G540 HELP, cant get it to work

[dougie329]

I have been trying to get my G540 to work for several days now with no joy and am tearing my hair out. I have read the previous posts concerning the fault light and done everything I can to fix it but the dreaded red light is still on:

I am fairly sure the wiring in the enclosure is correct. Also an electrician friend has wired the motors so they should be good to go. I know from reading previous posts that the G540 is working as I can greenlight it if I switch charge pump off, if I plug a motor in and then switch the unit on goes straight to red light, doesnt matter which axis plug its in. chargepump on no matter what setting its still on red.

I have a parallel cable with a nicely named 'gender changer' socket on one end to convert to male-male, could this be the source of the problem and is there a way I can tell if the cable is communicating properly?

with the motors unplugged and light on green with charge pump disabled it wont pick up the external e-stop in mach. heres what I have been playing with amongst other settings:

1. changed to EPP mode in bios
2. loaded latest version of mach and loaded xml file
3. tried 2 different computers and 3 different parallel ports
4. bypassed the e-stop and jumpered pins 10 and 12
5. set 'charge pump on in e-stop' in mach settings
6. checked port address matches one in mach 3 which it does

[derant]

I was having the same fault problem you were having up until yesterday.

My setup is:
1. BIOS set to EPP.
2. Loaded g540B.xml from Gecko site.
3. Parallel cable...ensure that it is a parallel cable and NOT an 'Interlink' cable. You can also probe it out if you have a multimeter. Pin 1 on one end should be connected to pin 1 on the other end etc.

I haven't tested my motors yet, but I am able to use my e-stop, and toggle my relays on and off.

[dougie329]

ok tried a 3rd computer to see if it made any difference and it now recognises the charge pump and the green light stays on which it wasnt doing before.

redone all the setting:

EPP in bios
loaded xml file from gecko
probed the parallel cable and the pins all match

Also now it recognises the external e-stop in mach when I press it on the control box.

All looking good so far. Then I plug a motor in and the red light comes on. try switching charge pump off, still red light.

Posted a pic up of the motor configuration if someone can double check for bipolar parallel as it seems power supply, gecko, mach 3 linkup, e-stop are all working.

motors are currently wired:

*green/white-blk/white on pin 6
*black-green on pin 7
*red/white-yell/white on pin 8
*yellow-red on pin 9

the datasheet for the stepper motors is here http://www.slidesandballscrews.com/p...6-3008BF-1.pdf

[derant]

Originally Posted by dougie329 ...motors are currently wired: *green/white-blk/white on pin 6 *black-green on pin 7 *red/white-yell/white on pin 8 *yellow-red on pin 9 the datasheet for the stepper motors is here http://www.slidesandballscrews.com/pdf/steppermotors/SY60STH86-3008BF-1.pdf

I took a look at the spec sheet for the motors, and it seems you have the wiring incorrect. You are probably shorting the motor wires causing the fault condition.

I think this is the wiring you want:

RED/WHT - YEL (A) pin 9
YEL/WHT - RED (C) pin 8
GRN/WHT - BLK (B) pin 6
BLK/WHT - GRN (D) pin 7

You should probably put a resistor between pins 1 and 5 as well...most likely a 3.48k or 3.3k.

[dougie329]

oh the joy, figured it convinced myself the motors must not be wired correctly as everything else appeared to work fine.

Changed the leads around and it has life waaaaheeey

[dougie329]

thanks derant, just posted last msg up before I read yours. Thats exactly how I rewired it and its a flyin now.

[derant]

Jolly good show

[Mariss Freimanis]

dougie,

I just saw your post. Something else to make you feel even better; had you connected the motor as originally wired to most other drives, you would have smelled some expensive smoke. The G540 "saw" you had the motor miss-wired so it shut down and lit the dreaded red LED.

Mariss

[WillyInAus]

I love that little red light it saved my bacon today with a broken wire.

So glad I have a G540