Frequently Asked Questions

The lower voltage will only limit motor maximum speed but otherwise functionality stays same. For example 200VAC servo motor probably reaches ~50-65% of rated top speed at 160VDC supply. Voltage is solely determined by motor winding (number of coil turns) and usually motor makers offer different winding options to match different supply voltages.

Granite Devices offers drives that suit for multiple voltage motor classes. See ARGON for 100-300 VAC/VDC motors and IONI for low voltage motors below 100 V.

ARGON & IONI are designed for position, velocity or torque applications in automation and robotics as well as CNC equipment.

ARGON is perfect for you if you have:

• Motor type is AC, BLDC or brush DC servo motor
• Motor voltage rating between 100-300 VAC/VDC
• Motor current range is between 0.5 - 20 A
• 50 W to 1500W motor power rating
• Encoder or Resolver feedback device equipped on motor
• For more details, see this

IONI is perfect when

• Motor type is AC, BLDC, DC or Stepping motor (linear or rotary)
• Motor voltage rating is between 5-100 V (however, optimum between 12-50V)
• Motor current range is between 0.2 - 20 A
• 5 W to 500 W motor power rating
• Encoder feedback device on motor
• For more details, see this

List of all recommended items to get started in typical applications:

• Drives,
  • ARGON
  • IONI with IONICUBE motherboard
• SimpleMotion V2 USB Adapter (SMV2USB), just one needed for drive configuration purposes, and can be used for control as well
• A RJ45 cable to connect SMV2USB to drives (see examples)
• 24V power supply for drive logic circuity (at least 20W recommended)
• Motor power source
  • IONI only: servo power supply matching with motor rated voltage and power, typically 24-48 VDC and 150-500W switching mode AC-DC converter
  • ARGON: drive has internal power supply, connects to AC mains power network. Some power line filters may be needed.
• Controller, such as Mach3, LinuxCNC, PLC (programmable logic controller), Arduino, PC or similar *
• General wiring material, connectors and tools to connect all together. To get idea, see drive user guides from wikii.
• Servo motors (see GD's motors )

For SimpleMotion application you don't need the items marked with star. However, one USB adapter per drive axis is then needed.

The easiest approach is to use SimpleMotion library which talks to drives thru USB bus.

ARGON & IONI drives supports advanced internal homing function. When homing sequence starts, drive automatically drives motor to searches for home switch or mechanical hard stop and then optionally also encoder index pulse. Homing can be initiated by three ways:

• Automatically when powered on
• By a digital signal to one of drive inputs
• Via serial interface command

Homing gives several benefits:

• Absolute position of axis is known (origin becomes accurately same point on every power cycle)
• Drive allows setting soft travel limits to prevent axis runaway out of bounds

See more info about homing.