E-Stop

Can't seem to get my E-Stop working.

The board is a CNC4PC C35S and I am sending 5v through a NC E-Stop switch to Input Pin 10.In StepConf I am setting Input Pin 10 to E-Stop. The odd thing is that the E-Stop button in Axis toggles on/off when I press the E-Stop switch, but my C35S is not enabled; no green Enable LED. I'm stumped. I have attached a HAL that works (my-mill) and the one that doesn't (E-Stop_Test). Any recommendations?

Looks fairly similar to the config on my machine. I might be stating the obvious but when I hit E-stop, to enable the drive outputs again it's a two stage process - reset the E-stop and toggle machine power (F2).

So I've done some more reading and ran several different HAL configs to see if I can figure out what is going on.

I have Pin 17 Output set for Charge Pump in StepConf and I have an LED on the C35S that indicates the status of Pin 17..

Running the My-Mill HAL, Pin 17 goes hi/low as it should when I press and release the E-Stop button in Axis. I also get the accompanying Green Enable LED on the C35S. All axis move and everything seems to work as it should.

Running the E-Stop_Test HAL, Pin 17 never goes hi and of course no Green Enable LED. The BOB is not getting the Charge Pump signal. When I press/release the external E-Stop switch, the e-stop button in Axis switches on and off so seems there is no problem with Pin 10 Input from the BOB and NC external E-Stop switch.

I'm still learning, but seems as though the external E-Stop switch is not sending the Charge Pump signal to the BOB. Something is missing in the HAL, but I don't know what it is...help ! LOL

This is a hardware issue, and it is completely unrelated to any setting or configuration in the software while you are not using the Safety Charge Pump, which I suggest you disable it on the board for now for troubleshooting purposes.
Please go through this: www.cnc4pc.com/faq/article/i-cannot-get-...n-the-breakout-board
3 conditions must be met to get the enable LED:
• The board must be properly powered. Check the documentation on the board, as a misunderstanding on how it is powered is very possible.
• The board must be connected to a PC/Motion Controller which is connected to the power system. The board has a ground detection circuit using pins 18 and 19 that disables the output is the board is not connected. This is a cable disconnect detection feature. Check the cable. There are some cheap cables out that that only use pins 1-17.
• There should be a jumper (or wired it parallel to e-stop) between the EN terminal and the +5vdc next to it.
On boards with a Safety Charge Pump, there is a 4th condition.
• The SCHP must be disabled on the board or enabled and configured in the control software.
Once you get the green LED without the SCHP, then we can check the configuration to make the SCHP signal to activate the green LED.
Please check this and let me know how it goes.
Arturo Duncan
cnc4pc.com

Before I started messing with the external e-stop, everything seemed to work fine. With the SCHP jumper enabled and Pin 17 set to Charge Pump in StepConf, the Green enable light comes on with internal e-stop disabled and goes out with internal e-stop enabled.All 3 axis move when Green enable light is on (internal e-stop disabled) and do not move when Green enable light is off (internal e-stop enabled).

So everything was okay until I tried to wire the external e-stop to Pin 10.

For anyone following this post, Arturo has been a HUGE help in getting me to the point I am at now...customer service from Arturo and CNC4PC is awesome!

Thanks for your words.
OK, so you do get the green LED without the SCHP and E-Stop. So, the problem is when you configured and wired e-stop. OK, I am sorry for the confusion on my part. OK, here are some thoughts:
- The idea with this boards, is that you connect the e-stop pin using a high in parallel with the EN terminal, which acts as the hardware enable. So, when e-stop opens, the first thing that happens is that all outputs get disabled. This is at hardware level. Then software gets notified through the e-stop signal of the e-stop condition. The idea behind this is that you do not relay on the software to stop your system, but on the wiring. As a software failure could be one of the reasons why you are pressing the e-stop button.
- If you are wiring like I described above, the common for e-stop and EN must be +5vdc. The same +5vdc that you used in the first place for the EN and the input pin must be set to pull-down. This way when it is in the air, then the input will be a low.
- You can use a multimeter to verify you have the +5vdc on the EN and input pin for e-stop when the switch is closed and to see 0vdc when open.
- Maybe you need to change the active high/low used for e-stop.
- What happens if you move the jumper back on the board to disable the outputs?
Check that and let me know how it goes.
Arturo Duncan
cnc4pc.com

I want to make sure I understand the first step before I rewire it.....

DO NOT wire the external e-stop to Pin 10. Instead wire 5 vdc through the NC external e-stop switch to the Enable Pin. The C35S manual says it has an internal 4.7K pull-down resistor.

Copied from the manual:

7.2 Enable Pin.
The card must be provided with a 5VDC signal to enable operation. This feature has been added to externally control the status of the outputs. When the enable signal is not present, output signals sent high impedance state. If this function is not required, a jumper can be placed between +5vdc and the EN terminal. It has an internal 4.7kOhm pull-down resistor.

Please do not rewire anything before we understand what preventing the board from activating.
- What happens if you move the jumper back to disable the SCHP on the board?
- Is the software activating OK? Or is it seeing an e-stop condition?
Not that the EN terminal is not tied to an input pin for e-stop. It is just a hardware enable on the board. If you want to tie it to an input pin, you need to wire it manually. This is why I say that you would need to connect the EN in parallel to the input pin used for stop. Considering what you have said, I can think of two reasons why your system is not activating:
- You configured and enabled the SCHP and the software is seeing an e-stop condition that is not letting it activate.
- There could be a problem with the wiring of the e-stop and the EN is not seeing the +5vdc. As I said in the previous email, you can verify this with a multimeter.

Arturo Duncan
cnc4pc.com

Moved jumper to disable SCHP and set Pin 17 in StepConf to "unused". Green Enable light is on as soon as board is powered up whether EMC2 is started or not. EMC2 software works as it should, I can toggle internal e-stop to enable/disable axis movement; Green Enable LED remains on under all conditions.

Next step...I reconnected the external e-stop and set Pin 10 to E-Stop In in StepConfig. Powered everything back up and it all works as it should. Green light remains on throughout, but external e-stop toggles software e-stop and disables axis.

So something is messed up in the software when I try to use the software generated charge pump and external e-stop at the same time. The external e-stop will toggle the software e-stop button on and off, but the board is never enabled (no green light). The Pin 17 LED never comes on so it is like the software is not sending the SCHP signal.

If it is considered safe to run without using the SCHP function, I think I'll just leave it alone as it seems to be working as advertised.

OK, so now we know the problem is the software configuration. You need to configure LinuxCNC to use the SCHP, so it sends a 12.5khz pulse stream through pin 17 when the software is active.
I do not have instructions for his on hand now but can look it up tomorrow for you.

Arturo Duncan
cnc4pc.com