Burning out StepSticks 
Posted by epoxi
|
Burning out StepSticks December 14, 2011 12:14AM |
Hello RepRappers!
Well, I'm writing this because I blew up 2 Stepsticks in a a row, and 1 more the next day... And I don't understand why that happened yet.
I made mayself the RAMPS 1.25 board (the one with the 1K R for the LED). I attached some photos of it. Note that the pictures were taken before the Diode 1N4004 was desoldered, and the MFR500 fuse was installed.
I'll tell my story. After verify that PCB didn't have any shorts, I connected it to the Mega, with Sprinter software configured for software endstops.
Then connected a StipStick and an SBS motor (a 7.5deg 13ohm by coil) to the X axis. Power up with 12V 1A, and the mega via USB.
Pronterface did it very well. The X Stepper was moving. And then I did the same for the other axis, including the extruder. All were fine. Also the MOS outputs were functional!
At this point, and looking all was goning good, I made a print simulation with Repsnapper. The X stepper moved flawlessly, changing speed and direction.
Then came the nightmare... That night, when showing the progress to a friend, the Stepper stopped moving, and the Stepstick started to get hot. Really hot. Disconnected the power. Because didn't knew what happened (a few hours before was running fine), moved the test to the breadboard.
So I recreated the X axis, connecting it to the very same pins in the Arduino mega board... and nothing the StepStick was dead.
The same happened with the second one... 2 drivers dead now.
Then removed the Sprinter firmware, and uploaded a very basic program that moves the motor 48 steps side to side, using the same pins on the Arduino as the RAMPS does (24, 26, 28). And It worked!!! I stopped all tests there. Without a clue of what happened to the other drivers..
I continued the tests the next day. Same config... Breadboard with the StepStick and the Mega. It was running for a while, until it stopped.
The same situation as before. The stepstick was dead.
My question is, do these drivers burn so easily??
I bought them from ebay --> HERE
Does anyone worked with these drivers before? A picture is attached of them also -->
Now I don't know how to continue... Is my RAMPS killing my drivers? The firmware? The stepper or the power supply?
I hope you could help me. I was so close to start assembling my RepStrap...
Thanks guys!
Well, I'm writing this because I blew up 2 Stepsticks in a a row, and 1 more the next day... And I don't understand why that happened yet.
I made mayself the RAMPS 1.25 board (the one with the 1K R for the LED). I attached some photos of it. Note that the pictures were taken before the Diode 1N4004 was desoldered, and the MFR500 fuse was installed.
I'll tell my story. After verify that PCB didn't have any shorts, I connected it to the Mega, with Sprinter software configured for software endstops.
Then connected a StipStick and an SBS motor (a 7.5deg 13ohm by coil) to the X axis. Power up with 12V 1A, and the mega via USB.
Pronterface did it very well. The X Stepper was moving. And then I did the same for the other axis, including the extruder. All were fine. Also the MOS outputs were functional!
At this point, and looking all was goning good, I made a print simulation with Repsnapper. The X stepper moved flawlessly, changing speed and direction.
Then came the nightmare... That night, when showing the progress to a friend, the Stepper stopped moving, and the Stepstick started to get hot. Really hot. Disconnected the power. Because didn't knew what happened (a few hours before was running fine), moved the test to the breadboard.
So I recreated the X axis, connecting it to the very same pins in the Arduino mega board... and nothing the StepStick was dead.
The same happened with the second one... 2 drivers dead now.
Then removed the Sprinter firmware, and uploaded a very basic program that moves the motor 48 steps side to side, using the same pins on the Arduino as the RAMPS does (24, 26, 28). And It worked!!! I stopped all tests there. Without a clue of what happened to the other drivers..
I continued the tests the next day. Same config... Breadboard with the StepStick and the Mega. It was running for a while, until it stopped.
The same situation as before. The stepstick was dead.
My question is, do these drivers burn so easily??
I bought them from ebay --> HERE
Does anyone worked with these drivers before? A picture is attached of them also -->
Now I don't know how to continue... Is my RAMPS killing my drivers? The firmware? The stepper or the power supply?
I hope you could help me. I was so close to start assembling my RepStrap...
Thanks guys!
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