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I know that you should not apply power to your motors before your driver because you can damage your electronics, but is this standard for the more sophisticated drivers too ?
Do Geckos have safeguards for this ? Can you add circuits to open source driver boards to prevent accidents ????
I believe the damage comes from DISCONNECTING your motors with the power applied. The simplest solution is to not do it.
You could also try adding transient voltage suppressors, but they must be chosen carefully to work.
Oh, I see. The damage can be caused by DISCONNECTING while power is on and maybe CONNECTING while power is on.
I thought damaged could be caused merely by the sequence of turning on the power supply to the motors and the driver (PC TTL) incorrectly.
@mannster: Use optocouplers between the drive and the controller (PC?). But still your concern is that if you apply power to the drives/motors before your controller, they can make sudden and unpredictable movements harmful to you or your machine.
This is especially the case if you use analog servo drives. They can really take off and bang against something if the controller is not there when they power up!