Probably basic question about how control a DC motor

Question

over the past weeks I was trying to figure out how use the information from hall sensor to control a DC motor. Basically this is the motor which I'm using: https://www.servocity.com/32-rpm-hd-premium-planetary-gear-motor-w-encoder I chose this motor because torque is enough for my application. Basically I would like to use the signal from hall sensor to fix several position (10 position) and make something similar to "stepper motor". Briefly, my goal is create a system in which I could start the system, then the system go to a "home position", and wait for "go to position 1" or "go to position 10", I would like to fix absolute position using the hall sensor that came with the motor (The rotational speed would be slow). Theoretically this seems to be easy but right now I'm stuck in how fix the absolute position. And probably my real question is: Using this motor and a limit switch with roller lever, is it possible to make this kind of application? Thanks a lot for read this post.

PS. In case you wonder why I omit other technical details like the board, driver for the motor, connections, is because I more interesting in the odds to make this application using this motor, or it would be better make an optical encoder with shaft disk that sense 10 position. To be honest I'm looking for the most parsimonious solution.

Answer 1

Since the encoder with that motor is an incremental encoder, you would have to keep track of the motor position constantly.

If you really want to go to a home position, you'll need another sensor, like a limit switch, to tell you when you've gotten to home.

There are also physical problems such as acceleration and deceleration which makes stopping immediately difficult, and you will need to take this into account.

In order to get to ten spots reliably, you will probably need as much resolution in your encoder as possible.