Introduction

Overview

The TI-5000JX is a complete solution for testing, debugging, and aligning feedback devices typically found on modern brushless permanent magnet servo motors. It offers users the ability to:

1. Easily perform tests on pulse based devices such as incremental encoders.
2. Easily read and display counts, speeds, and states of input pulse lines from many devices (including encoders).
3. Easily perform tests on resolver feedback devices.
4. Run diagnostics on serial encoders.

How to use this manual

This manual is shipped with new units as a bound print version. It is also shipped on the installation CD as a PDF file. When the Athena program is installed, the PDF file is accessible from the Athena Help menu providing Acrobat Readers is installed on the user’s PC. This PDF copy of the manual may be copied and distributed freely among company personnel. It may be viewed on any PC equipped with Acrobat reader. This manual contains a great deal of important information pertaining to the use of the Athena and to certain topics in servo motor repair in general. We hope that it will be widely read.

Section 2 of this manual describes the Athena Operation. This section will be all that many users need to effectively apply the unit in their applications. For users who need to know more specifics of how the Athena makes measurements and how details on how various feedback devices work, Section 3, 'Testing and Encoder Background Information', will be beneficial. It should not be necessary for the typical user to read Section 3, but the additional information may be helpful. The first part of Section 3 covers terminology, and that is recommended reading due to the confusing terminology in use with encoders today.

Always make certain that the software revision noted on the front of this manual agrees with the revision
shown on the sign-on message on the display when the unit is powered up.

Setup and Software Installation

The TI-5000JX utilizes a PC for operator interface. It uses an RS232 or USB cable connected to a PC for
both operator interface and downloading new software.

Hardware Connections

1. The TI-5000JX unit is powered by a wall mount power supply which is supplied with the system. Plug the power supply cable into the TI-5000JX power jack, J3, and plug the power supply into a 110 VAC outlet (if using 240VAC, verify that the power supply supports it).
2. Select the cable harness for the encoder to be tested. Plug the 14 pin terminal block into J1 of the TI-5000JX (and in some cases J2 if the encoder includes commutation lines or J12 if it is a resolver). Connect the encoder into the mating connector on the other end of the harness.
3.  Move the TI-5000JX power switch to the ON position to apply power to the TI-5000EX and the encoder under test.

Software Installation

Note: : If you have recently purchases a new unit or software upgrades or updates, please follow the instructions that were sent with the purchase. These instructions could be more recent and would supersede instructions in this manual.

A summary of the software installation is as follows:

1. The TI-5000JX includes 3 programs that are installed with the latest version at the time of purchase, so you will not normally need to load any programs into the TI-5000JX tester when it is a new purchased. A procedure is provided below for loading program upgrades and updates into your TI-5000JX at a later date.
2. You must load the Athena program and associated software onto your PC for a new purchase. This software is contained on the CD Rom that comes with your new system. When you update or upgrade your software, it will often only be necessary to copy the new Athena program to your PC.

The TI-5000JX tester must communicate with the PC (desktop or notebook) that is to be used as the operator interface. Athena.exe is the operator interface program that runs on the PC. Communications between the tester unit and the PC are accomplished using a PC COM port. The COM port can be either a real RS232 COM port or a USB Virtual COM port.

If an RS232 COM port is used, the TI-5000JX must be connected to the female DB9 connector on the PC using the blue RS232 ribbon cable supplied with the tester. In either case, when Athena is started, you must go to the System Setup menu and select the COM port that you have decided to use (COM1, COM2, COM3, etc.). This should only be necessary one time, and the configuration file will remember the selection when the program is started in the future.

If you communicate between the PC and the TI-5000JX tester using the USB port (rather than the RS232 port),you will need to install the USB drivers onto your PC using the CD Rom. A procedure below describes that installation.

USB to serial converter cables are available which will plug into the PC USB port and provide you with a COM port with a female DB9 to which you can connect the blue ribbon cable. To use this device, you will need to follow the instructions that come with it for installing drivers on your PC. When you start Athena the first time, you will need to go to the System Setup menu and select the COM port that has been assigned to the USB to serial converter. Often you will be able to tell which COM port was assigned during the driver installation. Otherwise you can find out from the Windows Device Manager.

ATHENA PC SOFTWARE INSTALLATION

1. The software can be installed by double clicking on the install.bat file on the CD. It will install the TI-5000JX files in a folder called TI5000JX. It will not affect your present TI-5000 installation at all. You can have both systems installed and run either one, but you cannot run both at the same time.
2. Athena may have issues when changing logged in users on PCs running Windows XP Pro. To avoid problems with more than one user, copy the TI5000JX folder from the root directory (where it is installed by install.bat) to the Shared Documents folder. This seems to allow access by all users.

PC USB DRIVER INSTALLATION

The TI-5000JX has its own USB port which can be set up as a USB Virtual COM port. This is probably the simplest way to go other than a standard RS232 serial port. For this you can use the standard USB cable that comes with your TI-5000JX, and plug one end into the PC USB port and the other end into the TI-5000JX USB port. However, the first time you make this connection you should follow the sequence below for installing the USB drivers.

This is the sequence for Windows XP. Other versions of Windows may differ somewhat, but they should be close to this.

1. Make sure that the latest distribution files are located on your PC in the folder: C:\TI5000JX. If not, then perform the installation to put them there.
2. Plug the USB cable into the TI-5000JX and into the USB port that you wish to use on the PC, and power up the TI-5000JX.
3. The Found New Hardware Wizard window should open up. “Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software?”. Click “No, not this time” and then click the Next button. 
4. The next window will say “What do you want the wizard to do?”. Click on “Install from a list or specific location (Advanced).” And then click the Next button. 
5. In the next window, click on “Search for best driver in these locations.” Then check the box beneath it labeled “Include this location in the search:”. Then click on the Browse button beneath the check box, and navigate to the C:\TI5000JX folder and click on the TI5000JX_USB_DriverInstaller within it. This is the folder that contains the drivers to be installed. Click OK in the browse window and then click the Next button.
6. A window will pop up that says “Please wait while the wizard installs the software…”. Then another
   window will pop us that says:
   
   “The software you are installing for this hardware: TI5000JX USB Composite Device has not passed Windows logo testing…”. Click on the Continue Anyway button. Wait for the installation to complete, and another window will pop up saying: The wizard has finished installing the software for: TI5000JX USB Composite Device”. This will indicate that this phase of the installation has completed.
   
   Note: The Silabs drivers used for this USB device actually have passed the Windows Logo testing.However, because the USB device in your TI-5000JX uses the Mitchell Electronics, Inc. product identification number (PID), Windows does not recognize the drivers as Silabs.
   
   
7. Click the Finish button, and the wizard will disappear. However another new hardware wizard will
   quickly appear. This is normal because there are two sets of drivers to be installed. Simply repeat
   steps 3 through 6 again to install the next set of files. When it is finished, the last window will say:
   
   “The wizard has finished installing the software for: TI-5000JX USB to UART Bridge Controller”. This will indicate that the installation is complete. Click the Finish button to terminate the wizard.

As described above for the USB to RS232 converter, you will need to select the correct COM port in the System Setup menu. You can use the Windows Device Manager (as described above) to determine the correct COM port. The Device Manager will identify the TI-5000JX device. For example, if you see “TI 5000JX USB to UART Bridge Controller (COM7)”, then you would select COM7 in the Athena System Setup menu.

The USB port will now be used to communicate with your TI-5000JX in the same way as a conventional RS232 port. You will use it during testing, as well as when downloading new software to your TI-5000JX unit.

The USB port in the TI-5000JX is powered by the USB rather than the TI-5000 power supply. This allows you to power down the TI-5000JX without losing the USB connection. Often you will wish to power down the unit when connecting encoders, etc. As long as you do not disconnect the USB cable, the USB port will remain connected. If you need to disconnect the USB port, you should first exit the Athena software and power down the TI-5000JX.

DOWNLOAD PROGRAMS TO THE TI-5000JX USING ATHENA

New purchases come with the TI-5000JX application program already installed, so this step is not normally necessary. However this section describes how future updates and upgrades can easily be downloaded to the TI-5000JX using the Athena downloader function. Athena is the Windows based interface for the TI-5000JX encoder test system. It is the program that you run on your PC whenever you use your TI-5000JX tester.

To download your program using the Athena downloader, the following steps should be followed:

1. Connect the RS232 or USB cable from the TI-5000JX to the PC in the normal manner (it is probably already connected as a result of your day to day use).
2. Insert the upgrade media in to the appropriate drive on the PC (diskette into floppy disk drive A: or CD ROM into the CD ROM drive) so that you can locate the new file to download. If the new file came via email or internet download, just insure that you can find it in whichever folder it is located on your PC. An example of a filename would be: “TI-5000_010008_000F000000000000.s”. It will start with “TI-5000” and end in “.s”
3. Start Athena in the normal manner (using shortcut on desktop or double clicking on Athena.exe from Windows Explorer or MyComputer). 
4. Click on System Setup on the Menu Bar, and then click on the Download TI-5000JX Software tab. Follow the instructions in the Instructions/Comments box. The first instruction will be to select the file to download. This is done by pressing the Select File button. Select the floppy drive A:, CD Rom drive, or appropriate folder as discussed in 2. above, and continue until you find the file that you wish to download. Click on the filename to highlight it and select it. Press OK after the correct file is selected. The program will next prompt you to click on the Start Download button. After clicking the Start Download button, you will be prompted to make sure the RS232 cable is connected, turn the TI-5000JX OFF (if it is not already OFF), and then to turn the TI-5000JX unit back ON.
   As the board powers up, the downloading begins, and a new prompt appears telling you to wait for the code to download. A progress bar will appear to indicate the progress in the download operation. A Download Completed Successfully box will appear when the download is complete. Press the OK button on this message box.
5. Exit Athena and power down the TI-5000JX. Power up the TI-5000JX and restart Athena. Go to the Athena System Setup menu and check for the correct version number. Check the Currently Licensed Options frame to make sure that any new encoder support appears in the list. Also make sure that all of your previously licensed options still appear in the list. If the licensed options are incorrect, contact the factory for support.

If the unit does not come up properly, repeat the download procedure. If the unit still does not come up
properly, call for factory support.