Thread: Xylotex Magic Smoke for no reason.

Hey Willy,

Sorry to hear about the driver.
What supply voltage are you running?

Now did you mean G251 driver as Gecko don't have G50's.
The G251 have a maximum of 50Vdc only, you would probably be higher than that with the Zylo's?

I have a G540 which i am running 50Vdc. easy to setup. Also keep in mind that they will only take 3.5 amp/phase, which kind of is useless for the round stepper motors. The new square steppes are good.

I think you should post you motor details and details around the supply voltage you are running.

In short, i find the Gecko units great. Repair is also 1st class as I blew mine up once. I had a chat with Maurice and he repaired the units cheap and in one case swapped one unit for a newby as it was so smoke filled, charcoal looked pale.

/M

I should have said the G40 just had the snits when typing.

I think the Xylotex motors are rated at 2.8A

• 269 oz.in. Steppers
• 24VDC 5.0A Power Supply

Originally Posted by WillyInBris

I should have said the G40 just had the snits when typing.

I think the Xylotex motors are rated at 2.8A

• 269 oz.in. Steppers
• 24VDC 5.0A Power Supply

Yup they are 24V, 2.8 amp for the 269's, Gecko's will easily handle them.

The PSU I got was 6.3Amp so we might have different PSU's.

The G251 or the G540 but the G540 is a 4 axis driver.


I am sure Gecko has a failsafe so that you cant cook them, in my option right now the Geckos are the best to use.


You can send it back for repair for a fraction of the cost, it might be worthwhile just reselling it if you have no plan to use it.

Hi Sean,
Before you do anything locate that short and fix it. On the Xylotex forum there are similar posts coming through where machines have been operating well and for no apparent reason smoke has happened. It always ends up being broken or frayed wires.
I don't think the geckos are immune from this either. As the full voltage passes through the chip if a wire breaks the current has nowhere to go except out through the chip. Geckos probably have incorect connection protection (miswiring) but no protection for what you have had happen.
If your board is over twelve months old Xylotex will not repair. I'm fairly sure they do not repair them anyway as it is cheaper for them to just replace the board. If you are good with electronics search for the alegro chip that is on your board (about $7.00) and solder a new chip in. Take a heatsink off and the number to order are on the top of the chip. Otherwise just get another Xylotex as there is no point paying more for Geckos when they will not provide you protection from what has happened. Just another opinion.

Hi guys well after the endless hours of looking for the fault nothing is to be found this means it maybe a faulty motor or I may still have a break in a wire that causing a problem when its flexing.
So I will replace all the wires just in case but I am pretty sure it was caused by a limit switch and a stupid mistake by me with a toolpath.

So I had a look at the xylotex site to see what could be done and I may as well chuck it in the bin unless I want to change the chips myself as you said rod and I will probaly sell it with my bob and let someone else do that it they want,t I was a bit blown away he only has a 90day warranty and wont repair a board if its over a year old something I didn't notice when I purchase his gear bit negative on the three month warranty .

So I am going to go with a G540 as it has its own inbuilt BOB for limit switches and speed controller for the VFD opto isolated etc.
Its 4 Axis and if I was going to buy another board it would be a four axis board anyway as I would like to have a play at what Gregs been doing down the track.
Comes with one year warranty same day turn around and they pay for shipping back.

I asked Mariss at gecko about my issue and if it could occur with the G540 as well, he said they haven't had a smoked G540 yet.

The G540 has a number of safe guards, motor connect/disconnect protected, motor wiring short-circuit protected, power supply under/over-voltage protected and reversed power supply polarity protected. That last one will cost you replacing the internal fuse though.

I also asked about repairs after the one year warranty:

We even repair 10 year old G201 drives for free Mariss

That kind of does it for me they seem to reply quickly on the Gecko Group the product looks the goods and a bonus on quick reply's on the support side.

Its only going to cost me an extra $180 minus what ever I can get for my Bob to get a G540 I am willing to pay that for the warranty and support at least I wont have to chuck it in the bin if something happens after a year.

Willy

The following was posted today so I thought I would add this on for some it means nothing but Mubo Jumbo to me but someone else may be interested you can speake to Mariss on the GeckoDrive Group on Yahoo for further info.

G540, G250/G251

Hi,

We have qualified a new CPLD upgrade for these drives as a beta
release. The upgrade is increasing the switching frequency to 40kHz
from the standard 20kHz.

A doubled switching frequency means ripple current eddy losses in the
motor are reduced. This means low inductance motors are noticeably
cooler at 40kHz when compared to a 20kHz drive. Quantitatively, a 3mH
motor at 48VDC measures 7 Watts less heat dissipation at 40kHz. This
is a significant reduction.

We haven't found any adverse consequences of upping the frequency but
testing may find something that's been overlooked. If you are willing
to try and you plan to order any of the above drives, please specify
"40kHz" along with the order.

Because this is a CPLD program change, the drives can always be
reverted back to the standard 20kHz.

Mariss

Hi Sean,

Bit of a bummer! Mine did a similar thing too...

If you bare selling the BOB, I would be interested... How much?

Bob did you upgrade to geckos?

If you did I think you need a C11G

Thanks Sean,
Good to know the Geckos have all that protection. The way you have put it I can see your logic in choosing the geckos.

Hey guys well after a lot more research I have found out that the 24v power supply wont cut the mustard or da wax so I will be going for a 48v more v's then I probably need but from that I understand its better to be way over then under.

So hwho is the best to get a 48v Power supply off, can they be got in Australia? or just get one from Keling.

Do you want a switching or unregulated power supply?

It says in the Manual It can be either.

What is the difference between the two Rod beside probably price.

C11 would be alright, I am after the controller for the VFD

These 251's are different than the normal gecko's so it doesn't need the G model..

48volt 7.5amp supply I got was from Keling, you would probably be able to get one at ebay too

The main difference (apart from price) will be that you can readily buy a regulated (switching) power supply but for an unregulated power supply, you'll probably have to make you own - or get one made.
I've been looking around for a power supply for a G540 and have only found switching power supplies available locally.

The unregulated supplies from Kelinginc would be ideal but expensive taking into account $A value and freight. Based on recent quoted from Kelinginc for motors, I'd guess about $US50 for shipping.