Finding the Index on an Incremental Encoder with a Digital Multimeter (DMM)

August 10, 2014

Sometimes you don’t have the right tools to do the job. Let’s say you needed to identify where the index pulse was firing on your incremental encoder, but you left your oscilloscope in your other jacket pocket, and now all you have on hand is a Digital Multimeter (DMM). Well...

Quantum Devices Optical Encoder Black/White Wire

August 2, 2014

What’s with this Black-White Wire? Quantum devices QR145 and QR200 optical encoders feature an extra black & white striped wire that serves as an alternate grounding connection for the encoder. This wire is intended to be used in situations where the encoder flex mount is not case grounded. The Black/White...

Optical Encoder Waveform Triggering

July 28, 2014

Seeing Encoder Quadrature with a Two-Channel Scope I received an e-mail from a customer concerned about the “out of control” optical encoder signals he was seeing on his Oscilloscope. The photo below shows the type of signal he was seeing: The encoder in question was a 10,000 Line Count optical...

Inverted Flex Mount for QD145 Optical Encoder

July 19, 2014

O. Another Way to Mount an Optical Encoder Instead of using an end bell,  a lot of our motor manufacturer customers recess the QD145 optical encoder into an extended motor housing and then seal the motor with an endplate. This has the advantage of being a lower cost item to...

Understanding Incremental Encoder Signals

June 29, 2014

Which Encoder Wires Should I Use to Begin Understanding Incremental Encoder Signals? Channels A & B (Incremental Channels) Use only A (or only B) for an RPM or counting applications where the rotation is either unidirectional, or where you don’t need to know direction. Use A and B together to...

Gray Code for Rotary Incremental Encoders

June 17, 2014

Gray code was named for Frank Gray, a Bell labs researcher, who patented the procession in 1953, even though a form of it was used by Emile Baudot for telegraphy as early as 1878. The most important thing to understand about Gray code is that only one bit changes from...

Interfacing a 5 Volt Incremental Encoder to 12 Volts

June 4, 2014

optoisolators can be a good solution to an Incremental Encoder voltage-interfacing problem

Build an Incremental Encoder Quick Tester

May 6, 2014

How to Build a Portable Incremental Encoder Tester Every once in while, it’s nice to have a handheld device that can be used to see quickly if encoder signals are present. I designed and built a quick-tester that allows for fast interface to an encoder without having to drag out...

Using an Optical Encoder to Show RPM on a PLC

April 27, 2014

. I have interfaced a 200 line count QR145 optical encoder to a DL06 PLC. The PLC’s inputs are set up in high speed mode to receive the incremental quadrature pulses coming from the optical encoder. . CT174, the designated high speed up/down counter is used to interface to the...

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