Servo amp enable wiring

I wired to the common next to the clamp pin. Drive would not power up so I disconnected it and drive powered up. So yes next was the power ground since that is what powers the drive. No turn on and disconnected no turn on.

What exactly does the CLAMP (enable) do ? The drives are powered up and I can balance them without the clamp hooked up. Is it needed?

Dependng on power wiring, using power ground as a low level input common could destroy the drive and the 7I77. Are you sure you have the ENA+ and ENA- pins correct and mode "C" selected?

I would verify the input operation with a mechanical switch before connection to the 7I77. The ENA+ and ENA- function the same as a switch (thats "on" when enabled) but it you are not sure of the function and signal levels, its best to use a switch first

Why not put one relay with four contacts or how ever many drives, run the com through N/C contacts to the drives.

in your custom.hal connect them something like:
net machine-is-on hm2_7i92.0.7i77.0.0.output-01
Connect wires from output of 7i77 to relay then tie a ground to the other side of coil with a diode.

When you press machine on button in axis your drives enable.

What has confused me is when i connect the Clamp (enable) pin to common the drive will not power up at all and if it is already powered up it shuts off until I disconnect them.

@bevins I have already done this through a motor contactor to send 165VDC to the drives. There is no other power source for the drives. All power for the drives is derived from the 165VDC.

I have built close to a dozen machines with linuxcnc, and never had any issues before. This is frustrating to say the least.

mmt wrote: What has confused me is when i connect the Clamp (enable) pin to common the drive will not power up at all and if it is already powered up it shuts off until I disconnect them.

@bevins I have already done this through a motor contactor to send 165VDC to the drives. There is no other power source for the drives. All power for the drives is derived from the 165VDC.

I have built close to a dozen machines with linuxcnc, and never had any issues before. This is frustrating to say the least.

I am not talking for the dc power to the drive. I am talking about doing that for enable. Peter from MEsa already told you you would be better off switching the drive enable through a switch instead of the ena+ of the mesa card.

Forgot to update this and thank you Peter. No damage was done and the machine is running fantastic. Actually it runs better than when purchased new with the anilam control.