[mbcdev]

Hello!

I'm trying to make heads or tails out of the documentation for the INS500 (can be found here: https://www.mycom-taiwan.com/docs/INS500%20cat%20082002-V1.11.pdf, also attached). I understand that MyCom did things a bit different and the driver can be configured with a switch to accept two different pulse trains as opposed to just one and a direction pin - I'm fine with that. What I don't get is how I'm supposed to wire the motor enable with the CO-, SEL-, and COM pins - that I just can't see from the PDF.

Also, I'm sure the first question that comes to mind is "What controller are you using?" Well, I'm building my own. I have a 3.3v microcontroller and a level converter to bring things up to 5v. I've used this circuit successfully with 2 phase drivers like the KL-5056E stepper driver, but I just can't see how to enable/disable the motor and control the SEL pin. I mean, the pdf shows that the COM pin supplies 5V for this purpose, but with respect to what? There is no ground pin available, so I can't see how that COM pin would get used.

Ugh, don't get it. Anyway, if there's anyone out there who can help me get this driver wired up correctly, I would greatly appreciate it. I'd really like to use this stepper/driver for the 5 phase NEMA 34 I already have, oherwise I'll probably just replace both parts with something a bit more modern.

Anyway, thanks in advance! Hopefully my questions make sense.


Sincerely,
Marshall

[mbcdev]

Ok, so I figured out what was troubling me. The biggest problem I had was that I was using a level converter that was really built only for digital logic signals. In the end, I think it just didn't have enough power to communicate with the MyCom. So, I switched from a TXB0104 chip to a BSS138 (transistor based) level converter, and that part of the problem was done. The other issue was really just using the same wiring schema as I did with my 2 phase drivers - I connected +5V to CW+ and CCW+, my 5V converted digital I/O pins to CW- and CCW-, configured CCW to be a direction input as opposed to a CCW pulse stream, and everything began to work as expected.

The COM pin should be set to +5V and is used as a shared voltage reference for both the motor enable/disable (the CO pin) and the bank selector (SEL). The data sheet labels the COM pin as an output, which is just incorrect. Anyway, once that COM pin was set to +5V, I was able to both enable and disable the motor, and also choose what bank to use for the motor resolution.

So, that's it! Thanks to everyone who read this - hopefully, this will help someone else working with one of these drivers one day. Any questions, feel free to ask!


Thanks,
Marshall