Hello,
I’m sure this has been answered here before, so, sorry.
I’m trying to set up my lowrider. I ordered a jackpot with lowrider firmware but received a board with MPCNC firmware.
How do I change it?
Also, the 24v power supply just flashes when I have everything plugged in. If I unplug any of the steppers, it powers up. Is there a way to fix this so it can power all five steppers?
You just need to change the config.yaml file on the jackpot to switch over to LowRider.
For your power supply flashing, make sure you have it hooked up the right way. If you have one of the older 24v ones with a black and white wire, the white is positive and black is negative.
Thanks Jonathan.
I understand I have to change the config.yaml file. How do I do that?
And yes, it’s a white and black wire, it is hooked up correctly. It seems it does not have enough power to power all the steppers.
It has enough for many many many more steppers. Make sure the plug is in securely and please post pictures, of how you have things connected.
In the interface you can directly upload and overwrite files. In the file browser section you will see an upload button.
Awesome. Got it. My first go at it I also had the MPCNC config. It was pretty strait forward once I was squared away.
This is strange. I’m confident the power is secure.
It will only power on with only 4 steppers plugged it. It doesn’t matter what stepper I have unplugged, but it does need one of them unplugged. If all 5 are connected, it starts flashing.
@vicious1 I’ve got the power issue isolated to the power supply. I’m using motors from a torn apart MPCNC that has served it’s purpose. I can’t find any info on the motors but assuming the power supply is putting out a full 2.5A, each motor only gets 12w. Doesn’t seem like many many more.
I used the 12V power supply that was feeding these motors before, and the whole thing powered right up. Everything is working great! Except I don’t have an adequate 24V power supply.
Yeah usually plan for 1 amp per motor and an amp for controls. I use the 15 amp supplies. You can reuse the 12v supply until you get a bigger 24.
Find a used ender 3 and swipe the power supply off that.
That is not how that math works. The steppers can not handle a sustained 100% current and the steppers run at like 4.2V. So no matter what your input voltage the drivers chop the voltage to match. We run them at about 70% peak power at best, plus we also run a lower hold current.
So at worst all the steppers combined would need about 26W, the 24V 2.5A supplies can handle 60W.
We have been at this a long time, There is plenty of overhead on the power supplies.
If you suspect yours is bad, please hit it with a multimeter real quick so we can check the output. It is rare but I think over all the years we have had 3-4 bad power supplies. A couple of those actually just needed the mains pins bent out a bit to make better contact with the cord plug.
Thanks for the explanation, Ryan. No doubt, I knew something wasn’t mathing up.
Bending the pins on the mains solved the problem.
Thanks for the help.
Awesome!
I spoke too soon. It worked once. Plugged it back in an hour later, same problem. Tried bending pins again. No luck.
You’ve tightened the power terminals so much it’s cranked the connector, might be worth checking you haven’t broke off the solder joint.
I know what you’re saying, I’ve checked it. This is not my first rodeo hooking power to boards. It didn’t take much to get the connector to twist, you can trust I’m not cranking down on it.
@vicious1, I have a known good power supply that I’ve used for years to power a strip of LEDs. It is rated at 60W. It cannot power the board either. I have another rated at ~65W. Same problem, but the flashing is faster.
Seriously, the only thing that I have that will power the board with all steppers plugging in, is my 12V 300W power supply.
I’ve isolated the terminals on the board and did the testing through a power connector.
I can’t explain the fluke time when I said it did power up with 60W. Maybe I missed that one of the steppers was unplugged.
So, again, something is not mathing up.
I agree with Dreyfus. This is now sounding like the solder joint broke. Look at the bottom of the board, the two large soldered pins under the power connector. We have seen this probably ten times now.
If you have a soldering iron, just give them a quick hit while you are under there. Those connectors are pretty weak and the reason I am working on another jackpot with new connectors.
We are all trying to help. Us regulars are drawing from Past experiences. I have spent a lot of money getting boards shipped back to me only to find broken solder joints. We do not mean any disrespect or that you don’t knowhow to use a screwdriver, just that we have seen it happen.
If none of your power supplies are working now it rules out a power supply issue, so next up is either bad wires or bad connector…wires is improbable.
Thanks @vicious1, totally understand, and I do appreciate the help.
I really wanted your approval before I touched the board with a soldering iron. Thanks. I just did that. Problem still exists.
I did manage to find a computer power supply in a box that has 75w @ 19V. This power supply works.
So three of my power supplies under 65w do not work. At 75w we have magic.
Before and after soldering.
I promise it is not a wattage issue (could be a power supply issue). I ran one all weekend on a wallwart at a MRRF before. I forgot my power supply and got a clock or something just to scavenge the power supply, pretty sure it was less than an amp at 12V.
Let’s see if it keeps working, see if anything heats up, or quits. This is an odd one for sure.
I had the machine on for about 5 minutes. Everything gets hot, the motors, the drivers, and the power supply.
