Stepper motor refuses to turn - Wiring & jumper errors

[Gato Richy]

Two threads joined together . . . .

First thread:

Hi Everyone: As I said in my last post, I'm null in electrics, just basics.

I could not find any transformer so far and I want to make a test, so I connected 3 batts 12x3=36 V.

I made this momentary electric board, so no laughs, ok?

I wired the 3 motors bipolar series. I have some trouble with it, since wire colors in MotionKing web site do not correspond to coils. I checked continuity and colors don't match with the site info.

http://motionking.com/support/unipolar_bipolar.htm

When swith on, I receive red-green leds on every g203v. If I disconnect a wire (coil) on any motor, then turns green.

As g203v manual says. There must be a short circuit in any motor output, but...I can't find any short. Also it says "momentary activate the DISABLE input to reset" How do I do that?

Any help appreciate

[Richards]

Richy,
It looks like you have connected each of the motors that give a red light exactly like you have connected the motor that gives a green light, although the colors aren't very clear on my monitor. Check very carefully for any loose strands of wire that might be bridging the terminals. If even one strand of wire from one terminal touches the wires in another terminal, you will have a short and the stepper driver will not work. Also, check carefully that the current limit resistors have the same color bands. (If you have used resistors with extremely high resistance and if you have a short, the motors will definitely draw too much current and the stepper drivers will do into a fault condition.)

[bradm]

Bipolar series and the wire colors didn't match the manual. Are these eight wire motors, by chance? If so, you might want to try wiring one of them half coil (double check your current set resistors, Mike's a smart cookie). If it works in half coil, then you still have some work to do sorting out which coils are which, and ensuring that you haven't set up a _magnetic_ short circuit.

[Gato Richy]

Thanks Richards and Brad:

These are 8 wires motors, connected bipolar series. The resistor should be 117,5k but found 100k for 5A (as manual).

In case of half coil, how can I make sure of not doing mag. short?

Thanks

[Gato Richy]

I spent the whole afternoon figuring out what's wrong, checking and checking. I found out when I turn on 3 or 4 times the power switch, the 3 geckos go green, the reason? a real mistery for me

[Gato Richy]

Second thread:

The specs

Steppers: MotionKing 34HS9802
Breakout Board: PMDX-122
Power source: 3x12 V = 36 V batteries in series for the moment, connected to batt charger.
Drivers: Gecko 203v

Testing with Z axis

When I use arrows in Mach3 "Config>Motor Tuning" pin2 led turns on in one direction.

The jumpers setting is just described as Fig 1 in the PMDX-122 manual.
There is no difference if I change JP1 to GND.

The motor gets HOT.

There is no way stepper turn.

Any help appreciatted.





The Pics

[Gerald D]

I think you have errors with the Gecko connections to the motor. . . . .

- Have you got instructions for the wire colours with the motors?
- Can you show on a photo how you have connected the motors to the geckos.
- Did you install resistors on the Geckos? How many ohms? Checked with a multimeter?

[domino11]

Rich,
What kind of charger are you using to charge the 36V battery bank, and how do you have it connected?
What is your voltage going to the geckos? With charger on and without?

[Gato Richy]

Originally Posted by Gerald D

I think you have errors with the Gecko connections to the motor. . . . .

- Have you got instructions for the wire colours with the motors?
- Can you show on a photo how you have connected the motors to the geckos.
- Did you install resistors on the Geckos? How many ohms? Checked with a multimeter?

Hi Gerald,

I followed instructions from MotionKing website, although colors do not match to actual motor color wiring. I checked coils measuring continuity and that gave me colors: blue-black, white-orange, green-brown and yellow-red. For Bipolar series I conected black-white and brown-yellow.

The resistor I installed original was 100 ohms for 0,25 Watts, I just checked with the multimeter (sellman gave the wrong I think) now I installed 100k for 0,5 W. I hope this mistake did not ruin the motors.

Attached are pics. Note, it's only one motor connected.

[Gato Richy]

Originally Posted by domino11

Rich,
What kind of charger are you using to charge the 36V battery bank, and how do you have it connected?
What is your voltage going to the geckos? With charger on and without?

I dont know what kind of charger is this. Batteries are connected in series, so the charger is connected to each end of one corner batt.

The voltage is 36 volts just batts and with charger on is 39.

[Gerald D]

From this data sheet, I get:

Clipboard01.gif

which is completely different to your wiring?

[Richards]

It looks like the wires are incorrectly connected.

The MotionKing data for the 34HS9802 motor shows that:

A = Red
/A = Yellow
C = Blue
/C = Black
B = White
/B = Orange
C = Brown
/C = Green


To connect the motor as bipolar series:
Connect Red to A, Black to /A and connect Yellow and Blue together. Connect White to B, Green to /B and connect Orange and Brown together.

To connect the motor as bipolar parallel:
Connect Red and Blue to A, Yellow and Black to /A.
Connect White and Brown to B, Orange and Green to /B

To connect the motor as unipolar (half-coil):
Connect Red to A, Yellow to /A. Insulate the Blue wire and the black wire (tape the ends individually)
Connect White to B, Orange to /B. Insulate the Brown wire and the Green wire (tape the ends individually)

(Edited: Gerald, you beat me again. I was writing when you posted.)

[Gerald D]

Originally Posted by Gato Richy

The resistor I installed original was 100 ohms for 0,25 Watts, I just checked with the multimeter (sellman gave the wrong I think) now I installed 100k for 0,5 W. .

If you go from 100 ohm to 100k then the current goes much higher.

[Gato Richy]

Originally Posted by Gerald D

If you go from 100 ohm to 100k then the current goes much higher.

is it bad? I'm sorry my electric knowledge is very limited.

[Gerald D]

Richy, I am not sure that you measured the resistor correctly. If it really was a 100 ohm resistor then the Gecko would give very little current to the motor. Maybe you are lucky that the 100 ohm resistor gave little current and caused no damage. If you change to 100kiloOhm then you might cause a lot of damage!

The first thing to do is to understand very carefully the motor wire colours. . . .

Originally Posted by Gato Richy

. . . from MotionKing website, although colors do not match to actual motor color wiring. I checked coils measuring continuity and that gave me colors: blue-black, white-orange, green-brown and yellow-red. For Bipolar series I conected black-white and brown-yellow.

Your continuity measurements prove that the website diagram is correct. Give me a few minutes and I will make a picture for you . . . .

[Gerald D]

Do agree that the names of the colours are correct?:

colours.jpg

[Gerald D]

Can you disconnect the motor completely and check all the coils for continuity again? This will tell you if the motor is damaged.

[Gerald D]

This is the correct connection for Bi-Polar Series:

Clipboard0BS.GIF

[domino11]

Gerald, Rich,
The resistor he has in the picture of the geckos is a 100 ohm resistor. Best to use a multimeter to measure the resistor to make sure you have the value you need.

[Gerald D]

Heath, I think that 100 ohm resistor saved his life!

This is how it is connected in the photo at the top:
Clipboard02.gif

[Gato Richy]

Originally Posted by Gerald D

From this data sheet, I get:

Attachment 4525

which is completely different to your wiring?

Your are right Gerald and Richards, I don't know why I used another wiring config from the same site.

Ok, since I checked the wiring and Resistance (I made sure 120k and 1/4 W). All 3 motors turn green in geckos, but...nether one moves

I don't know what else to checked, I've checked connections maybe 5 times.

My only concern is if I blew some fuse from geckos or burn the motors.


Thanks

Attached is the new wiring for jus one motor. Red to A, Yellow to /A, White to B and Orange to /B. The rest isolated individually as Half coil wiring.

[Gato Richy]

Originally Posted by Gerald D

Do agree that the names of the colours are correct?:

Attachment 4529

Yes I agree

[Gato Richy]

Originally Posted by Gerald D

Can you disconnect the motor completely and check all the coils for continuity again? This will tell you if the motor is damaged.

0,8 ohms even

[Gato Richy]

Originally Posted by domino11

Gerald, Rich,
The resistor he has in the picture of the geckos is a 100 ohm resistor. Best to use a multimeter to measure the resistor to make sure you have the value you need.

Thanks, now and on I'll do that.

[Richards]

A 120K resistor has Brown, Red, Yellow colors plus the tolerance color (gold or silver). Brown = 1, Red = 2, and Yellow = 0000. Put them together and you get 120,000 ohms.

You can test a Gecko G203v stepper drive with two batteries. (I think that Gerald described this method.) Leave the power supply connected to terminals 1 and 2. Leave the current limit resistor connected to terminals 11 and 12. Connect two fresh AA batteries so that you have about 3V. Connect the (-) end to the Gecko G203v Common terminal (10) and then touch the (+) end to the Gecko G203v Step terminal (9). Each time you touch the (+) end to the G203v, the motor will move at least one step (usually more because of signal bouncing). If the motor starts to rotate, then the components are still okay and the problem is in a faulty wiring connection or a faulty setting in the Mach 3 software.

If you have a Green LED, the stepper drives should be just fine. If the motors stay moderately warm when sitting idle with power connected (about 75F to 124F or 25C to 50C) then the motors are probably okay. Stepper motors are hardy devices. Unless you smelled burning and saw smoke, you're probably okay.

[Gato Richy]

Thanks Richards, I followed your instructions and all steppers seems to work fine.

I tested again with Mach3 and ....nothing. At least, I'm half happy I didnt burn the steppers.

[Gerald D]

That is good news!

Now you must carefully check the jumpers on the PMDX and check your Mach3 Ports and Pins settings

[Gato Richy]

Hi, finally. They are turning.

The error? JP1. When I tried moving to GND I wasnt using the correct wiring. So now, finally started working.

Thanks Gerald and Richards. You are invited to my party to celebrate this magnificent event.

You dont know how important this project is to me, it took 2 years to this point.

Please, I need some advice to make some other test, before I make the final wiring and datails.

Thanks again.

[Gerald D]

Go and test the temperature of the beer in your refrigerator!

I think that you have passed the most important test . . . . from here it gets easier.

[lunaj76]

Great going gentlemen!