[m8kingit]

I'm adding adifferent controller to a cnc masters mill, however, I need a little help. hopefully there are others that have taken on this challenge. i did open the drivers they are definitely geckos 201's. So i pulled the geckos and matched them to a nice toroid , rectiifer and caps , c-11g bob, and I'm off Well , almost, I'm wanting to know if there is an easy way to tell which wires on the motors are the A+ A- or
b+ or B-. these motors look to be the ones that kelling sells, but there are no markings. They're 1200 oz/in 5.8 amps ot so, that I've determined by the resistor that was used on their( cnc master's ) board. There are 5 wire, but looks as if the yellow wire only goes to the ground peg that they used for their limit switch. The wire colors are red, black green and white.

In everything i've seen these colors don't match anything on any motors. I know if i used an ohm meter i can separate the coils, but it would be easier to know which was which, because once i assemble this in the case , it won't be as easy to disconnect and reconnect, if i'm wrong, at least without alot of ado.

all help appreciated.
thanks
Mark

[project5k]

If i remember right, mine were green and red, and black and white. But i'd double check that...

[m8kingit]

If i remember right, mine were green and red, and black and white. But i'd double check that...

That helps a little bit, but i still don't know which is + or - or A or B
Thanks
Mark

[project5k]

dosent matter, on a 4 wire motor your gonna use it bipolar anyway, so once you get the pairs right, then its just a question of telling mach that moving in a particular direction is x+ OR x-.. (or whichever axis your working on...)
]
Worst case scenerio (and i know you dont want to do this) but ifyou did get it backwards, and when you thought it was gonna go left, and it went right, you just have to reverse one of the coils polarity, so take a pair, like the red and green, and swap them, and that will reverse the direction of the motor, and you dont have to mess with the other coil.

[Hirudin]

I'm sorry I can't really help you, but maybe I can give you some ideas of what to search for.

First, if I were you I would assume the black/white wires are one set and the green/red wires are the other set.

I think you can just connect 2 of the wires (just hold them together with your fingers) and try to turn the motor. I bet if you connect the 2 wires from the same coil the motor will be harder to turn (if I were you I'd double check this using Google though).
[edit]I checked on a motor I had lying around, this is indeed the case.[/edit]


Once you get the coils separated I think you can just hook up the motor. I would hook them up at a low voltage, say 12v. If it turns correctly then you're in business. If not you're going to need to start swapping wires. Make sure your driver does not have power before disconnecting the motor or it may break it. You'll probably end up plugging and unplugging your power supply several times...

If the motor doesn't turn correctly, the first thing you want to do is make the motor turn smoothly. If it takes a couple steps in the correct direction then a couple steps in the wrong direction you need to reverse the wires in one of the sets. I'm not sure the exact procedure, but I would personally just pick a set randomly and switch the wires. Then try the motor again. If it still doesn't turn correctly, swap the other set and try it again. If it still doesn't work, swap the first set again. I this this is all the possible combinations, so at least one should work.

Once you get the motor turning smoothly, make sure it turns in the right direction. If it doesn't then swap the sets.



If the above is confusing let me say it a different way...
Lets say you determine that the B/W set is one coil and the G/R set is the other coil.
Now just arbitrarily call B/W set "A" +/- and the G/R set "B" +/-. Then just hook up the motor.

Starting (complete guess) config:
B = a+
W = a-
G = b+
R = b-

Lets say it doesn't turn smoothly. Take the black and white wires and switch them.

Config:
B = a-
W = a+
G = b+
R = b-

Try the motor again. Still doesn't turn smoothly? Switch the green and red wires.

B = a-
W = a+
G = b-
R = b+

If it still doesn't turn smoothly, swap the black and white wires again.

B = a+
W = a-
G = b-
R = b+

At this point you've tried all the combinations possible, something should work. If not you must not have separated the coils properly, or there's something wrong with the motors. ... or the drivers ... or the software ... or the ______.

Since the motor should be turning smooth at this point. But lets say it's not turning in the right direction. Just switch set "A" and set "B" (take the wires you've arbitrarily labeled "A" and hook them up as "B", take the "B" wires and hook them up to "A").

Final config:
B = b+
W = b-
G = a-
R = a+

[project5k]

ok, first of all, thats way more complicated than it needed to be. secondly, if he has a 48v PS, its not likely that its adjustable in any way.

secondly, the gecko 201 has a minimum supply voltage of 24v. its not the voltage that burns things up, its the amperage... and on thoes drivers there is a current limiting resisitor, so as long as this value is set up at or below the motor's current rating, it'll be fine.

now, one thing that i will agree with you on is that if you take 2 of the wires on the motor and hold them together, and then spin the shaft of the motor, you'll be able to find the pairs like that, and not worrie about hurting the motor. You will definately feel the difference when you have the right 2 connected, when its hard to turn by hand, thats a good pair, disconnect and try the remaining 2 together, should be equally hard to turn, thats a good way to identify the pairs, from there just hook them up and tune fron inside Mach, direction, speed, things like that.

swapping the polarity of a particular coil WILL NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE how smooth the motor turns in this situation. It will only change the direction that the motor turns.

sorry Hirudin, not to call you out, but you'da done better to have staid out of this one unless you know what your doing...

[m8kingit]

ok, first of all, thats way more complicated than it needed to be. secondly, if he has a 48v PS, its not likely that its adjustable in any way.

secondly, the gecko 201 has a minimum supply voltage of 24v. its not the voltage that burns things up, its the amperage... and on thoes drivers there is a current limiting resisitor, so as long as this value is set up at or below the motor's current rating, it'll be fine.

now, one thing that i will agree with you on is that if you take 2 of the wires on the motor and hold them together, and then spin the shaft of the motor, you'll be able to find the pairs like that, and not worrie about hurting the motor. You will definately feel the difference when you have the right 2 connected, when its hard to turn by hand, thats a good pair, disconnect and try the remaining 2 together, should be equally hard to turn, thats a good way to identify the pairs, from there just hook them up and tune fron inside Mach, direction, speed, things like that.

swapping the polarity of a particular coil WILL NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE how smooth the motor turns in this situation. It will only change the direction that the motor turns.

sorry Hirudin, not to call you out, but you'da done better to have staid out of this one unless you know what your doing...

Ok, so + and _ on "a" or "B" doesn't matter as long as i'm paired correctly, because I'm wiring bipolar.
So what you've said above is that i can chnge the direction in mach 3 if i get the direction hooked in backwards, meaning I have "A" and "B" switched.

[Hirudin]

...
sorry Hirudin, not to call you out, but you'da done better to have staid out of this one unless you know what your doing...

That's OK, I mostly agree. Just the people who do know what to do weren't responding. I was already writing that post when you put up that post above mine.

swapping the polarity of a particular coil WILL NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE how smooth the motor turns in this situation. It will only change the direction that the motor turns.

So you're saying that it doesn't matter if you hook the + to the + and the - to the -?

I've found a web page that shows some diagrams of various stepper motors so I now see why the above is true...

Well, although my process above has more steps than is necessary I still think it would work.