Treadmill pwm control

Thread Starter

Seshan

Joined Aug 8, 2021
9
Yes another question about controlling a treadmill control board with Pwm(I want to use a pwm generator since the main control panel is so bulky), I’ve have spent hours trying to find any information on this board but haven’t found much.
I’m pretty sure it’s pwm control since it’s says pwm-13 on it.

I’m not really sure on where to start with what wires to use and what hz to use? Or if I can even control it at the main board?

I can see printed on the board, MFI and itm.pwm-13 ver.d
If anyone can help me that would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

9F3F3644-1100-4CE1-949D-3D74D8DD8713.jpeg
C57D86E8-A5F3-49E1-8C52-81177FDEF60F.jpeg
29D2BC31-4D22-4012-8FAE-DBBB4F402F38.jpeg
 

LowQCab

Joined Nov 6, 2012
4,023
Are You trying to make a practical, operable, Treadmill ?,
or are You planning to use the motor for some other use ?

Quite often, the Electronics provided with Treadmills are built to a Cost-Number,
rather than placing much emphasis on reliability.
.
.
.
 

Dumb-ton

Joined Oct 16, 2022
10
Are You trying to make a practical, operable, Treadmill ?,
or are You planning to use the motor for some other use ?

Quite often, the Electronics provided with Treadmills are built to a Cost-Number,
rather than placing much emphasis on reliability.
.
.
.
looks like an mc21/similar? see thread. nb new oem ones ARE NOT cheap. check ebay etc.
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
One way is to look out for local TM.s that are not-working give-away for PU
They are often a good source for the MC2100 versions, which can often be fixed easily, if the problem is the main board.
If this is for other purposes etc.
 

Thread Starter

Seshan

Joined Aug 8, 2021
9
I’m currently using it from my honey extractor. I actually like some of the features, it seems to adjust speed depend on how much load is on it. So when the frames start to empty it keeps the speed constant. I’d really like to keep it if I can. I’ll look up some info on the mc21 and see if it can help me with this one.
 

andersonv

Joined Jun 9, 2011
4
Hi
Most treadmill panels only send directly to the main board through the cable, the signals for the UP speed key, DOWN speed key and an ENABLE signal that is commonly a type of "dead man switch" or an emergency stop switch.
And the panel gets back from the main board the power supply voltage and a pulsed signal from the speed sensor.

Probably your treadmill from the pictures works like this, so you don't need to generate any PWM signal to control the main board without the original treadmill panel.

So, if you want to use the treadmill motor and main board without the panel, you only need to figure out the cable pins to enable the motor and the up/down speed keys and the common (GND) wire. Then you can put the switches in a little box to control it without the panel.
To figure out the pins and its functions, you can test continuity with a multimeter between the panel keys and the connector that goes to the main board.
 

andersonv

Joined Jun 9, 2011
4
One tip:
The metal part of the voltage regulator at position U6 usually is the GND and the common for the switches. So you can take it as reference to find the common pin of the connector that goes to the main board.
panel.jpeg
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
On the MC2100 versions, the signal from the Console is 50hz PWM, this can easily be replicated. the normal feedback is through the track sensor back to the console, where the loop is closed, so if no other feedback is adopted in the new application, it runs open loop, but still not bad for a lot of applications.
 

Thread Starter

Seshan

Joined Aug 8, 2021
9
Hi
Most treadmill panels only send directly to the main board through the cable, the signals for the UP speed key, DOWN speed key and an ENABLE signal that is commonly a type of "dead man switch" or an emergency stop switch.
And the panel gets back from the main board the power supply voltage and a pulsed signal from the speed sensor.

Probably your treadmill from the pictures works like this, so you don't need to generate any PWM signal to control the main board without the original treadmill panel.

So, if you want to use the treadmill motor and main board without the panel, you only need to figure out the cable pins to enable the motor and the up/down speed keys and the common (GND) wire. Then you can put the switches in a little box to control it without the panel.
To figure out the pins and its functions, you can test continuity with a multimeter between the panel keys and the connector that goes to the main board.
I can't find a direct connection, there is an IC behind epoxy and everything leads into that.
 

Thread Starter

Seshan

Joined Aug 8, 2021
9
On the MC2100 versions, the signal from the Console is 50hz PWM, this can easily be replicated. the normal feedback is through the track sensor back to the console, where the loop is closed, so if no other feedback is adopted in the new application, it runs open loop, but still not bad for a lot of applications.
Any idea on what wires I need to use? there is 7 the middle one is ground.
6D7633C0-94B9-4541-AF44-4B484D68FE28.jpeg
 
I had worked some time with treadmill hardware development, and from other manufactures I saw three types of control coming from the panel to the main board:

1- Four wire PWM: It has GND, VCC, PWM to tell the main board the set speed and one speed feedback to show in the panel display.

2- Four wire serial communication: It has GND, VCC, TX and RX.

3- Five or more wires that use push buttons to control the speed: It has GND, VCC, speed up, speed down, and enable.
Sometimes the speed sensor feedback signal comes from the main board in the same connector and sometimes it has another two way connector with GND and the speed feedback coming directly from the speed sensor to the panel.
In some models the main board connector also has more than one GND.


If you can't get a service manual with the connector pinout or someone that has this information, I think the only way is trying measure the signals on the connector pins to understand its functions.

You can measure the voltage between ground and the other pins of the connector when the motor is stopped, when you press speed up and so on.
But pay attention to not get an electric shock when testing it powered, some models are not isolated from the mains.


Do you have an oscilloscope?
It will help you find quickly the PWM signal if the panel sends one to set the speed of the main board.
 

Thread Starter

Seshan

Joined Aug 8, 2021
9
well I f-d up the control panel and it no longer works. But…. I got it it working with a PWM generator. It took pwm on the green wire which would make it run for a bit then it would shut down, I guessing it needs some kind of feed back. I do have the reed switch connected to the board still but that doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
So I played around a little more and it seems like if I send PWM to green and purple it will run stable. But I need to connect green first then purple for it to start. This is going to make it kinda awkward to control.
 

Thread Starter

Seshan

Joined Aug 8, 2021
9
well I f-d up the control panel and it no longer works. But…. I got it it working with a PWM generator. It took pwm on the green wire which would make it run for a bit then it would shut down, I guessing it needs some kind of feed back. I do have the reed switch connected to the board still but that doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
So I played around a little more and it seems like if I send PWM to green and purple it will run stable. But I need to connect green first then purple for it to start. This is going to make it kinda awkward to control.
Okay so it’s still shutting down, just takes a bit longer. Not sure what to do now.
 

LowQCab

Joined Nov 6, 2012
4,023
I’m currently using it from my honey extractor. I actually like some of the features, it seems to adjust speed depend on how much load is on it. So when the frames start to empty it keeps the speed constant. I’d really like to keep it if I can. I’ll look up some info on the mc21 and see if it can help me with this one.
.
Do You want to just build a control-box that works ?,
or are you set on trying to make what You have hopefully do the job ?

If You have previous experience with building basic Electronic-Projects
then making your own from scratch is not all that difficult,
and can be made to perform the desired work very reliably.

The place to start is with making a list of performance goals,
then work-out the mechanical details such as Gear or Belt Speed-Reduction schemes,
then assess the existing environment .........
What type of Input Voltage do You have to work with ?,
What Voltage is the Motor rated for, and at what RPM ?,
Does the Motor have way more than adequate Power,
or will it's full rated capacity be required under certain circumstances ?,
Will this project be subjected to the weather ?,

Then what type of Automatic-Controls are needed,
What type of Safety-Controls are needed,
What type of Manual-Controls are needed,
( Manual-Speed-Adjustment, "Jog-Button", "Return to Home", etc. )

Respond to this Post if this sounds like something You would like to pursue.
.
.
.
 
well I f-d up the control panel and it no longer works. But…. I got it it working with a PWM generator. It took pwm on the green wire which would make it run for a bit then it would shut down, I guessing it needs some kind of feed back. I do have the reed switch connected to the board still but that doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
So I played around a little more and it seems like if I send PWM to green and purple it will run stable. But I need to connect green first then purple for it to start. This is going to make it kinda awkward to control.
What happened to the control panel?
It died or is given error codes?
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,617
Check continuity of the cable between console and main board. often breaks or intermittent's occur.
If you have access to a 'scope, check if the PWM is arriving at the motor board.
 

Thread Starter

Seshan

Joined Aug 8, 2021
9
Check continuity of the cable between console and main board. often breaks or intermittent's occur.
If you have access to a 'scope, check if the PWM is arriving at the motor board.
I’ve check everything I could think of and I can’t find what’s wrong, when I press start it just doesn’t do anything, the display still reads stop. More selection still works.
As for controlling with pwm, I’ve managed to get it to a point where it will speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down etc… it seems to do this for ever instead of before where it would shut down after a bit. So progress I guess? Lowering the Hz seemed to achieve this. I’m at 31hz I’ve tried lower but it doesn’t even work if I go much lower.
 

Thread Starter

Seshan

Joined Aug 8, 2021
9
Check continuity of the cable between console and main board. often breaks or intermittent's occur.
If you have access to a 'scope, check if the PWM is arriving at the motor board.
I think I might just have to either buy a KB drive or find a mc2100, I need to get my honey extractor working do you happen to know what brands/models in Canada have mc2100 in them?
 
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