Wiring diagram for UC400ETH with HDBB2

[Robertspark]

I was running them on a 42v switched mode power supply, and the stepper motors were 4.2a, i admit it was not the best setup (mine were chinese knockoffs.... i started cheap ..... and bought twice....)

I switched to leadshine am882h drives (no longer manufactured now). You can feed them up to 80v ac as they have rectifiers and capacitors in them and are rated at 8.2a, i run them direct with 50v ac feeding 4.2a drives so they have good margin, i am pushing my motors a little voltage wise but they have been fine.

Motor speed is a function of voltage.... higher the supply voltage (to a point) faster the drives can be driven relative to the same setup with a lower supply voltage.

It depends what you want to run and how fast it really needs to move and accelerate.

[CyclopsNC]

Thanks again, to both CNC drive admin and Robertspark for your valuable insights.
I have amost finished the wiring.
Just a bit more of advice. I have 2 power supplies
1. 36VDC / 15A for stepper drivers and stepper motors
2. 12VDC / 2A for UC400ETH and HDBB2

I have not yet connected the grounds of both these power supplies together, common sense would tell be that I do have to connect them together. But I just want to confirm. Do I connect join the ground of the Stepper Driver DC power supply with the control power supply?

[Robertspark]

They are not ground!

The power supplies have 0v outputs and a voltage output which in your case is 12v and 36v.

12v is with respect to the other connection (0v)
Same with 36v.... it is only 36v with respect to the other terminal (0v.... sometimes incorectly denoted ground...

If it were me....
I would not join the zero volt connections together unless you have to and in your case you do not have to becase you have two clear parts to your system

You have the controls power supply (0v and 12v)
And you have the drive power supply 0v and 36v)

I would connect the power connections from your drives directly to the 36v power supply

And i would connect your 12v power supply to the controls items uc400 and hdbb2

With regards to the drives it is advisable NOT to daisy chain the power cables from one drive to the next. But to wire each drive back to the connection point (at the power supply, at a stud or a common bus)

[CyclopsNC]

They are not ground!

The power supplies have 0v outputs and a voltage output which in your case is 12v and 36v.

12v is with respect to the other connection (0v)
Same with 36v.... it is only 36v with respect to the other terminal (0v.... sometimes incorectly denoted ground...

If it were me....
I would not join the zero volt connections together unless you have to and in your case you do not have to becase you have two clear parts to your system

You have the controls power supply (0v and 12v)
And you have the drive power supply 0v and 36v)

I would connect the power connections from your drives directly to the 36v power supply

And i would connect your 12v power supply to the controls items uc400 and hdbb2

With regards to the drives it is advisable NOT to daisy chain the power cables from one drive to the next. But to wire each drive back to the connection point (at the power supply, at a stud or a common bus)

Yes, i've not connected them together, I just left them seperate after a lot of deliberation.
it seems to me that the RJ45 outputs of the HDBB2 are not optoisolated as the other inputs and outputs are, but the inputs of the TB6600 seem to be optoisolated though I am not 100% sure. But given that they give 2 connections for each seems that they are optoisolated. That being the case there is no need to connect the 0's of each power supply together.

Having said that, I powered up the whole system without connecting motors to the drive and every seems all led's ok, UC400ETH detected on the PC. However after some time I could smell something burning though so I shut down the whole system, and checked each individual part with a current limited DC power supply. The UC400ETH was working fine , HDBB2 was also Ok, the 3 stepper drivers were drawing 20mA each @ 36V so they seem to be ok too.
That leaves the power supply 36V / 15A, there could be something going on inside it, although when I do disconnect all outputs on the power supply it powers on, there is a fan though on it which is not spinning. That could be the cause , possibly burnt windings.

[Robertspark]

I think you need to connect the motors .... i know some variable frequency drives do not like to be driven without load (yes these are not vfds.... but i suspect without the motors they may be open circuit at the outputs of tge tb6600's)

Also switch mode power supplies struggle to regulate the output voltage, causing it to rise, at low load and normally have a minimum recomended current
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/q ... thout-load

[CyclopsNC]

I think you need to connect the motors .... i know some variable frequency drives do not like to be driven without load (yes these are not vfds.... but i suspect without the motors they may be open circuit at the outputs of tge tb6600's)

Also switch mode power supplies struggle to regulate the output voltage, causing it to rise, at low load and normally have a minimum recomended current
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/q ... thout-load

I connected power to the power supply fan externally, the internal connector for not providing the need volts.
Then I powered up the whole system all seems fine on first look. UC400ETH detected, I fired up Mach3 and loaded the required UC400ETH plugin.
I connected only 1 motor to the Z axis, and in Mach3 port and pin config I setup No. 6 for step and No. 7 for dir. Don't know if these are right but I expected the motor to move when I jogeed it. Step and dir active low I kept as off.However I'm not getting the motor to move. I have left the enable + and enable - of the driver unconnect I guess I may need to enable the driver, to get the motor to turn?
1. For that where I tap the 5V from, I don't think the HDbb2 has a 5V out connecter?
2. Does the HDBB2 have outputs that are high when active? I have connected the step to Pul+ of the driver and Dir output to Dir+ of the driver.
3. Do I have to connect the TB6600 in sink mode I mean connect +5V to the DIR+ and the DIR- I connect to the DIR pin of the HDBB2 axis connector?

Don't know if I'm doing anything wrong but I strongly suspect the Enable of the stepper driver needs to be driven with a 5V signal?

[Robertspark]

I connected power to the power supply fan externally, the internal connector for not providing the need volts.

I don't understand this statement

I connected only 1 motor to the Z axis, and in Mach3 port and pin config I setup No. 6 for step and No. 7 for dir. Don't know if these are right but I expected the motor to move when I jogeed it.

The pin settings are correct...... Do you have an estop defined?

Step and dir active low I kept as off.However I'm not getting the motor to move.

It should not make a difference as the dir will change between active high and active low to make the machine move one direction and then the other.
Also it should not make a difference to the step pins given they will toggle high and low as a pulse stream.

I have left the enable + and enable - of the driver unconnect I guess I may need to enable the driver, to get the motor to turn?

No, enable uses a low or open circuit signal to activate the drives and a high signal to deactivate the drives to that you can hand move the axis

1. For that where I tap the 5V from, I don't think the HDbb2 has a 5V out connecter?

5v for what?

2. Does the HDBB2 have outputs that are high when active? I have connected the step to Pul+ of the driver and Dir output to Dir+ of the driver.

Hmm... You may need to change the wiring as per item 3 below

3. Do I have to connect the TB6600 in sink mode I mean connect +5V to the DIR+ and the DIR- I connect to the DIR pin of the HDBB2 axis connector?

See item 2 response above

Don't know if I'm doing anything wrong but I strongly suspect the Enable of the stepper driver needs to be driven with a 5V signal?

No enable is an active low function. If you provide 5v to it it will disable your drives output

[Robertspark]

Seems like you got it sorted
https://www.cnczone.com/forums/mach-sof ... ost2221264

[CyclopsNC]

Many Thanks Robertspark and CNCAdmin for you suggestions. It is highly appreciated!