stelios2000 Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 Hi all, i have bought Stepper Motor Cards from http://www.opencockpits.com/catalog/stepper-motors-card-p-49.html?cPath=21_33 and http://www.hobbycnc.com/ i read the manual and followed the instructions but..... i didnt manage to make them even ....turn. I took the motors from old good working printers, FAX and TELEX. I powered the cards from an old ATX PC power supply that gives +5V with 15A and +12V with 10A. i just connect the stepper motors to the card and run the software but........nothing happens anyone has any experience ? thanks in advance stelios from GREECE
BaD CrC Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 Maybe you should ask on the opencockpits forum. It's probably the first place I would go before here. https://www.blacksharkden.com http://discord.gg/blacksharkden
HitchHikingFlatlander Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 Yeah definitely go there I think the majority of simmers who use these products are commercial type builders so check there. Another good place to look afterwards is http://www.mycockpit.org ! http://dcs-mercenaries.com/ USA Squad
Triggerhappy69 Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 Hi Stelios. A couple of questions first. - Whwn connecting the stepper motors to USB Stepper card from opencockpits. Did you also connect a sensor? What kind of sensor did you use? The Opencockpits stepper card run on 5V. And needs to have a sensor (either optic or magnetic) that use 5v to.. I know a lot of printers and fax machines run on voltages higher than this. So if you took the sensor from the printer/fax it might not be usable for the Opencockpits card.? If you don't have a sensor at all the USB Stepper card will not turn the motor. Because it needs a referance to know when the stepper has done a complete 360 degree turn. It's kinda like the game when you are blindfolded and spun arround untill you lose your sense of direction. Only that without the sensor no one removes the blindfold..!? Also did you change in SIOC.INI file to read: "IOCard_disable=yes" , "IOCPclient_disable=yes" and "FSUipc_disable=yes" ? And does the USB device number check out for the USBStepper card? And last bud not least.. What Volts And Ampere should the motor run on? "But (504)Brewber said they were'nt friendly.. So I took'em out.!" [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Triggerhappy69 Posted June 5, 2009 Posted June 5, 2009 I almost forgot .. An easy way to test the sensor is to just simply connect the LED side from your 5V supply and a then connect a multimeter in the Light sensor side (multimeter should be set on measuring resistance (Ohm). And then pass a small flag (piece of paper) through the sensor. You should get a change in the reading on the multimeter when the flag passes through the sensor..? "But (504)Brewber said they were'nt friendly.. So I took'em out.!" [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
stelios2000 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Posted June 5, 2009 Hi Stelios. A couple of questions first. - Whwn connecting the stepper motors to USB Stepper card from opencockpits. Did you also connect a sensor? What kind of sensor did you use? The Opencockpits stepper card run on 5V. And needs to have a sensor (either optic or magnetic) that use 5v to.. I know a lot of printers and fax machines run on voltages higher than this. So if you took the sensor from the printer/fax it might not be usable for the Opencockpits card.? If you don't have a sensor at all the USB Stepper card will not turn the motor. Because it needs a referance to know when the stepper has done a complete 360 degree turn. It's kinda like the game when you are blindfolded and spun arround untill you lose your sense of direction. Only that without the sensor no one removes the blindfold..!? Also did you change in SIOC.INI file to read: "IOCard_disable=yes" , "IOCPclient_disable=yes" and "FSUipc_disable=yes" ? And does the USB device number check out for the USBStepper card? And last bud not least.. What Volts And Ampere should the motor run on? thank you all for your help.... I powered the card with +5V and changed the sioc.ini file but i didnt know that the card wanted the sensor(optical/magnetic) i will have to try it then..... i will post my experience from the card using the sensor thanks again my friend
JG14_Smil Posted June 6, 2009 Posted June 6, 2009 http://www.x-simulator.de/forum/index.php http://buggies.builtforfun.co.uk/Sim/index.html[url=http://www.x-simulator.de/forum/index.php][/url] couple more links to search through, if you don't have them already.
stelios2000 Posted June 8, 2009 Author Posted June 8, 2009 well.........things didnt go the way they should. i found opto-couplers and test the way you told me.... the Ohms does change when i pass through a needle between. So i connect it to the card and use a 4-wire stepper motor. I power the card with +5V.....i change the IOCStepper.ini and please take a look what i get with motor....still....not moving at all
Triggerhappy69 Posted June 8, 2009 Posted June 8, 2009 http://www.x-simulator.de/forum/index.php http://buggies.builtforfun.co.uk/Sim/index.html couple more links to search through, if you don't have them already. I can not belive that that last link has manage to slip away from me for so long..! GOOD FIND..! I'll be mailing this guy ASAP..! "But (504)Brewber said they were'nt friendly.. So I took'em out.!" [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Triggerhappy69 Posted June 8, 2009 Posted June 8, 2009 well.........things didnt go the way they should. i found opto-couplers and test the way you told me.... the Ohms does change when i pass through a needle between. So i connect it to the card and use a 4-wire stepper motor. I power the card with +5V.....i change the IOCStepper.ini and please take a look what i get with motor....still....not moving at all Hmm..? Why do your steppers come up as disconnected..? It seems that there either be a problem with the type of stepper motors (not quite sure what though), or with the .ini file settings..? Most likely some minor setting in the .ini file we have got wrong.. Did you get the other steppers I sent you yet? When you do, try connecting them and see if the status id the same.? I'll PM you when I return home, and compare with my .ini file.. Probably back home by the end of the week..:pilotfly: "But (504)Brewber said they were'nt friendly.. So I took'em out.!" [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
stelios2000 Posted June 8, 2009 Author Posted June 8, 2009 if you press on the image i sent you will zoom in and you will see all the setting of the .ini file i made. no i havent got the motors you sent me yet i will p.m. you when i get them. hope this week can you please tell me how can i determine which cable i will have to put in every pin of the card? i have found somewhere that i will have to use the multimeter in Ohms to compare the cables from the motor....so a 4wire motor with the 2 cables that have resistance are pin 1&2 and the other 2 are pin 3&4 am i correct ? stelios
stelios2000 Posted June 8, 2009 Author Posted June 8, 2009 i read somewhere that the program iocstepper.exe might have problem.... so i run opencockpitsSIOC and after the iocstepper.exe and the motor started to turn.... from .ini file i decrease/increase its speed but i couldn't use the optocoupler.... it was like it wasnt functioning.... also the data from the iocstepper.exe program from the right side that shows data from the motors are all zero... dont know what to do. anyway...... have to learn now how to use the opencockpitsSIOC program to make an easy instrument(compass ???) for the beggining.
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