the command reference section for detailed descriptions of each command.

Step	Command to send			Description
	Device#	Command	Data
	1	Set Target Speed (42)	100000	Set movement speed of device #1 to 100000
	1	Return Setting (53)	42	Query the Target Speed of device #1. The data value is the command number of the settings to be queried (42 is command # of Set Target Speed). Querying of most "Set..." commands are supported.
	1	Restore Settings (36)	0	Restore all settings to default. If a Peripheral Id has been assigned with Set Peripheral Id command, default settings for the assigned peripheral will be loaded. Note: Data value of 0 must be used.