Lichaun LCDA357H setup

Hi everyone, I have just managed to get my router wired up but am not getting it to work. I have a Mesa 5i25+7i76 with three Lichaun drives and motors (three phase closed loop steppers) running a small CNC router (Karla).

I used PNCconfig with default values for properties of the steppers etc. When I try to jog any of the axes it moves a bit, loudly and the driver starts flashing an error (3 blinks) and everything stops. it is the same on all three axes. The driver manual doesn't tell me what that means which is not very impressive.

I am not sure where to start looking. I used this hardware (computer and mesa cards) many years ago with conventional steppers and it worked without major issues so I suspect something I am sending the drives is way off.

the firmware is old (2016 I think) but I doubt that is the issue.

the drives are set at 1000 steps per rev.

Your Y and Z accelerations (10X the X accel) probably exceed the drives capabilities

Thanks PCW, I was testing if the acceleration was the issue, even with the lower acceleration the X still doesn't work.

I am regretting getting these drives, the documentation is really no good.

Luke

You might try setting the direction setup and hold times to 20000
just to guarantee that these are not being violated and perhaps also
try inverting the step output

You might also try to flip SW6 to switch off the encoder feedback and turn them into normal stepper motors. In case there is something with the encoder feedback I mean.
I found three error codes, perhaps you get the one with seven flashes in the manual which is positional deviation is too large but it is a guess since you see three flashes.

www.hardware-cnc.nl/images/PDF/lichuan/0411c22cd045b8c35909.pdf

Thanks Hakan, I didn't realize this was an option. (my drivers came direct from China so the last two dip switches are not labeled in characters I can read

With #6 switched off I have the three axes moving in a reasonable fashion. I guess now I need to see what is wrong with the encoders. they came wired when delivered but I am going to guess that they were not done correctly.

Luke

my drivers came direct from China so the last two dip switches are not labeled in characters I can read

But you can download the manual from LiChuan , where you find a description of switches 5 (motor direction) and switch 6 (open/closed loop).

These are the error codes of LiChuan driver:
So your 3-time blinking code means loose of steps - which in turn means, that the mechanic is too hard to move for the motor, your commanded speed is to high or your encoder feedback is weird.

I cutted of the default plug and connected the encoder to the driver with individual cables ...
Colors of encoder cable (from motor) are:

• blue - EA-
• black - EA+
• red - VCC
• white - GND
• green - EB-
• yellow - EB+

TIP: use pncconf to test axis movements. There you can easily change motor/driver settings and see, what values work with your machine.

After much messing around and talking with some other people I finally got this working. The encoder wiring was wrong in the data sheets and the wire colors have changed over time.

I was able to find the correct pin numbers for each encoder wire and get them working properly.

(for the record they are as follows, the plugs are labeled but it isn't easy to read them.

EA+ = 1
EA- = 2
EB+ = 4
EB- = 5
Gnd = 7
Vcc = 8

Anyway the router is moving at 13m/min for rapids without errors which is ok for a little machine like this. Not that I have the spindle power to cut at anywhere near that fast. I seem to remember the big industrial router I worked with in grad school cut a stack of of plywood at 1200 inch/min which is 30m/min! It was just a little more powerful

Good morning.
I am having the same problem that they are discussing here ... I tried what they suggest but it doesn't work for me.
could you help me .... I'm a bit frustrated ... thanks