Sanguino LC Mendel problem

I've just finished assembling my Mendel last night, and mounted most of my electronics. I've plugged in my motherboard, successfully uploaded code, and hooked my stepper boards up. The only things that aren't hooked up are my opto switches (I lost one wire -.-) and my extruder/controller. My stepper boards have two green LEDs up top by the power, and my X axis stepper has one red LED by the input.

Would the lack of the optoswitch connections prevent the board from moving my steppers? I get no response when I try to nudge the motors, or when I try to run .stl code.

Thanks for any help you guys can give me. I'll take any advice at this point.

I think it needs a jumper in the place of opto endstops to "cheat" it, telling mb that there is an opto endswitch and is not triggered.
There should be some details on testing electronics page - the stepper driver part.

To quote the wiki:
Put a jumper on the stepper board where the MIN opto-switch will connect. It is across the top two pins as shown in the picture. This pretends to the control system that there is an opto-switch connected, and that it is untriggered (that is, it's pretending that the axis is not at the end of its travel).


The page is here: [objects.reprap.org]

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2010 04:30PM by NoobMan.

Thanks for the tips Noobman, I really appreciate the help. Unfortunately however, It doesn't seem to be my optoswitches. It has to be software at this point. All my optos are now in working order and everything is fully connected.

My steppers turned fine without the opto's installed (minus being able to go home). Are you still having problems?

I finally fixed it, I'm going to go ahead and post the answer in case anyone else ever has this problem and comes across my thread.


When you are making your 10 pin IDCs, the directions tell you to just put the wire in and push the top of the connector on.

Well, be careful when you do this. I did this, and it turns out that the wire was a little bit off center, and instead of catching the wire like it is supposed to, the connector actually CUT THROUGH the wire. I redid my Z axis wire, and everything works perfectly now.

Just be careful with that.