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  1. #1
    Hi all,

    Just wondering if it is necessary to use the enable pins, I notice a lot of setups do not use them. What is the purpose of them? Any drawbacks to not using them?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Clive S's Avatar
    Lives in Marple Stockport, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 14 Hours Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 3,333. Received thanks 618 times, giving thanks to others 78 times. Made a monetary donation to the upkeep of the community. Is a beta tester for Machinists Network features.
    Quote Originally Posted by ROBCNCAU View Post
    Hi all,

    Just wondering if it is necessary to use the enable pins, I notice a lot of setups do not use them. What is the purpose of them? Any drawbacks to not using them?

    Thanks
    They are not generally necessary to use them but they can be used to halt the drives from the motion controller via the BOB.
    ..Clive
    The more you know, The better you know, How little you know

  3. #3
    So it would be a good idea to use them then? It is only an one extra wire to hook up.

  4. #4
    Clive S's Avatar
    Lives in Marple Stockport, United Kingdom. Last Activity: 14 Hours Ago Forum Superstar, has done so much to help others, they deserve a medal. Has been a member for 9-10 years. Has a total post count of 3,333. Received thanks 618 times, giving thanks to others 78 times. Made a monetary donation to the upkeep of the community. Is a beta tester for Machinists Network features.
    Quote Originally Posted by ROBCNCAU View Post
    So it would be a good idea to use them then? It is only an one extra wire to hook up.
    Yes but stall detect would be a better option for me especially if you have a slaved axis
    ..Clive
    The more you know, The better you know, How little you know

  5. #5
    I use a Pilz safety relay which sends an e-mail stop signal to the motion controller, takes power off the driver power supply, and also removes the enable signal from the drivers. One of those should stop the machine! The safety relay is tripped by the e-stop switches and the driver fault signals which are all wired in series. There are enough relay contacts on the safety relay to do that so, as you say, for the sake of a piece of wire it's easy enough to do. I wanted to make sure that the stall detect would stop the machine as I am using slaved motors for the X axis.

  6. #6
    [Posted twice]
    Last edited by Neale; 21-08-2016 at 06:47 AM.

  7. #7
    Doesn't the EN pin free the motor so you can do a bit of manual positioning? If so it makes for a crummy emergency stop because there is no braking. OTOH if your drivers have no pattern memory and revert to a set home pattern when you switch on, then EN would be a good option if you wanted everything to cool down while you replaced a broken tool, went out to buy milk, fags etc.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Neale View Post
    This thread has drifted some way from the original question about enable pins on drivers, but I don't think that there has been a definitive answer to that one yet...
    Quote Originally Posted by ROBCNCAU View Post
    Hi all,

    Just wondering if it is necessary to use the enable pins, I notice a lot of setups do not use them. What is the purpose of them? Any drawbacks to not using them?

    Thanks
    You don't have to use them, they are automatically pulled to the enable state by internal circuitry in the drive, if you connect the appropriate external circuit for your drive to pull the enable pin to the disable state the drive is disabled.
    It's down to you to decide if you need this function and what for, if you don't need to disable the drives ignore it as enabled is the default state for common drives,

    - Nick
    Last edited by magicniner; 24-08-2016 at 12:40 PM.
    You think that's too expensive? You're not a Model Engineer are you? :D

  9. #9
    I know this is an old thread, but for folks searching for information about using the enable pin: Check the current requirements of your driver input and the current capability of your BOB/controller before you hook multiple enables to a single output on your BOB. A lot of the drivers draw 12+ MA. on their input pin and some BOB/Controllers can only source as little as 24mA.

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