Help Make 1st Step - Wiring Up Drivers to Motor and Arduino

Hi All,

I would be grateful for some help to make my first step :D

I am using the following items:

1x arduino - for step signal
1x sigma 5120 driver
1x 60BYGH401-03
1x 36v psu
1x ATX psu

I have the motor wired in bipolar series configuration following the datasheet, the 36v psu and a 5v rail from the ATX psu are connected to the driver.

Using the arduino I am outputting pulses to pin 6 I have tried various pulse lengths from 50 microseconds to 200 and also in the milisecond range from 50 to 1000.

Currently there appears to be holding torque on the motor and an audible hum, it also warms to the touch so I assume that the motor is wired up correctly. Upon sending pulses to pin 6 the hum frequency changes slightly but there is no actual movement.

Any idea's / suggestions on what I may have missed would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Sam

Not saying I can help, but it would likely help the overall troubleshooting this if you took some DVM readings on your pins (for all the pins in play as per Section 2.5 of the datasheet).

Also section 4.1 of the datasheet tells you the possibilities for a holding torqe/no step scenario - have you checked all their suggestions?

Have got the enable pin (11) set correctly? if this is low this will act as a brake. Have you tried removing the Arduino and just hold the step wire to ground? this will test the motor and driver, when fault finding it is best to remove as many items as possible and rebuild piece by piece until the fault is found. Have you got all the grounds connected?

I have got enable unconnected, I have tried grounding it which results in the loss of holding torque. I tired this morning to hold the step wire to ground and nothing happened :(. I guess I need to test pin 6 to make sure that its soldered correctly and double check for any shorts. It does seem odd tho that when sending step signals it does sound like its trying to do something.

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Originally Posted by Treemonkey

I have got enable unconnected, I have tried grounding it which results in the loss of holding torque.

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This is what should happen. When your drive is disabled it is NOT holding (RTFM) So far so good - leave enable disconnected.

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Originally Posted by Treemonkey

I tired this morning to hold the step wire to ground and nothing happened

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This is also as it should be. If you RTFM it says steps occur on the RISING edge so holding it to GND will do nothing (except that when you remove it from GND - IF it has a pull up resistor it should step ONCE.

What is the step pulse MARK and SPACE from your Arduino? The timing sheet on page A-3 is a bit crap in that it gives the step clk width to the LOW and yet it says previously that it steps on the rising edge. Anyway if you arrange your Arduino to give a square wave of equal mark, space at around 50Hz it would be reasonable.

Make sure as well as your Arduino to driver pin6 step wire you've also connected the arduino GND also.

If that doesn't do it you may want to post your Arduino sketch for checking.

Ian

Doubt it'll help but maybe worth connecting pin 7 (direction) to be definitely either high or low? It should default to one way or t'other if left unconnected but might just be worth a try...
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Edit - scratch that - it says in the manual it defaults to clockwise if unconnected. As you were...

I would try connecting enable pin 11 to high as I beleive that leaving floating can cause it to be unstable, especially if you haven't got all the grounds connected in star. at least if you make it high then the drive will be enabled and you can cross it off the list.


Have you got a logic probe? these are good for testing logic status and detecting floating and ground issues

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This is also as it should be. If you RTFM it says steps occur on the RISING edge so holding it to GND will do nothing (except that when you remove it from GND - IF it has a pull up resistor it should step ONCE.

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Ok pulse it with 5v then. If it doesn't work by pulsing the step pin I doubt that it is the Arduino, would indicate a motor/ driver issue. Have you got any other motor or drives, would help establish if it is a hardware/wiring problem or software.

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Originally Posted by Ross77

I would try connecting enable pin 11 to high as I beleive that leaving floating can cause it to be unstable, especially if you haven't got all the grounds connected in star. at least if you make it high then the drive will be enabled and you can cross it off the list.

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Well I'm just suggesting things according to WHAT THE DATA SHEET SAYS which is that you can leave the enabled disconnected which will default to ENABLED. This implies it is NOT floating but is held high by an internal pullup. it'll certainly not do any harm to try this BUT as the OP has already said that the motor is HOLDING, it HAS to be enabled already as a disabled drive would allow the motor to be spun freely.

According to the data sheet test procedure the drive is behaving exactly as it should - so far. The ONLY thing that ISN'T happening is it isn't stepping and again according to the test procedure IN THE DATA SHEET the next thing to check is the step signal source. Hence my suggestion to check the Arduino GND is connected (a very commonly missed thing in Arduino land) and that the sketch is actually doing what he thinks it should. That's all.

Ian

Well I have had a poke around for 20 minutes this morning. And I couldn't really tell you what I did but It did start up and chugged a couple of steps.... then stopped again

I have tested the arduino output and that is fine.

It started up after i put the direction pin to ground unless I accidentally tapped another pin, I will have another read of the datasheet. It seemed as though it had remembered a sequence of steps / directions and then after getting the nod did them then promptly stopped again. I tried to re-create what happened but had to leave for work!

Guess that's progress :D

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I will have another read of the datasheet.

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Yes i think that reading THE DATA SHEET is the best course of action. :thumsup:

If you do get stuck you could see if there is a forum for CNC related issues and ask someone for help:whistle:

You might want to also double check you have the motor phases connected correctly.