PIC Current Limiter
Contents
Adding Current Limiters to the PIC/Generation 1 Electronics
The PIC/Generation 1 electronics do not have any form of current limitting. They rely on the stepper motors resistance to keep the current below 2 Amps at 12 Volts.
V = IR (V = voltage, I = current, R = resistance)
R = V/I
If V = 12 and I = 2 then R = 6 Ohms
Stepper motors with a resistance of 6 Ohms and up will work with the PIC/Generation 1 electronics with no modifications.
Unfortunatly the more commonly available Steppers of the size used in RepRap have much lower resistances. e.g. The current BitsFromBytes supplied Steppers have a resistance of XXXX.
Current limiting can be added to the PIC/Generation 1 electronics via a few modifications to the existing board and the creation of a daughter board.
