initialization

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Re: initialization

Postby ger21 » Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:46 pm

If you have other USB devices plugged into your PC, they can affect the operation of the UC100.
I use a wireless mouse on my laptop. If I plug a flash drive into one of the USB ports, my mouse will stop working. But it works fine if I use a different port.


I think I've seen 25ft cables used with the parallel port in the past.
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Re: initialization

Postby Robertspark » Mon Oct 30, 2017 7:26 pm

Fanless pc?

Dust problem solved, solid state HDD
https://m.ebay.com/itm/Intel-N3150-2-08 ... mwBanner=1

I use one similar sought direct from China, arrived UK with 4-5 days

Ok, not free and not zero cost but fit and forget
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Re: initialization

Postby CT63 » Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:47 pm

If you are looking for distance between the PC and CNC you should consider going ETH300 or ETH400 Ethernet instead of USB. USB is ok for keyboards, printers and mouse but has limitations with distance and noise pickup for machine control... IMO. In any case sounds like you have a PC usb problem not a UC100 problem. Used PC are pretty cheap on Ebay.
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Re: initialization

Postby Sailor » Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:17 pm

Perhaps the power management tab is for tablets and laptops, I don't have on when I look at the UC100 motion controller in the device manager.

CT63, I will keep the USB cable short but will extend the printer cable to about 6 - 8 feet. My only consideration was degradation of the signals to the Stepper controller, I could put a scope on one of them and see what they look like, but I am unsure if that will mean all that much to me. So I will just experiment and see the results.

In any case, all seems to be working, not to my perfectionist desires, but practically the results are the same, cutting wood. Still not convinced that the PC is to blame.
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Re: initialization

Postby ger21 » Mon Oct 30, 2017 10:59 pm

In Device Manager, under Universal Serial Bus Controllers, right click and choose Properties of the ones labeled "Hub", and they should have a Power Management tab.
It wouldn't hurt to check everything in the list, as some others may also have a Power Management tab.
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Re: initialization

Postby Sailor » Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:21 am

Thanks, Ger21. For some reason, the HUBs did not show up earlier. I removed one of the HSD Devices which had nothing connected to it and all 7 internal hubs showed up. I checked each one and they all left power alone on the Power Management tab.

I recycled power and lost the motion controller, it had been functioning just fine from the front panel port, which by the way was shared with the composite device (keyboard and mouse receiver). I disabled the memory card reader, just in case it was interfering. I probably should have removed the WiFi unit, but did not think of doing so. Nothing that I tried brought the motion controller back, changed ports, cables etc, nothing worked. I had a universal high-speed hub that I was not using (it can be powered, but I don't know where the power cord is right now) and plugged that into one of the back ports, as soon as I connected the motion controller to the new hub it was immediately discovered and initiated. I had kept the device manager open on the screen.
I now have 7 internal hubs and a generic external hub. We can only wait and see if it comes online tomorrow as I am going to shut the system down now and see what happens in the morning. I could be totally wrong, but I just think the signal strength coming from the motion controller is just on the threshold of what is required by my PC. Perhaps the new hub will add enough oomph to it to keep it working.
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Re: initialization

Postby cncdrive » Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:48 am

There is no such thing as "signal level coming from the motion controller", I mean the signal is not analog, but digital and as such it's voltage level is the voltage level of your USB port minus the voltage drop on the inbetween USB wires. The signal is logically 0 or 1, normally 0Volts and 5Volts. The 5Volts might be lower level if the voltage on your USB port is not 5Volts but lower, but there is no voltage regulator in the UC100 on the 5Volts power line of the USB port used for the USB communication, the voltage is directly used by the USB chip of the UC100 and so the D+ and D- data lines high voltage levels using and should have the same voltage level as what voltage level the USB port providing.
You can measure the voltage level of your USB port with measuring the voltage between the Vcc and gnd pins of the USB port.
Or measure the voltage on between an output pin and the gnd (18. to 25. pins) of the UC100, however the outputs are TTL drivers which guarantees only 0.7*Vcc high voltage levels, so that will be not a 100% precise reading of the USB voltage. And you can put a scope on the data lines of the USB port, but you will have to use a fast enough scope to capture those full amplitude properly.

Did you ever try to connect the controller to a different computer?
I have a strong feeling that the computer has somekind of problem with the USB ports/chipset or somekind of software (Windows) issue.
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Re: initialization

Postby Sailor » Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:17 pm

CNCDrive wrote:Did you ever try to connect the controller to a different computer?
I have a strong feeling that the computer has somekind of problem with the USB ports/chipset or somekind of software (Windows) issue.
I have a brand new HP Pavilion Win 10 64 Bit PC which was on my list of next for testing the motion controller if the hub and motion controller does not stay working as it should.

So far I have recycled the PC 3 times last night and all worked. I just powered up the PC this morning, it's been off for about 12 hours and it is below 60 degrees in the shop right now. The motion controller connected and showed up in the USB section of the device manager. So I will, of course, keep checking. If I get three days of it functioning, I will consider it resolved.

Unfortunately, I will not know where the problem lies and neither will you, just that the system is functional. If I didn't have to wait for 1.5 - 2 weeks to exchange this unit, I would go the exchange route as I do not have complete faith in this unit, that is, that it won't fail in the future. I just do not want to be without a machine for that length of time. I still have the BOB coming in and I will use it to further isolate the power sources and loads from each other (negating ground loops) as a possible cause as well.

What I do know is that the BOB I am using is not optically isolated and all the pins feed straight through to the other connector with only some pull up resistors and capacitors on the input lines and some filtering capacitors on the output lines. Worked fine with using the printer port on the Xp machine, but it may be a problem on a more sophisticated system such as a motion controller. With that being said, the Motion Controller would not connect even when it was not connected to any external devices such as switches or the stepper controller including the BOB, just hanging out there at the end of the USB cable. Just trying to remove any concerns and improve reliability.

I am not trying to find fault with the controller, I just want my machine able to function. I am reasonably sure it is not the cables and I don't have a clue as to what side of the equation is causing the problem, but if the USB Hub resolves it, I am satisfied. FYI I still have not powered the hub.

I only question the PC not being the culprit because all of the other (3) USB devices are working flawlessly. The PC is not a wimp either 4 core AMD, 12 GB of memory operating freq of 2.9 Mhz Windows 7. That does not mean that something on the PC side is not causing a problem and it could be that one of the USB devices is causing a problem.

I know this is lengthy, but I don't want to leave any stones unturned, to the best of my ability and resources.
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Re: initialization

Postby Sailor » Wed Nov 01, 2017 4:11 am

Interesting. Tonight I plugged in the BOB (I had recycled the PC multiple times during the day and the motion controller connected) and then recycled the PC, the motion controller would not reconnect. I removed the BOB and the motion controller reconnected. Waiting anxiously for the new isolated BOB to help with this problem. It seems that I still need the external hub to guarantee the controller will connect.
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Re: initialization

Postby Robertspark » Wed Nov 01, 2017 7:47 am

How are you powering the bob
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