Short-to-ground error - causes of

fcwilt

Hi,

I've been testing a new Mini 5 running firmware 3.2 on a small Ultimaker style printer with dual Z steppers driving lead screws. The lead screws are connected via a belt which I guess is intended to keep them in sync.

And for the first time ever I am getting a short-to-ground error on one of the Z steppers - and a bit of unpleasant noise.

I checked the connector associated with the error message and found one of the contacts may have been making intermittent contact with the pin on the board.

Can this cause that type of error message?

Thanks.

Frederick

Veti

my line of thinking:
is your frame grounded and do the stepper have a connection to the frame?

fcwilt

@Veti said in Short-to-ground error - causes of:

my line of thinking:
is your frame grounded and do the stepper have a connection to the frame?

No and No.

I was wondering if the error message was to be taken literally since I could not think of anyway the wires going to the the stepper could be contacting anything that was grounded.

Thanks.

Frederick

Phaedrux

@fcwilt said in Short-to-ground error - causes of:

I checked the connector associated with the error message and found one of the contacts may have been making intermittent contact with the pin on the board.
Can this cause that type of error message?

Yes I think so. I guess the real question is, once the connection was improved, did the error stop?

fcwilt

@Phaedrux said in Short-to-ground error - causes of:

Yes I think so. I guess the real question is, once the connection was improved, did the error stop?

When installing the connector on the cable from the stepper I noticed it was a slightly different color from the rest of my Duet inventory and it was somewhat hard to connect to the board - enough so that I wondered at the time why it "felt" different.

So after this error and finding the possibly intermittent connection I cut the connector off and re-did it with a new connector from my Mini 5 package.

That connector slipped onto the board pins smoothly and snuggly.

So far the error has not occurred again.

Thanks.

Frederick

Veti

@fcwilt said in Short-to-ground error - causes of:

So after this error and finding the possibly intermittent connection I cut the connector off and re-did it with a new connector from my Mini 5 package.

see
https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Wiki/Connector_and_spare_part_numbers

Please note that the shells and crimp pins that supplied with Duets are usually made by Würth Elektronik. The crimp pins made by Würth should only be used with shells made by Würth. In particular, they will not lock into Molex 22-01-20x5 shells.

fcwilt

@Veti said in Short-to-ground error - causes of:

Thanks for that link - I've been trying to find that info so I could order some parts.

Please note that the shells and crimp pins that supplied with Duets are usually made by Würth Elektronik. The crimp pins made by Würth should only be used with shells made by Würth. In particular, they will not lock into Molex 22-01-20x5 shells.

That is not good news.

If my memory serves me in the past I ordered some Molex parts.

Whatever I got I just dumped them together with the parts I had from my Duet 2 and Duex 5 boards.

If they are different I'm going to have fun trying to sort them out.

Frederick