[I_V_A_R]

I just seek some general start up advice.

I am upgrading a Chinese 60x90 cm CNC with the G540 > Warp9 ESS > Mach4, and Im in the process of making it all connect and work.

Just to mention one of the hurdles, I stil haven't successfully got'n the Mach4 to send ChargePump signal to G540 via ESS, so that I may turn of the charge pump switch on the G540.

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
why bother with the charge pump? That was a technique to ensure consistent and safe behaviour with Mach3's parallel port.

If you design your circuits properly then all input/outputs will inactive, ie safe, when Mach4 is powering up. I've been using Mach4 for eight years and Mach3 before that
and I've never had a charge pump.

The G540 is so short of inputs and outputs do you really want to dedicate one to a superfluous circuit?

Craig

[phomann]

Hi,
Keep in mind that you need to configure Mach4 to keep generating the charge pump in Estop. If you don't you'll create a race condition where;

1. The G540 will assert its Estop as the charge pump is not present.
2. Mach4 won't generate the charge pump as it sees the Estop from the G540

Mach3 has a checkbox on the config->general page to set this. I'm not sure where it is on Mach4

Keep in mind that the charge pump was provided as when a PC with a parallel port booted up it would twiddle the parallel port outputs. This could cause a spindle to momentarily start, or an axis to jog a few steps, etc.
The charge pump is generated once Mach (3 or 4) has control of the system and parallel port.

That said you should only power up the controller once the CNC control software is up an running. But that's not what everyone does, thus the charge pump is still useful for systems that use motion controllers.

Cheers,

Peter

[I_V_A_R]

Hi,
why bother with the charge pump? That was a technique to ensure consistent and safe behaviour with Mach3's parallel port.

If you design your circuits properly then all input/outputs will inactive, ie safe, when Mach4 is powering up. I've been using Mach4 for eight years and Mach3 before that
and I've never had a charge pump.

The G540 is so short of inputs and outputs do you really want to dedicate one to a superfluous circuit?

Craig

Yes, I guess i just assumed that a charge pump signal should be in place.

However, now that i used a Mach4 profile named "ESS G540 VFD.m4prof", (provided on the Warp9 website for the Gecko540)
I have the G540's charge pump button switched off, and it still lights green. So I guess for now it is resolved, and I'll see later I am in need of extra inputs and outputs.
Thanx for the tip though!

[I_V_A_R]

Thank you Peter,
It was resolved when I used the Mach4 profile named "ESS G540 VFD.m4prof" provided on the Warp9 website for the Gecko540.