If a manufacturer says they have a 30-bit system, isn’t that great? I’m talking about 1,073,741,824 positions.
If that’s not accurate, I don’t know what is.
Hmm… maybe not. Because if the encoder only has a few lines—128, for example—the system still won’t be able to position accurately.
Why? Because it essentially depends on the number of lines and not the number of bits. (see video for details)
Typical in an automation context are approx. 2048 lines, sometimes also 4096. More is rarely needed. Less is rarely used, as it would not be a great advantage in terms of price. If you need to position less accurately, you can choose a resolver with a significant price advantage, for example.
The number of bits is actually always sufficient in the systems by default to “resolve” enough positions.
In summary:
✅ Number of lines -> Determines how accurately you can control and position
✅ Number of bits -> Determines how finely you can count positions.
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