[Solved] Stepper driver LEDs always on, motor does not turn

Hello RepRappers,

I have a set of generation 3 boards from the grrf.de shop and have not physically modified them for mendel (yet). The only modification is in the firmware; I put the mendel firmware from the FiveD_GCode_Interpreter.pde sketch in reprap-mendel-20100806.zip. I have 4 stepper motors that should work with generation 3 electronics.

Now, as the subject line already told you, when I hook up the stepper driver board and a motor I can't get it to turn. All LEDs next to the motor connector light up and stay like that. They don't blink when I instruct the motor to move (on the XYZ tab in the Reprap Console).

I checked my 10 way ribbon cable and it's OK. The other connectors are pretty straight forward.

More information on my Mendel building efforts can be found here

Did I likely fry my stepper boards? Who can help me get my motors turning? Please reply.

[Edit: Issue seems solved, I've added [Solved] to the title of the thread. -Sebastien]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2010 06:06AM by SebastienBailard.

Hello Peter,

I expect It's one or more of these three problems -

1 ) - Make sure you have the POT turned to about half way for testing.

2) - You need to have the Opto MIN board connected, or that tells the mainboard not to move the motor as it thinks you are at the end of travel.

3) - Or (More likely) - The GRRF stepper boards have a problem with component C2, a 1000nF capacitor has been fitted and it should be a 1nF. This stops the step signal from getting to the motor driver. Change it to 1nF and all will be ok.

I doubt you have done any damage to the steppers.

PM me when you get to testing the Extruder board as I expect you may have some other problems to resolve...

Cheers,

Rich.

Rich,

Thanks for your reply. I have made sure to set the POT to the right setting, even fully open the motor does not turn. The opto MIN is connected and the LED lights up when I block it. So then perhaps the board is manufactured wrong you say? Well I think I'll go post in the grrf.de support forum first then, I just noticed it opened 5 days ago.

Thanks again,
Peter

Hi Peter,

... can you check, if you have the first steper-driver boards with the wrong capacitor C2?

The first charge has it with 1000nf, but it has to be 1nf - or the stepper won't turn ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Hi Viktor,

I'm not sure how to check. There is no labeling on the little C2 component, but it looks like it's the same as the C3. Does that tell you anything? Maybe this picture helps [openfarmtech.org]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2010 05:05AM by PeterK.

... C3 is 220nF, C2 has to be 1nF, but in the wrong populated boards it was 1000nF

I think you'll have to check/ask which board revision you have ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Hello RepRappers,

It seems that indeed my boards are not manufactured correctly. The official support question and answer can be found here:
GRRF Support forum

I don't feel like resoldering these, I don't have the right components either, so I'll let GRRF fix it for me. I'll mark this topic solved when my boards are right.

You could just remove them. If you keep the wires between the motherboard and the stepper boards short you should be OK without them.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Hello RepRappers,

I should mention that although the mail service was in no hurry at all, the boards are now fixed and back here. GRRF took good care of them, and me.

I'm not sure how to change the topic of the thread, but this issue is now solved.

Peter