Ramps 1.4 motors unresponsive

new poster here. recently bought ramps 1.4 and an arduino mega 2560. my reprap prusa is set up and ready but i havent been able to make the electronics work. so i downloaded this test program for my arduino. when i ran it it made the LEDs on the RAMPS lit up but none of the motors moved. the only thing that received any power was the hot end. i tested all the output pins on the RAMPS while it was running this program with a multimeter and all of them were absolutely dead except the hot end leads and the four 12v power supply leads that power the RAMPS all of which gave a healthy 11.7 v) . my power supply is a 280 watt and fully qualified for the job as far as i know.

has anyone had this problem or know a potential solution? thanks.

Hello bronzies, wish I could help. I have a similar problem. I have a RAMPS_1.4 and have sprinter FW uploaded. When I use replicatorG control panel, I can start to jog my axes, then after 10 sec. or so, motors become unresponsive. They are in a hold state, power is applied to them, just can't jog anymore. The disable button shuts power down to them, but enable doesn't bring them back "online", and the fan toggel lights the LED on the board (No fan connected). Now, I'm green (haha, no pun intended) at the Arduino based reprap setups, all my machines thus far have been with Mach3 control (I'm with SeeMeCNC) but I wanted to do a more conventional reprap style setup too.

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to help you/I out. Hang in there

Hey Bronzies, take a look at the following two pics.

What helped w/mine was

1. Configuration.h file, set motehrboard to 33 (RAMPS 1.3 and 1.4 have similar pin defs)
2. Pins.h file, if you scroll down to where mobo 33 is, RAMPS, I uncommented out the line that said RAMPS_V1_3

Now, at least pronterface can connect to my board. I can jog the x, y and z axes but only in one direction, and still only for a short time, but it's an improvement. I can run the extruder all day long, forward/reverse, no problems. But, my axes don't want to go reverse. I don't have endstops wired up yet, maybe that has something to do with it? I dunno.

Someonw wiser will be along sooner or later to help us both I'm betting

John

johnoly99 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> axes don't want to go reverse. I don't have
> endstops wired up yet, maybe that has something to
> do with it?
Very possibly: axes will not move towards a tripped endstop, and a disconnected endstop may appear permanently tripped. Endstops can be disabled in the firmware, but since you do have them it would seem more sensible to connect them.

This might help you out. Go to my web site. [thefutureis3d.com] and click on my RAMPS page. There is a lot of info there. I have diagrams on how to connect everything. You can also go to my download page and get all my software that I use on my machines. Download one of the new replicatorg .zips and the firmware. I am using Marlin. I also have Sprinter out there but Marlin is much better. I am using both mechanical and opto end stops. The firmware works for both with no changes to the firmware.

In order to run your test, you will need both thermistors and all the end stops connected, and if you try to test your extruder you will need to comment out the section in the configuration.h file for this:

//this prevents dangerous Extruder moves, i.e. if the temperature is under the limit
//can be software-disabled for whatever purposes by
#define PREVENT_DANGEROUS_EXTRUDE
#define EXTRUDE_MINTEMP 180
#define EXTRUDE_MAXLENGTH (X_MAX_LENGTH+Y_MAX_LENGTH) //prevent extrusion of very large distances.


This is what I use for my endstops

// Endstop Settings
#define ENDSTOPPULLUPS // Comment this out (using // at the start of the line) to disable the endstop pullup resistors

// The pullups are needed if you directly connect a mechanical endswitch between the signal and ground pins.
const bool X_ENDSTOPS_INVERTING = true; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstops.
const bool Y_ENDSTOPS_INVERTING = true; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstops.
const bool Z_ENDSTOPS_INVERTING = true; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstops.
// For optos H21LOB set to true, for Mendel-Parts newer optos TCST2103 set to false


Good luck.

---

Jeff Christiana

Recheck the tightness of the screw terminals for the power connections. Use 2 or 3 of each yellow and black and solder them together to provide more current to the board. I use 2 yellow and 2 black for the 5A input and 3 yellow and 3 black for the 11A input. Tighten the screws clockwise not counterclockwise.

Turn the little potentiometer on each of the polulu stepper drivers 1/4 of a turn (About 60º) clockwise to provide current to the steppers.