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Getting started with a siliXcon controller
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Welcome​

This wizard takes you from an unpacked controller to a controller you can talk to from your PC. It covers the part that every siliXcon motor controller shares. At the end it reads your controller's identity and hands you over to the wizard for the firmware it runs.

Plan about 30 minutes. You will:

  1. install SWTools, the PC software for siliXcon devices,
  2. wire the motor and the battery and power the controller on,
  3. connect to the controller from this page,
  4. learn which firmware application it runs and continue with the wizard for that application.

What you need​

  • A siliXcon motor controller and its product label. The label carries the basename, the HWID and the serial number.
  • A battery with a battery management system (BMS). Its voltage must be inside the controller's operating range.
  • A motor, with its position sensor if it has one.
  • A USB cable for the controller's USB connector, or a CAN interface (Kvaser or PEAK) if you connect over CAN.
  • A Windows PC. SWTools for macOS and Linux exists as a pre-release.

Three words you will meet​

  • Hardware series (AX, AM, TX, SX, SC, SL): the controller family. It decides the pinout, the wiring and the electrical limits. You read it from the HWID on the label.
  • Firmware application (LYNX, OPHION, FALCON, ECHO, IGNIS, ...): the personality of the controller. It decides which parameters and features exist, and which wizard you follow after this one. You read it from the SWID. What is an application?
  • SWTools: the free PC tools. Launchpad holds the connection settings, emGUI shows the controller's parameters, Upgrade changes the firmware.
Safety first
  • Do not connect the controller yet.
  • Lift the vehicle off the ground so the motor can spin freely, and secure it against movement.
  • Power the controller from a battery, never from a laboratory power supply. A motor that brakes pushes energy back, and only a battery can take it.
  • Use a battery with a BMS.
  • Read each step fully before acting on it. If something does not work, go back and check the previous step.
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