Mesa 7I92H with China Mach3 5 Axis CNC Break Out Board. Am I right...?

Dear Board,

I set up my machine with the China Mach3 5 Axis CC Break Out Board (Break Out Board) and connected it via LPT.

Did I understand correctly that I can replace the connection from PC to BoB via LPT by an ethernetcable connected to the Mesa 7I92H and a DSub 25 adapter connected to the breakoutboard, right?

Is this advisable? Or would you recommend to use a 7I96 STEP/IO Step & dir plus I/O or 7i76E card? I do not completely understand whether the 7I96 can only be used as a daughter card or whether it is usable as a "stand alone card". I'd say it is usable standalone (ethernet to PC, step, dir pulse to drivers, IO to endstops, e-stops reading here ....

I am using 4 open loop steppers and I am thinking of adding a jog dial in the future.

Thanks a lot in advance,

Markus

Yes, you can use a 7I92H with the common "5 Axis BOB" by
using the 7i92_5abob firmware.

The 7I96 is stand alone

(though to make things a bit more confusing, you _could_ add a 5 Axis BOB to the 7I96's expansion connector)

What would your recommendation be for my setup? The difference in cost is not that much since I'd need the adaptor cable as well, so it's 128€ vs 166€.

How is the 7I92H mesa card powered (cannot find any documentation in the shop)? I had a lot of trouble with grounding. I guess it will be connected to the(separate) 5V powersupply circuit for all the motor IOs, right? Would the BOB then be powered via USB from PC, meaning ethernet, USB and LPT are grounded via the ethernet/ USB ground, right?

I prefer to have less circuits, power supplies and the like. Currently I am running 4 seprated circuits with a dedicated ground for any of these which is very error prone.

The 7I92H needs local 5V supply

In general its better to have a local 5V for Ethernet connected
I/O cards and not use the PCs 5V so the control section is isolated
from PC ground. If you use the 5 axis BOB, it should be powered by
the same 5V as the 7I92 (not PC power)

Great thanks! That is very helpful since I didn't know ethernet is isolated. 5V for BoB USB and Mesa card can be the same used for the step dir pulse IO's on the BoB? The LPT part and the Stepper IO is isolated on the BoB as well. In my currents setup I seprated those tow but it might not be necessary anymore since it is not connected to the PC ground.

Do you feel like giving a recommendation whether to stick with the BoB or to move to a 7i96E?

Do you feel like giving a recommendation whether to stick with the BoB or to move to a 7i96E?

If you have the BOB and its wired and working (and you dont need any additional I/O) I would probably stay with it

If you need more I/O or want a high speed encoder input, I would chose the 7I96

i use 2 of them


in the german sectio is the config but that does not fit yours