Speed configuration uses two layers, and the split is intentional: physical speeds describe what the motor and driver can do, while logical speeds describe what your specific dome needs given its mechanics (gearing, dome diameter, friction, desired real-world rotation speed, etc.).
Keeping them separate pays off in two situations:
- If you install the same motor/driver combination on more than one dome, you only need to re-tune the logical range for each one—the physical range stays the same.
- After a mechanical repair or adjustment to the dome, you typically only need to revisit the logical range too, since the motor and driver themselves have not changed.
Physical speeds
Physical speeds are the raw parameters the motor driver works with. Their units depend on the motor type (e.g. steps/s for a stepper or a PWM-related value for a DC driver). They should be set once per motor/driver combination and left alone afterward—they do not depend on the specific dome the motor is installed on:
- Min—the slowest speed the motor can turn without stalling. Below this, the motor may not move reliably.
- Max—the fastest safe speed for your drive system.
- Accel—how quickly the motor ramps up from min to max, in ms.
Your preset loads sensible defaults, only adjust these if you know your motor's characteristics and are seeing stalling or noise.
Each side has its own jog buttons (<< < Stop motor
> >>) next to both the physical and logical speed
fields, so you can test a speed immediately after applying it. Test with the
motor disconnected from the dome or shutter mechanism first, so a wrong setting
cannot drive it into a limit or cause damage.
Logical speeds
Logical speeds are what your ASCOM driver and automation software see, expressed as percentages of the physical range. This is the layer you tune to match the concrete mechanical installation: setting logical min to 20% and max to 80%, for example, limits the software-accessible range to the middle portion of the motor's capability, which is useful if extreme speeds cause vibration or inaccuracy on that particular dome. Expect to revisit this range whenever the dome's mechanics change (after a repair, a gear or belt adjustment, added friction, and so on) even though the physical range underneath stays the same.
Initial motor configuration and settings will warn if logical min > logical max, or if the derived step value at logical min falls below the physical min. Always apply physical speeds before adjusting logical speeds.
If your motor type is Relays (CaterpillarR), speed controls are not available so the fields are disabled. This is expected: relay-based drives run at whatever speed the existing motor system provides.
Click Apply in each speed section to send the values to the board, then Save configuration to the board to persist them.