Hi all; I got my GeckoDrive G540, 3 steppers, and power supply in the mail on Friday. I went ahead and set up an old machine with dual boot into Ubuntu so I could run EMC2 (trying to save money by not buying software and I prefer it's interface to Mach3.) I also snagged a "parallel data transfer" cable which is a printer cable with male connections on both sides.
I wired up the power supply to an extension cord. I then attached pin 11 (on the gecko) to positive and 12 to negative on the power supply. I also ran 10 to negative to simulate an estop being connected. I configured EMC to send out the required charge pump signal on pin 16 (of the parallel port) and then fired everything up. Nothing happened except the "Fault" light on the Gecko stayed on. I double checked everything - it's all wired correctly. If I turn off the charge pump requirement on the gecko, Fault goes off, but I can't jog any axis or get anything to happen in either state. In short, only estop faked, computer plugged in, and power connected == fault.
I then installed Mach 3 trial on the same machine (Vista 32bit) as I assumed it might be a Linux issue and used the Gecko G540 XML file - from the Gecko site - to configure it. Exact same behavior - Fault is always on unless I tell it ignore the charge pump.
As best I can tell the Gecko and the computer are not talking. Is this the wrong printer cable? The use of a male DB25 on the Gecko is odd considering standard printer cables don't use a male connector on both ends. I'm worried this might be a null-modem style cable though it doesn't say it's a crossover on the packaging anywhere. Do you guys typically use an off the shelf cable and a gender changer?
I have no reason to assume the parallel port doesn't work though I have no way to test it either. Windows sees the drivers installed correctly. Neither Mach3 nor EMC2 complained about the port in any way.
Part of my buying the Gecko was to avoid the mess of a breakout board but I'm starting to wonder if that's the only way to figure out what's wrong. Is there any way to diagnose problems? The Gecko manual is a prime example of minimal information - it's only three pages and one of those is just a diagram. Here is it's section on the cable "PARALLEL PORT CABLE: Use a parallel port cable to connect the G540 to the PC. The G540 end of the cable must be a male DB25 connector." - Pretty enlightening.
Anyways, pretty frustrated at this point because the red Fault light is taunting me. It wants me to know something is wrong but doesn't want to be helpful in any way.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Mike
P.S. I'm hoping it's the type of printer cable, going to be a problem if I have to use a different computer.