[RAMPS] DRV8825 drivers instantly dying

Hello fellow reprappers.

I have been using the RAMPS controller board for my Prusa Mendel, for quite some time. Up until this week, I didn't have any problems with my drivers and everything worked as intended. Now, however, I've run into some problems I simply can't figure out.
I started a print the other day, and it started nicely, but after 10 minutes or so, the extruder stopped. My first thought was clogging or something like that, as I've had some problems about that before. The filament did run through easily though as I tried turning the gears on my Wade's extruder. The moter, however, seemed without power. It was just as if the cable was unplugged. No resistance or anything when turning the axis. Then i thought the problem was a dead stepper driver, so i replaced the DRV8825 with a brand new one. However, after a little while(Varies from time to time, but in the range of 0-10 minutes) that driver died as well. I didn't know what else to do, so i looked at the Marlin software, but i couldn't find anything that would cause the problem(I'm no expert, but it didn't seem like a software related issue). So, i changed the driver one again, and this time it worked and still does.
What is strange is that after just a few hours with printing, and starting a new print, my X-axis did the exact same. Soon my Y-axis also started popping drivers, and i am now left with what seems like 7 dead drivers.

And yes. I did search the internet, but i can't find anything matching what i'm seeing. Also, yes, I did adjust the potentiometer on every single driver, before plugging them into the turned off RAMPS board. I also tried switching Arduino Mega, and moving all wires and everything to a brand new RAMPS board, with no change. Also it worth mentioning that the drivers doesn't get hot at all which i find odd, since that usually happens when they die?

Please, if you have any idea whatsoever of what might have caused this, I'm all ears!!

Thanks,
nikko4913

Just a shot in the dark (happened to me and took me hours to figure out):
Since you also moved wires to your other board, it might pay out to check the motor wires for loose contact / broken wire. It certainly solved my problems.

Look to what is downstream of the driver, as you have replaced everything upstream. The two things left are wires and motor. Bad or intermittent connections to a stepper motor can cause some drivers to blow. You can try and check the cabling by connecting a multimeter to a phase of the motor. You will read resistance, then wiggle the cable around and watch the meter. If it moves you might have issue with your cable. Poorly crimped or assembled connectors can have a similar effect. Sometimes a contact isn't seated fully in the connector shell. It's also possible (remote but possible) that a wire has become intermittent within the stepper itself, in that case you would have to replace the stepper.

What's weird is that i didn't move anything, so why would it start acting up now?
Plus, i already checked for loose connections and inspecting the wiring, no result.

Are your DRV8825 driver chips getting hot before they fail?

Plug-in drivers seem to be a lot less reliable than on-board drivers (I have had this confirmed by a 3D printer kit supplier who has used both). Factors that probably contribute to this include inadequate cooling of the chips (because the PCB area is far too small), the difficulty that many people experience in setting the motor currents correctly (resulting in too much current and more overheating), and perhaps the relatively long paths from the chips to the electrolytic capacitor on the main board that absorbs the back emf from the motor. Even so, they shouldn't keep popping, so I suggest you check the integrity of the motor wiring as the previous post suggests.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Regarding the DRV8825 drivers, no, they do not get hot at all. As mentioned, i found this rather odd, as they usually do that.
I'm also looking for a replacement board for the RAMPS, because of som the reasons you point out there. But again, i know the potentiometer was adjusted correctly, because the printer had been running perfectly for more than 4 months with this setting, and not hot drivers. What's weird is the sudden popping of drivers.

I've already checked wiring, and made sure that the motors have been correctly connected.

It's hard for me to understand what happened then, unless you got a batch of poorly-designed or poorly manufactured drivers, or you have a fault on the Arduino/RAMPS setup that is causing the drivers to fail, such as failure of the electrolytic capacitors on the RAMPS that absorb the motor back emf.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2016 01:32PM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Maybe the drivers was from a poorly manufactured batch, I don't know. That would be an easy solution though, so if anybody else has any specific fix to this, I think I'm gonna order a new batch and see how that plays out.