Hi, I have an application for a RAMPS 1.4 board to which it seems idealy suited. One part of the project has a need to control a small DC vacuum pump and I was thinking about using a relay driven from an IO pin, but I wondered if one of the heater ports could be used. The motor only takes about 0.5A and being an inductive load would need a couple of clamping diodes to limit the back EMF spikes. Does this seem a reasonable idea or am I on thin ice ??? Regards, Dave https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,886296,886296#msg-886296 Thu, 13 Aug 2026 23:52:01 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,886296,890505#msg-890505 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,886296,890505#msg-890505
The two loads had a fast diode across the pins the protect from back emf.

It worked very well.

Dave]]> softfoot RAMPS Electronics Wed, 14 Sep 2022 18:11:13 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,886296,890504#msg-890504 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,886296,890504#msg-890504 I have a ramps board and want to control a similar pump for a pick and place machine.]]> bt_Tama RAMPS Electronics Wed, 14 Sep 2022 10:36:09 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,886296,886371#msg-886371 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,886296,886371#msg-886371 Dave]]> softfoot RAMPS Electronics Sun, 10 Oct 2021 10:05:13 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,886296,886296#msg-886296 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?219,886296,886296#msg-886296
One part of the project has a need to control a small DC vacuum pump and I was thinking about using a relay driven from an IO pin, but I wondered if one of the heater ports could be used.

The motor only takes about 0.5A and being an inductive load would need a couple of clamping diodes to limit the back EMF spikes.

Does this seem a reasonable idea or am I on thin ice ???

Regards,
Dave]]> softfoot RAMPS Electronics Tue, 05 Oct 2021 02:06:42 -0400