Can Servo Drives Run Without Encoder Feedback?

[Z. Khalid]

Hi all,

I hope you’re all doing well. I’ve got a quick technical question about the SINAMICS S210 servo drive that I’ve been working with. Specifically, I’m wondering if this type of drive supports running in an open-loop mode purely for testing purposes—just to let the motor spin without encoder feedback in a no-load scenario. More generally, I’m curious whether these servo drives typically support that kind of open-loop operation for a quick functional check.

If anyone has experience with running the S210 or similar drives in this way, I’d really appreciate your insights!

Thanks in advance!

[BeBuLamar]

You need to read the manual but I am sure that it can do it if you just want to know you can make the motor runs.

[Doctorandus_P]

Closed loop stepper motor drivers very often have a setting to work in an open loop configuration, but for PMSM (BLDC) servo's it's much less common to use them in open loop. But if your driver has an even halfway decent manual, then you should be able to find this easily in the manual.