*****I figured it out, the answer is at the bottom of this post. Someone knowledgeable with these controllers would have figured it out in the next 5 lines
I have a stepper motor kit with the intention of cnc'ing a 9x20 lathe.
3x 425ozin stepper motors
3x DQ542MA
1x 350w 60v power supply.
and db25 controller board (I have no intention of using)
For testing purposes, I am using new 3xAA's in series (~4.5V) to play with the control lines.
I plan on slamming my own simple software together using a raspberry pi 3A+ as the main controller and an atmega is timing control.
I have mounted everything nicely to a board for testing/programming purposes but I am getting stuck relatively quick with the controllers.
What I expect from piecing together everything:
-Enable lines are not required to be hooked up (some people hook up 1 wire, but I don't see how this will complete a circuit for the optocoupler, I consider it disconnected)
-From this point, if I apply GND and 5v to the pulse line, I expect the stepper to move one pulse.
What I get when no control lines connected(enable,pulse,direction):
-Red light stays on dq542ma when the power section is given
-motor stays loose
When I pulse pulse and direction with enable disconnected:
-Red light stays on dq542ma when the power section is given
-motor stays loose
When I 5v and gnd to enable and pulse pulse and direction:
-Red light stays on dq542ma when the power section is given
-motor stays loose
When I pulse the enable lines with pwr & gnd:
-Red light disappears
-Green light turns on
-motor tightens
-pulsing pulse and direction now work
-limited time (I did timed it, it is ~95 seconds) before it goes back to red light on, green light off, motor loose. pulsing it midway does NOT reset this counter.
-If I pulse the enable lines again it becomes alive again. But I can't hold enable
I have tried grounding the control lines instead of power, with no change.
This seems to be different from what I have been witnessing from other people.
All 3 controllers of mine appear to be reacting the same way.
Am I supposed to keep pulsing the enable line once in a while? (During power to the enable line, the motor goes loose and red light goes on. This doesn't feel like something one would wish to happen during high speed movement). It also does not seem to reset the 95 second internal timer.
I compared the internal jumper settings with another one during a youtube video and they appear to be set the same.
I'm at the point where I need someones experience with these things.
********** Solved **********
I was shipped the wrong power supply (60v).
The controllers are rated for 18v-50v.
I tried adjusting the 60v power supply lower (it stopped at 54.5v) which didn't change a thing.
I stole my 24v power supply from my 3d printer for testing...and it is now acting like EVERY other controller I see in the videos.
Also, the enable line having 1 wire on it does not change anything as I expected
I had a similar problem with my setup. Same drivers, slightly smaller motors (270 oz in), 350w/36vdc power supply. Couldn't get the motors to move and depending on the wiring scheme had the Red driver alarm light come on. Disconnected the Enable wires, even though the breakout board manual gave explicit instructions on how to connect them, and it worked. Glad it worked out for you.
My DQ542MA 's are confusing me
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