Incremental Encoders with Hickory

[cncsnw]

In short, yes, you can configure a Hickory control to just use incremental encoders.

You would set up the servo drives, CNC12 parameters, and homing macro just like you would on an Oak system.

This can be a vastly preferable setup, for example on a mobile machine where the servo motors frequently get unplugged from their cables. With only incremental encoder feedback, the user does not have to launch SigmaWin or similar software to reset "absolute encoder backup error" conditions every time the motor gets disconnected and reconnected.

[eng199]

EtherCAT drives typically do not report an index pulse. The index pulse is synthesized from position. This is why the requirement is for single turn absolute encoders at minimum. If the encoder is incremental, the index pulse will not be repeatable across power cycles. ClearPath drive and motor combination is the only one supported at this time with incremental encoder. All others can not be expected to home to exact location without absolute encoder.

The battery should stay connected to the motor to avoid absolute encoder errors from the drive. Unfortunately, this is not always possible with available cables. An upgraded HICKORY feature set will be available at some point that will allow incremental encoder use with Yaskawa.