[bsharp]

Ok I have 4 G320’s and three problems.

Problem 1:
Two of them seem like they have no output to the motor. When you power them on the Fault LED comes on and I have 5 volts at encoder power. When I jump encoder 5 volts to err/reset the light goes out and nothing happens. I then can turn the motor and the Fault LED will come on. I suspect that something with the output portion of the drive is blown? Why and how could this happen?

Problem 2:
One of the 4 when powered on will lurch. When main DC power is initially applied to the drive the motor connected to it will lurch an inch or so and stop. When the drive is enabled by supplying 5volts from the encoder supply to err/reset terminal it seams fine. Although if I turn the gain almost all the way down the motor will start to creep in one direction. Why and how could this happen?

The Last problem I have is that it seams like I cannot get any help with these. In the last month or so I have spent nearly 500 dollars on these things and cannot even get a response out of anyone. Let alone any technical help. I am really wishing right now I had never bought them and spent the extra money and bought real drives from somewhere else. If I had the money to do it over you bet your ox I would.

[dertsap]

thats unusual , gecko's support is second to none

[cncadmin]

Did you "tune in" the drives?? The damp, limit and gain.

[turmite]

Ok I have 4 G320’s and three problems.

Problem 1:
Two of them seem like they have no output to the motor. When you power them on the Fault LED comes on and I have 5 volts at encoder power. When I jump encoder 5 volts to err/reset the light goes out and nothing happens. I then can turn the motor and the Fault LED will come on. I suspect that something with the output portion of the drive is blown? Why and how could this happen?

Problem 2:
One of the 4 when powered on will lurch. When main DC power is initially applied to the drive the motor connected to it will lurch an inch or so and stop. When the drive is enabled by supplying 5volts from the encoder supply to err/reset terminal it seams fine. Although if I turn the gain almost all the way down the motor will start to creep in one direction. Why and how could this happen?

The Last problem I have is that it seams like I cannot get any help with these. In the last month or so I have spent nearly 500 dollars on these things and cannot even get a response out of anyone. Let alone any technical help. I am really wishing right now I had never bought them and spent the extra money and bought real drives from somewhere else. If I had the money to do it over you bet your ox I would.

Have you tried calling them? I can tell you that if Mariss know's about your problem he will help. I had problems getting my drives hooked up the first time because I was using a jury rigged power supply. He spent nearly two hours two different days talking me through where to check the voltages and how to wire my rigged ps, which had nothing to do with his drives other than the fact I needed the ps to run them. His support is second to none...period! Call him and ask to speak to him (Mariss).

Mike

[M100]

Mariss seems to have been extremely quiet on the Gecko mail list recently. Maybe there is something more pressing going on at Gecko and the usual VERY HIGH standards of support have slipped.

[Mariss Freimanis]

Mariss seems to have been extremely quiet on the Gecko mail list recently. Maybe there is something more pressing going on at Gecko and the usual VERY HIGH standards of support have slipped.

Yes, there is something pressing at Geckodrive. I'm now in the "tunnel-vision" phase of designing the new PID stepper servo drive.

Mariss

[bsharp]

Marris was out of town for a wedding. After getting bashed up and down on the gecko forum when trying to ask for help I decided to return the drives. When Marris did return he did say that he would refund my money if I returned them. Many people seem to have had good experiences with them but I am one that did not. Basically getting ridiculed, Ignored, and made fun of is not the kind of company or people I want to deal with. I think the first clue was when I sent them an Email before I bought the drives and never got a response. But I figured with all the great things I have heard about gecko drives how could I go wrong. I have built and ran Dave's stepper boards for years and had no problems with help from him or on his forum. Hopefully he will indeed give me a refund. And I will more than likely never buy another gecko again. I will build a drive myself first.

[turmite]

Marris was out of town for a wedding. After getting bashed up and down on the gecko forum when trying to ask for help I decided to return the drives. When Marris did return he did say that he would refund my money if I returned them. Many people seem to have had good experiences with them but I am one that did not. Basically getting ridiculed, Ignored, and made fun of is not the kind of company or people I want to deal with. I think the first clue was when I sent them an Email before I bought the drives and never got a response. But I figured with all the great things I have heard about gecko drives how could I go wrong. I have built and ran Dave's stepper boards for years and had no problems with help from him or on his forum. Hopefully he will indeed give me a refund. And I will more than likely never buy another gecko again. I will build a drive myself first.

Brein, like I told you over there on Gecko's yahoo group, it was, and is your attitude that caused the problem. It seems to me like you would have opened your eyes to the fact that there is a reason the guys there, and here, are almost, if not totally supportive of Mariss. It is because we have experience, and it is good. I'm sorry that you have the perception that Mariss doesn't care, becaue it simply is not true. Here is my quote from this thread......you should have heeded it!

"Have you tried calling them? I can tell you that if Mariss know's about your problem he will help. I had problems getting my drives hooked up the first time because I was using a jury rigged power supply. He spent nearly two hours two different days talking me through where to check the voltages and how to wire my rigged ps, which had nothing to do with his drives other than the fact I needed the ps to run them. His support is second to none...period! Call him and ask to speak to him (Mariss)."

Mike

Mike

[bsharp]

"Brein, like I told you over there on Gecko's yahoo group, it was, and is your attitude that caused the problem."

Well I was getting frustrated after two weeks of trying to get some help. I did respond pretty negatively to some of the more arrogant reply after I made my final decision. That is one thing I cannot stand is arrogance.

"It seems to me like you would have opened your eyes to the fact that there is a reason the guys there, and here, are almost, if not totally supportive of Mariss."

I could really care less whether the guys are totally supportive to Mariss or not. I am the one that needed support "help" "I am the customer". I can see that there is a lot of fan boys in the Gecko forum. This is a down fall to any product as it will hinder needed unbiased suggestive criticisms. And in a true professional business this type of stuff would never happen.

"It is because we have experience, and it is good."

You could have fooled me! I am still waiting for an answer to my problem. I am sorry but if someone is that good and has that much experience its not going to take two weeks to figure it out. All I wanted was a little help and it turned into a pain in the rear end. I have over 10 years experience working with all kinds of CNC machines and robotics. I do not need any one to tell me how to build a power supply or how to completely set it up. I initially had simple questions about the product. The documentation of the product is far from well detailed. And because of the lack of assistance the problems progressed.

"I'm sorry that you have the perception that Mariss doesn't care, becaue it simply is not true."

I have never said anything personally or directly against Mariss. It was all directed to the Fan Boys that cant handle a little negative response directed to there idol product. The fact that I have not yet gotten a response from him or any one at Gecko makes me question it though.

"Here is my quote from this thread......you should have heeded it!"

I thank you for you help and input on the situation. At this point you are one of the two or three people that have even tried to help. I know that you where trying to help me and it is appreciated.

The drives are on there way back to Gecko. Hopefully Mariss will honer his Gecko Yahoo group posting that he would refund me my money. This will be your answer to whether or not he really cares about the customer. I will post the out come of the situation to let you know.

[M100]

" I can see that there is a lot of fan boys in the Gecko forum. This is a down fall to any product as it will hinder needed unbiased suggestive criticisms.

The "fan boys" (geez what an insult) tried all they could to help you. They provided lots of advice and suggestions as they always do. That Mariss wasn't around 24/7/365 shouldn't and doesn't seem to be a problem to anyone but you (and maybe recently one other "customer")

Around a year ago I started investigating suitable drives for a future 4 axis cnc project, Gecko's were one of many that I initially considered but as my build was scheduled for winter 2007/2007 I could take my time and make an informed decision to purchase based on the quality of design, and the pre and aftersales support. So I subscribed to the Gecko mailing list on Yahoo to see what real customers were experiencing. After more than 20 years employed in the process control/automation industry, albeit in a completely different sphere, the level of support and backup for their relatively low priced items has simply amazed me.

In the past year, with one or two gaps while I was elsewhere I've received around 3200 messages from the Gecko mailing list or an average of around 8 per day. Around 20% of those messages have been from Mariss usually responding promptly to people's problems and providing in depth but *extremely* readable responses into why particular design decisions have been made. Over all that time a very small number of messages have expressed disatisfaction with their purchase or the application of their purchase.

On a very rough basis every 12 hours Mariss has posted to the mailing list, as a past customer of a few multinationals, some with many tens of thousands of employees, waiting a few hours or maybe days for a response to a problem on a $100 item would be considered something exceptionally good. Hell I've waited *months* for a proper technical response to a problem on a $150,000 system.

So as an outside observer with absolutely no connection to Gecko except as a purchaser of four of their drives (just before their summer sale) I'd say your experience is not typical, that you still aren't satisfied is an indication that you are a prime customer for something other than Gecko. Your choice of course but on the evidence of the support normally supplied, and the no nonsense guarantee It wouldn't be mine.

m100
Not a "Gecko Fan Boy" but a fan of Gecko

[AdyAstley]

I sent a mail to Marris and I understand he's busy and that's fine and normal. During waiting for an answer I thought the other guys that know more than most could even help me with a strange problem I created. I admit this is something I did with the help of a trusted friend and caused myself a common problem on all 3 G320 drives so this is not a winge and I really like Gecko's drives and admire the guy who invented the drives and especially G203V as I have this type also.
OK get to the point I hear...I was running my milling conversion for a while all working well on trials, then tried a cut and one of the drives (X axis) stalled and the others run on along with the spindle. This was because I still had my err/res connected to the +5V of the encoder supply. Well I got thinking about some of the solutions and made myself a small circuit that basically used an external 5vdc that went to a button and opened a change-over relay that sits in my limit switch / estop circuit on pin 11. This same 5 volts that actually drives an opto that sends the signal to a 24v relay also went to the drive err/res very similar to using a 3 position switch as in the manual. I tested my circuit without connecting and it worked the 5 volts was there whilst button is pressed and then floated around 2v and if this wire is earthed to 0v it opens the contact and in theory disconnects the circuit to stop all driving. Applying 5 volts resets the relay and voila *I thought!

I then, feeling happy connected the circuit all common to the 3 x err/res terminals and tested it without putting my supply fuses for each drive. The fault light lit up on each drive which I thought strange but paid little thought to it. I then put only the fuse in the x drive supply and pressed the button for the 5 seconds and noticed the x motor jerk and the light flashes but still on fault after letting go of the button.

I then decided to return the whole thing as it was and found that all 3 drives now jerk as soon as I put on the power. I would like to know what it is I did wrong if from this info anyone can guess. The other thing is do I need to buy new drives?

Like I say it was my own fault anyhow for not building a circuit identical to the one posted (due to lack of parts where I am) and the timeline I was trying to work to. I need my garage back so I have to finish this project.

Okay I will check the response before I do much else on the machine.

Many thanks in advance for anyone that has ideas.

I'm not totally crazy but I'm working on it.

[CoAMarcus]

It is very possible that you could have sent more than just the 5V to the drives. If you like, you can send them back to us for evaluation. If you get them to us, we will check them out, fix any problems (provided it IS fixable ;-) ), and mail it back to you free of charge. Once we see the drives we would have a better idea of what exactly went wrong.

If you like, you can send me an email at support at geckodrive dot com. I apologize if any previous emails went unanswered. Thank you.

-Marcus

[Mariss Freimanis]

Brien,

You have no need to question my honor. Perhaps you move in different circles than I.

Mariss

[smreish]

Brien,

You have no need to question my honor. Perhaps you move in different circles than I.

Mariss

Kudo's to Mariss. I was fortunate enough to call and ask for some guidance on the proper power supply voltage & size for my 5 drive system yesterday. Mariss took the time to analyze my motors, mechanical application and usage *duty cycle* etc. All in all...I received a very succinct and clear engineered answer way above the call of duty for a drive manufacture. I will never use any other drive product other than Gecko for my CNC needs. bar none - perfect support.

Thanks again Mariss, I can't wait to check my new system out in situ.
Sean

[bsharp]

Is the check in the mail? Or did you credit my account?

[turmite]

Is the check in the mail? Or did you credit my account?

Either way you get what you wanted. A full refund on damaged goods. You know I did all I could to help you by encouraging you to do what was needed to get resolution to this, and you implied on another thread that you had done everything properly and yet the photographic evidence shows different.
That photo shows more of your personality and mindset than you probably wish.

Had I been in Mariss' shoes when opening the box and saw the cases of the drives, you would not have received a refund.

On another note though, thanks for the contest!:wave:

Mike

[bsharp]

Either way you get what you wanted. A full refund on damaged goods. You know I did all I could to help you by encouraging you to do what was needed to get resolution to this, and you implied on another thread that you had done everything properly and yet the photographic evidence shows different.
That photo shows more of your personality and mindset than you probably wish.

Had I been in Mariss' shoes when opening the box and saw the cases of the drives, you would not have received a refund.

On another note though, thanks for the contest!:wave:

Mike

Mike the trimming of the mounting plate did not effect the operation of the drive. It was not my initial intension on ever having to return the drives. And was done to accommodate larger flanged mounting screws. The two that where trimmed had blown outputs. One of the others was in "as new working order". And the other would lurch at power up? All the drives where tested on the same axis of the machine. Hence Same wiring same encoder same motor and swapped multiples of times on this one axis. Maybe the trip back home magically fixed them? Or a quick swap of the driver board? At this point I do not really care. I am just waiting for my refund as promised. I would seriously take a second look at the mindset and personality of a person that would go as far as ridiculing and making a joke out of his own customers misfortune. To most people this sort of thing coming from an individual seems childish and spiteful. Coming from a business this is just suicide!

Flame on!

[Toymanf]

Hello Marriss
I had just inquired on Wednesday about purchasing 5 g320's. Everybody loves a contest

My guess is 308,880

Now please tell us the stepper/servo project is going well!!
Thanks for all you do to support this "hobby"
Frank Rodgers

[Mariss Freimanis]

Now please tell us the stepper/servo project is going well!!
Frank Rodgers

Matter of fact I'm doing a prototype servo printed circuit board layout this week. This will be the first actual servo specific hardware required to continue with the development.

Mariss

[Big John T]

Matter of fact I'm doing a prototype servo printed circuit board layout this week. This will be the first actual servo specific hardware required to continue with the development.

Mariss

Is there any info on this project?

John