Hi,
I'm in the middle of building a Mendel Prusa and currently trying to test the electronics - with which i'm having mixed results. I suspect I may have blown some components whilst testing the end-stop micro switches, and would like some advice on whether what I did was completely wrong, or whether the problem could lay somewhere else. Any hints or pointers would be appreciated.
So, it's a Ramps v1.2 setup, and to test it I hooked in just one motor controller. The firmware loaded is johnnyr's Tonokip, and because I couldn't get Repsnapper to connect to the board (that's going to be another forum post I think) I am using the latest ReplicatorG binary.
With this setup I could get the motor to move via the ReplicatorG control panel, so I moved onto connecting a microswitch. Following a
post I connected Common to Ground, Normally Closed to Signal, and put a 10k "pull-up" resistor across Signal and VCC (I didn't have a 4K7 to hand) (I may be showing my electronics ignorance here, please let me know if this is totally the wrong approach for hooking in micro-switches with Ramps) This setup actually worked as planned, initially. I could move the motor forward, and when in reverse the motor stopped when I pressed the switch. So far so good!
Unfortunately when I came back to the bench a little later, the motor had stopped reacting at all, even after removing the switch and going back to a "known good" point. After various combinations I tried with a second motor-controller, and this worked, but only in the positive direction. I also tried the original controller in a new socket and still couldn't get a response.
So I think I may have blown a controller, and potentially damaged the board, but i'm not sure, and am rather hesitant to proceed in case I do more damage. If anyone can point out glaring errors in what I have done, or suggest ways of testing if the board is ok (for example, where to prod it with a multimeter), I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Gary