[mikie]

Jerry,

To confirm on you point 2.
Quote"The -5 VDC goes to pins 18 thru 25 on the breakout board"

This is the same as per the DB25 pin out I assume/read, then you are saying to Ground the +5Vdc input.

My original machine used the USB port for power, I had the grounds all tied in together, it did work until the other night until it fried the gecko and PC.

I just did not see any other way of being able to provide +5Vdc to Pin 10 on the Gecko. I mean this is what the top cover asks for and what the manual asks for.

Extract from G201_REV5-Manual "(TERM. 10) +5VDC Connect this terminal to the controller +5VDC power supply"

I mean, all of this is still unclear to me and I suspect this common grounding did fry my machine.

Can you please explain this setup to me further, so that i can get a better picture of what is happening on Pin 10.

Also,

Can i assume that the Gecko is deriving power to the electrics via the power in Pin 1 & 2, and that Pin 10 is purely for the TTL circuitry to function properly?

Thanks in advance
Michael

[CJL5585]

Jerry,

To confirm on you point 2.
Quote"The -5 VDC goes to pins 18 thru 25 on the breakout board"

This is the same as per the DB25 pin out I assume/read, then you are saying to Ground the +5Vdc input.

My original machine used the USB port for power, I had the grounds all tied in together, it did work until the other night until it fried the gecko and PC.

I just did not see any other way of being able to provide +5Vdc to Pin 10 on the Gecko. I mean this is what the top cover asks for and what the manual asks for.

Extract from G201_REV5-Manual "(TERM. 10) +5VDC Connect this terminal to the controller +5VDC power supply"

I mean, all of this is still unclear to me and I suspect this common grounding did fry my machine.

Can you please explain this setup to me further, so that i can get a better picture of what is happening on Pin 10.

Also,

Can i assume that the Gecko is deriving power to the electrics via the power in Pin 1 & 2, and that Pin 10 is purely for the TTL circuitry to function properly?

Thanks in advance
Michael

First, a breakout board would have the same pinout as the Parallel printer port DB-25 connector.

Terminal #10 on the Gecko drive requires +5 Volts DC. This is normally an external 5 VDC logic supply due to the fact that a lot of computers and most laptops cannot supply (source) the current levels required by ANY external driver on a consistant basis.

You are correct that the driver voltage for the steppers are Terminals 1 and 2.

Last night I drew a wiring diagram on the Gecko drives and uploaded it to the site. It will show you exactly how everything wires up.

Your assumption that pins 18 thru 25 are the same as the DB-25 are correct. This is where the common (-) wire of the 5 Volt supply goes.

To simplify, it works like this:
The +5 Volts goes to the Gecko terminal 10 (designated common for some odd reason - very mis-leading to me). This voltage supplies the voltage for the optoisolators for the step and direction inputs. So when the step output from the computer is low, it sinks (draws) current thru the optocoupler from the voltage source attached to Terminal 10 on the Gecko drive. For this reason, the external supply (5V) common side (the - wire) must go to the common or ground side of the parallel port. These commons are the pins 18 thru 25 on the printer port.

Look at my new post called "My wiring diagram for Gecko drives 201, 210, ...) and you can see the various wiring. Then if you have more questions, then I will answer them.

Jerry