Rotary axis conflicts with relay K1

[Brad H]

I have a 126 with an ethernet SS  driving the parallel ports. I just added a rotary actuator using port 1 pin 16 for step and port 1 pin 17 for direction. Everything appears operational as did my first cuts this afternoon.  The issue is the Router comes on (controlled by relay K1) when the system powers up and then shuts off after everything is up and running.  I don't have the problem if pin 17 is disconnected. I am running in Normal mode so not using the charge pump. My understanding is that pin 17 is available for motor control under these conditions. What am I missing?

Thanks

Brad

[12strings]

I'm a bit confused.  Are you saying that if you leave the port 1 pin 17 screw terminal (J6 pin 5) connected as the "DIR" pin for your rotary actuator, relay K1 turns on your router when you power on the system?  And then turns off when "things are up and running"?  But if you disconnect the wire from the port 1 pin 17 screw terminal, when you power on the system relay K1 does NOT turn on your router?

What do you mean by "up and running" when you describe when the router turns off?

How are all of your DIP switches set (which ones are pushed towards the "open" text on the silkscreen, and which ones are pushed tpwards the "config" silkscreen text)?  And how is jumper JP1 configured?

What exactly do you have the pin "16" and "17" screw terminals (J6 pin 4 and 5) connected to?

[Brad H]

Your first paragraph is correct. By "up and running" I mean the software loaded. But the ability to control the relay is not consistent. Some times the relay/router is always on.

All the dip switches are in the closed position.

JP1 is set to "Pin 1"

Pin 16 and pin 17 are wired to the step and direction terminals respectively of a GeckoDrive G201X motor driver.

I hope this helps clarity. Thanks

Brad

[12strings]

Because you have the charge pump disabled on the PMDX-126, the outputs from the PMDX-126 *MAY* turn on and off while the SmoothStepper powers up and configures.  I say "may" because I don't know what happens to the SS "parallel port" pins while the SS is starting up and while the Mach3/Mach4 plug-in is initializing the board.  But the 126 will do whatever the SS tells it to do.

There should be no connection between what happens on the pin 16 or pin 17 outputs and pin 1 driving the relay.  At least not in the 126.

Are you powering the SS from the 126 or from a separate power supply?

Are you running Mach3 or Mach4?  If it is Mach3, double and triple check that you don't have multiple Mach signals driving pin 1.  Check the motor step/dir pins as well as the output signals.  Does the SS still have its own pin mapping config dialog?  If so, look there as well.  Or post your XML file.  I'm pretty sure Mach4 won't allow multiple signals to be mapped to the same output pin.

When you say "sometimes the relay'router is always on",  is that after everything is up and running?  Or is that during startup?

Does the K1 relay behave differently if you disable the motor axis driving pins 16 and 17?

[Brad H]

I finally got back to this.

The SS is powered by the 126

I am running Mach 3 and went over the configurations a couple of times. The attached PDF shows my configuration.

I don't find any SS pin mapping dialog program/page.

What I am see now is on a "cold" start ( system turned off for a couple of hours) I get the bad behavior of the router starting just a second or so after the power is turned on (computer still loading up) and I cannot control the motor with the M3 or M5 commands once Mach3 is up.  If I then turn the system off and back on again now the router does not come on right away and I can control it with the M3 and M5 commands.

What I did today is move the 4th axis DIR signal from Port 1 Pin 17 to Port 1 pin 14 but that did not make any change.

If anyone has any ideas on the source of this strange behavior your input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Brad

[12strings]

Try powering the SS from an external power supply instead of the PMDX-126, if you have one or can tap into the 5V supply from your PC.

Are you running 120VAC into the PMDX-126, or are you not in the US and powering it with some other voltage (220/208??)?  Do you have the PMDX-126's AC input selector switch set for the actual AC input voltage?

[Brad H]

I am in the US running 120 VAC to the 126 board. AC in voltage switch is 115.   I just put an external PS on the SS and they system seems to work. The supply I added is a 5V 3A linear equipment supply so it should have plenty of juice. Measured in at 4.97V under operation.  Will have to run it for a while to see if the problem comes back.

Thanks

[Brad H]

Things have been better since I added the external 5V supply on the ESS. But it still misbehaves once and a while.  The router will turn on when the machine is idle or the router will not turn off with the M05 command like it usually does.  One of these happens about every couple of days or every couple of hours of running.

Any idea what to look at next?

Thanks

[12strings]

How you you have the PMDX-126's DIP switches and jumper JP1 and JP2 configured?

When the router turns on unexpectedly, is the LED on the PMDX-126 next to relay K2 on?  How about the LED next to screw terminal J6 labeled "16"?

When you issue an M05 and the router remains on, do these two LEDs change?

If you click on the Mach3 "Estop" button to disable Mach4 (or whatever that button in the lower left corner is called, its been a while since I've run Mach :) does the router stop?

When you hit your external (physical) ESTOP switch, does the router stop?