Power to Stepper Controller

I got the message from the post office to pick up my parts, so working should begin this weekend!

Stupid question, but I cannot see it explicit in the wiki... the stepper controlled card is powered by 12v, not 5, right?

Also, while I am at it, it seems from the photos that the Powercomms card is powered by 12v, but according to the photos two +12 and two GND cables are wired together to provide higher current in the molex connector. Is this needed, or direct connection of the typical molex connector from a pc supply (given the needed shortcuts) is enough?

Thanks...

Correct. The stepper controller card takes 12V as it's power input. 5V is generated on the card itself by a linear regulator.

I think most everyone just plugs it in normally. A lot of power supplies have two or three molex hard disk connectors daisy-chained together. The connector on the end of the chain has only has one set of wires going into it, the ones in the middle all have two sets of wires. I think what you're seeing in the picture is where someone used one of the middle connectors. One of the sets of wires comes from the power supply, one would feed the rest of the chain which isn't connected to anything. There's no reason to prefer a connector in the middle of the chain to one at the end, it's just what the photographer happened to use.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2007 02:22PM by emf.

Thanks both!