richards
11-29-2007, 12:22 PM
Mariss, the genius behind the Gecko stepper drivers, posted a reminder this morning on the Yahoo gecko forum that a large capacitor (10,000uF or larger) should be used between the power supply and the Gecko stepper drivers to keep the stepper drivers from unexplained shutdowns.
There have been several posts recently where 4G upgrade users have experienced unexplained and unpredictable shutdowns of a Gecko G202 stepper driver. In his post, Mariss said, "Your power supply may not (be) what it claims to be. A "30V @ 2A" supply should hold 30V at a 2A load, not drop to 15V. Put a 10,000uF cap on the output of your supply; it could be the supply's regulator is being fooled into current limit by the drive's circulating currents." Although his post was directed to a specific problem, it could easily be applied to a switching power supply that is normally used without a large filter capacitor.
There have been several posts recently where 4G upgrade users have experienced unexplained and unpredictable shutdowns of a Gecko G202 stepper driver. In his post, Mariss said, "Your power supply may not (be) what it claims to be. A "30V @ 2A" supply should hold 30V at a 2A load, not drop to 15V. Put a 10,000uF cap on the output of your supply; it could be the supply's regulator is being fooled into current limit by the drive's circulating currents." Although his post was directed to a specific problem, it could easily be applied to a switching power supply that is normally used without a large filter capacitor.