Hot Geckodriver and hot stepper

[Mayo]

A couple times I've had the Y carriage jump off the X rails without hitting anything so I thought maybe a stepper was skipping a step or two.

In checking the motors, the X1 felt hotter than the X2.

This is on a 4G upgrade which has four Gecko G203 V stepper drivers. The board is the PRY V 4.17 PN 001740
The steppers are PK296A1A SG 7.2

The X1 Geckodrive was noticeably hotter than the X2 driver.

Can I swap the Z driver with the X1 driver?
My thinking is the Z is used less frequently in my work and I may be able to temporarily eliminate the jumping off the rails problem.
These have been labeled (by hand) as follows
X1 is labeled SBE4
X2 is labeled SB03
Y is labeled SBE4
Z is labeled SB03

Possibly related to this is ever since receiving the 4G upgrade, I get horrible FM interference. Switching around the motor cables seemed to indicate it was connected with the X1 motor or driver - I never figured out which. The radio is not even on the same circuit as the control box.

[Brady Watson]

Can I swap the Z driver with the X1 driver?Yes.

Make sure that the terminals are 100% tightened down on each & every drive. If you are crafty, you can sneak each drive off of the terminal strips without the need to unscrew anything. A small jewelers screwdriver can be used to lightly pry off the terminals enough to get them started off of the pins. Tread lightly...



These have been labeled (by hand) as follows
X1 is labeled SBE4
X2 is labeled SB03
Y is labeled SBE4
Z is labeled SB03

These are Geckodrive internal lot numbers. They mean nothing to us.


Possibly related to this is ever since receiving the 4G upgrade, I get horrible FM interference.

This is 'normal' - albeit undesirable...

Before you go swapping things around, check the current limiting resistor on the 4G board next to the G203. Check it for continuity and check its value against the one for the A channel. It is possible that it fried and this has created an open condition - which means that the Gecko is putting out 7A to a 1A motor...

-B

[Mayo]

Thanks for the quick response Brady.

I was able to slide off the Geckodrives without loosening anything - not sure if this is normal or not.
The drivers just slid off by shifting them parallel to the board. They did feel somewhat snug but not difficult at all.

I'll check the resistors before swapping the drivers.