g-rex open-circuit protection?

[Claude Boudreau]

Hi, I have read that gecko is short circuit protected , but does it have protection for an open circuit in your motor wiring ?

[Mariss Freimanis]

Open circuits put zero stress on the drive so no protection is necessary. A motor winding wire going from closed circuit to open circuit (like a wire breaking) places an enormous stress on the drive because the resulting arc has thousands of volts. The drives survive that but it's not recommended.:-)

Mariss

[Claude Boudreau]

Xylotex specifically warn you that you can burn your board that way , so g-rex is confident that its board will survive by not warning you? I understand its not something to try intentionnaly but a bad connection or break in wiring is always a possibility.

[ger21]

The G-Rex is not a drive, but a motion controller. The different Gecko drives have different levels of protection. Are you asking about a G201, G202, or G203?

[Claude Boudreau]

Originally Posted by ger21 The G-Rex is not a drive, but a motion controller. The different Gecko drives have different levels of protection. Are you asking about a G201, G202, or G203?

OK thanks for the clarification I was just thinking of improving my home made router that is presently using xylotex and Mach3. So what drive does offer the best protection ? And can they be use with Mach3 without problems?

[Richards]

The G540 is excellent and works very well with Mach 3. I have four Oriental Motor PK296B2A-SG3.6 connected to a G540 that uses a 35V power supply. Those same motors have been run with G203v stepper drivers, a PMDX-122 break-out-board and a 35VDC power supply. Either the G540 or the G203v and break-out-board combination gives excellent performance. I have also run those motors with G202 stepper drivers. (I bought those G202 drivers before the G203v came out.) The G202 is an excellent drive and it also works very well with Mach 3. I have another test bench running four G203v drivers, a G100 pulse generator, a 50V power supply and four PK268-02AA motors.

All the Gecko products have worked perfectly for me. They all work well with Mach 3. My favorite product right now is the G540. If you can use motors that require 3.5A or less and that run at 50VDC or less, and if the limited I/O meets your needs, the G540 is ideal. If you're using larger motors or if you need more I/O, then the G203v with a good break-out-board might work better.