QUOTE(rwilner @ May 22 2012, 02:43 PM)
QUOTE(falconfp2001 @ May 22 2012, 01:48 PM)
The defaults made my system oscillate big time. I followed the PID tuning instructions and it is now minimized and is pretty stable but there is still no real instructions on this part. I know the theory but it would be nice to have a starting point and not so much guess work.
In my experience, PID loop tuning constants are determined pretty much via experimentation. If you can characterize your system (frequency of oscillations, step response) you can use a more heuristic technique like
Ziegler Nichols. Characterizing should be pretty easy to do using megalogviewer.
Ziegler Nichols gives good base-lines to start from, but beyond that may not be much help. You can also more analytically model your system (hello Simulink...
), but in my experience, the most time-effective way to PID tune is by experimentation. It's really something that just takes a lot of experience to expedite.