Need Help!- Gecko wiring clarifications?

[SPEEDRE]

I have taken my small control box and moved all the stuff to a salvaged empty computer case. More room , cooler, components further apart. Well, here I see that it says, don't daisy chain the Geckos, but it seems that's how they were set up , from the dealer,K2CNC, before I took them out of the cramped box. I wired up, checked for lose connections, powered up and... There is no movement. It all worked before I went and moved things. Why would they be set up like this if it is incorrect, and, should I change it to the proper set up? There is a capacitor that connects to a thing filled with black epoxy and it has 4 lugs two go to the trans. Now the cap. is connected to that thing and it is shared with the Z drive, which is connected to the Y drive, which is connected to the X drive. Is this not daisy chaining?? They are Gecko 201's. Motors are HD steppers. One more thing, is the power light in the upper right corner supposed to light up? Oh and are the all wired to the USB cable by one wire? I'm sorry for the long post but I know wack about electronics.

[Crevice Reamer]

Originally Posted by SPEEDRE I have taken my small control box and moved all the stuff to a salvaged empty computer case. More room , cooler, components further apart. Well, here I see that it says, don't daisy chain the Geckos, but it seems that's how they were set up , from the dealer,K2CNC, before I took them out of the cramped box. I wired up, checked for lose connections, powered up and... There is no movement. It all worked before I went and moved things. Why would they be set up like this if it is incorrect, and, should I change it to the proper set up? There is a capacitor that connects to a thing filled with black epoxy and it has 4 lugs two go to the trans. Now the cap. is connected to that thing and it is shared with the Z drive, which is connected to the Y drive, which is connected to the X drive. Is this not daisy chaining?? They are Gecko 201's. Motors are HD servos I think can't remember. One more thing, is the power light in the upper right corner supposed to light up? Oh and are the all wired to the USB cable by one wire? I'm sorry for the long post but I know wack about electronics.

HI SPEEDRE!

I have some questions:

Were you using the USB cable before?

Are you using G201 drivers with stepper motors? You mention Servo motors, so either you are using steppers, or a different Gecko driver like G320.

If you ARE using G201s, do you have power connected to terminal 1 & 2? THESE wires should not be "daisy chained" from one drive to another, but each drive should have its own power wires from the power supply.

If your drives are "Daisy Chained," then for example:

The red or + wire will come from the power supply to the X axis drive and connect to terminal 2. A wire will run from THAT terminal 2 to the Y drive terminal 2. A wire will run from the Y terminal 2 to the Z terminal 2. Ditto for the ground side and terminal ones.

Did you change the grounding from one case to another? EG: Was the previous case isolated from the geckos--But the new case has them grounded to the new case?

The "Power" LED should be lit when the drive is powered up.

CR.

[acondit]

Originally Posted by SPEEDRE I have taken my small control box and moved all the stuff to a salvaged empty computer case. More room , cooler, components further apart. Well, here I see that it says, don't daisy chain the Geckos, but it seems that's how they were set up , from the dealer,K2CNC, before I took them out of the cramped box. I wired up, checked for lose connections, powered up and... There is no movement. It all worked before I went and moved things. Why would they be set up like this if it is incorrect, and, should I change it to the proper set up? There is a capacitor that connects to a thing filled with black epoxy and it has 4 lugs two go to the trans. Now the cap. is connected to that thing and it is shared with the Z drive, which is connected to the Y drive, which is connected to the X drive. Is this not daisy chaining?? They are Gecko 201's. Motors are HD steppers. One more thing, is the power light in the upper right corner supposed to light up? Oh and are the all wired to the USB cable by one wire? I'm sorry for the long post but I know wack about electronics.

CR has answered most of your questions.

The "thing filled with black epoxy is your bridge rectifier that converts the secondary AC voltage to DC voltage. The capacitor is the filter capacitor for the power supply that smooths out the ripple resulting from conversion of AC voltage to DC voltage.
My guess is that the USB was providing the 5v logic power to the geckos.

Alan

[SPEEDRE]

The motors are HD steppers not servos , and the USB provides 5 VDC to terminal 10 on the Gecko. I can't be sure of the pilot light since I have'nt seen it powered up before. Now at terminals 1 & 2, they were connected to the corresponding terminals on all three axis, one to the other to the other so forth, which is shared by the capacitor connected to the bridge rectifier. Terminals 3, 4, 5, 6, are connected to DB9 hooded subs using only pin No's 1, 5, 6, 9. Terminals 8, 9 are connected to a cnc4pc BOB with 5V power supply. From there it goes via printer cable to the PC serial port. The only thing not included from the factory box is a DB25 using pins 2 thru 7 for step and direction and grounded from a mounting screw to the box. With that exception it is as the factory had wired it. I'm concerned by the drive wiring though. Is that correct given these conditions? How can I check the BOB to be sure the connections are good and it is functional? Remember I am eletro brain dead. LOL, LOL

[Crevice Reamer]

Originally Posted by SPEEDRE The only thing not included from the factory box is a DB25 using pins 2 thru 7 for step and direction and grounded from a mounting screw to the box.

Is this referencing pin 7 of the DRIVER or the DB25 connector? Is ANYTHING connected to pin 7 on the driver? Is the ground of the DB25 connector connected to any of the wires within? Are the power leds LIT?

CR.

[acondit]

Originally Posted by SPEEDRE The motors are HD steppers not servos , and the USB provides 5 VDC to terminal 10 on the Gecko. I can't be sure of the pilot light since I haven't seen it powered up before. Now at terminals 1 & 2, they were connected to the corresponding terminals on all three axis, one to the other to the other so forth, which is shared by the capacitor connected to the bridge rectifier. Terminals 3, 4, 5, 6, are connected to DB9 hooded subs using only pin No's 1, 5, 6, 9. Terminals 8, 9 are connected to a cnc4pc BOB with 5V power supply. From there it goes via printer cable to the PC serial port????. The only thing not included from the factory box is a DB25 using pins 2 thru 7 for step and direction and grounded from a mounting screw to the box. With that exception it is as the factory had wired it. I'm concerned by the drive wiring though. Is that correct given these conditions? How can I check the BOB to be sure the connections are good and it is functional? Remember I am eletro brain dead. LOL, LOL

It should be connected to the parallel port.

Did you connect term 3 to the same pin on the DB9 as before? Same question for each term 4, 5, 6?

I would suggest checking out the output from the Bridge rectifier to see if you are getting the expected voltage. Warning!! Messing around inside the power supply when you don't know what you are doing can be injurious to you health.

Also check out the BOB and see that it is putting out the 5V as expected. Why are you drawing part of the 5V power from the USB (computer) and part from the BOB?

Good luck,
Alan

[SPEEDRE]

I am sorry for the missteps. It is connected to the parallel port. The BOB has it's own Mini Power Supply and the USB is only for the drives, I think?. So how do I check the rectifier, with Volt-Ohm meter? As far as the DB25, pins 2-7 are used for step and direction. This all worked before I took it upon myself to move it to bigger quarters, I will try to provide a rough schematic tody after I draw one up.

[Crevice Reamer]

Are any of the power LEDs lit? Does ANYTHING happen when you power it up? What wires did you disconnect when you moved from one case to the other?

CR

[acondit]

I would use a Volt-Ohm meter set to voltage. Since the pilot light is not coming on, I would first check to see that I had 110v to the transformer primaries.

Then I would check the voltage at the DC (+ and -) connections of the rectifier then I would also check the voltage at the Geckos (pins 1 & 2). I would also check the voltage at the Geckos pins 7 and 10.

I am a little concerned about part of your logic supply voltage coming from the USB (from the computer) and part coming from the BOB's isolated 5v supply. I would tend to use the BOB's supply for both pins 7 and 10.

Alan

[Crevice Reamer]

Originally Posted by acondit I would use a Volt-Ohm meter set to voltage. Since the pilot light is not coming on, I would first check to see that I had 110v to the transformer primaries. Then I would check the voltage at the DC (+ and -) connections of the rectifier then I would also check the voltage at the Geckos (pins 1 & 2). I would also check the voltage at the Geckos pins 7 and 10. I am a little concerned about part of your logic supply voltage coming from the USB (from the computer) and part coming from the BOB's isolated 5v supply. I would tend to use the BOB's supply for both pins 7 and 10. Alan

I agree. except pin 7 of the GECKO is disable. You don't WANT to power that.

CR.

[acondit]

Originally Posted by Crevice Reamer I agree. except pin 7 of the GECKO is disable. You don't WANT to power that. CR.

According to the G201 manual it is disable when grounded. So it should either be pulled up to 5V for enable or hooked to an enable/disable signal from the computer (enable controlled by software).

Actually it may have an internal pullup on it, so you may be correct that it need not be connected to power, I personally use an enable controlled by software, (think charge pump).

Alan

[SPEEDRE]

OK I've done some schematics as they were wired from K2CNC, I just wired it the same way, no changes and one omission. That being the DB25 mounted to the front panel this is superseded by the DB25 connector at the breakout board. Pin 7 on the Geckos had no connection from it at all. When I added the breakout board I was urged to get the power supply from other discussions here. I had the box open after I re-positioned everything and powered up, no movements, noises or LED's on. Do I have to have the power on when I check the primaries and what should it read?