Have things wired....now a few questions

[DAB_Design]

I recieved all my stuff from camtronics today. 320's and 600oz servo kit.

While wiring everything up, I noticed a few things that confused me.

First, the +5 from pc. From what I've read so far, this is for 'return communication' from the gecko's. To the software? I'm not sure how/where to get the 5v from, as per the kit, it is wired to recieve it from somewhere outside the case (I installed mine in an old pc case rather than the case he offers). Could someone help me out with understanding this?

B: there are 470uf 63v resistors included in the kit. But the instructions say "for higher powered operation......cap must be installed" as though they may not be needed. The gecko docs says to use them "if an external power supply is used for the encoder". I'm not using an exteral power supply. And what would be considered 'higher powered operation'? If they are to be used, do I wire them in the same connectors as the ground and +16-80v? Or would I have to go from the ground and 16-80v to the cap then to the geckos?

III: I have 4 wires running to the encoders. enc-, enc+, phase a and phase b. But the encoders have a 5 pin connector. The pins on the encoder are labeled ground, index, ch. a, +5v and ch. b. I've figured out that enc- should go to the ground. Phase a to ch.a. Phase b to ch. b. But what about my enc +. Does it go to the index or +5v. My best guess would be to the +5v. But is the other pin (index) just not used?

And last but not least......I don't have a breakout board for the 25pin connector. So can I just wire the step and dir. wires directly to a 25 pin connector from radio shack? Are those the only 6 wires needed (no limit or home switches yet).

I really wish I understood all of this. I kind of feel like a gimp asking what probably are simple questions.

[HillBilly]

You are correct with respect to the encoder wiring. The index or the marker pulse is used for high precision homing of a axis or spindle syncronization.

Darek

[sol]

Ahh man I went through the same fog but have only the Gecko 320s not the Camtronics package.

The +5 volt comes from the game port or the computer's power supply; use a ½ Amp fuse close to the source; the computer's power supply puts out some serious current, no need to cook anything.

Can't help you about the "higher powered operation"

Yeah, like Darek said just ignore the ‘index' pin on the encoder.

Yes you can just wire the geckos directly to the parallel ports... 1 step and 1 direction each, no breakout board needed.

There is a bit of a show and tell on this on my site...get there by clicking my name above.

Good luck, it will seem easy once it is done....

[DAB_Design]

Thanks for the responce sol!

I actually had your site bookmarked.

Here's another +5v question. Does it have to come from the PC? Also, does it have to be 5v? I have a battery charger from an old RC car. Basically, it plugs into the wall, and has a 2 pin connector. Printed on the plug is:
INPUT: 120VAC 60Hz 11W
OUTPUT: 9VDC 500mA

Would this work? If so, how would I wire the + and - leads? I would assume the + would go directly to one of the gecko's then daisy chained to the other two? And the - to where I have my power supply grounded?

Sorry, but I never have understood electricity. Amps, watts, volts, current, etc.

Thanks again.

[sol]

I have read about people using wall warts as the 5VDC for the Geckos but I believe once word got out that the computer power supply was what was recommended by the designer the practice has faded.

No, I would not use anything other than 5VDC...it does not take much to cook "modern" electronics..folks have even fried works just measuring them with old VO Meters that used transistor radio (9V) batteries.

This brings up the question....Why not use the computer's power supply? It really is easy to tie into one of the 5V lines; most all power supplies have extra connectors literally hanging around. Just plug a single pin into one of the extra sockets. The color codes for the wires are usually printed on the top of the power supply so you do not have to play plug and hope.
Also the game port has a 5VDC output on pin 1 so you would not even have to open your computer case. The image below shows the pin order.

[DAB_Design]

Woohoo! After about an hour and a half of some final wiring. Then about another hour and a half of ironing out the settings, things are spinnin!

I just unplugged one of my dvd drives and plugged a wire into the +5v from that. I still don't quite understand what this is for, but as long as things work....

The encoders on the drives are 250cpr. And the steps per unit in Mach2 had to be set to 10000. I have the vel. set at 1.5 and Accel at 11. Only thing that I'll have to work out now is the the motors seem a bit 'jerky'. Not sure if this is changed with software settings above or maybe gain/damping on the geckos? Right now I have all 3 set at 12 o'clock (50%).

Unfortunately, the PC I will be using in the garage won't run Mach2 so I'll have to start over on the software settings in TurboCNC when I get things out there later today.

Thanks again sol for the help!