Im having trouble with my arduino when the shield is attached. When the arduino doesn’t have the shield on it then my laptop finds it no problem, all the drivers installed fine and it works no problem as a regular arduino however when the shield is put on my laptop no longer finds anything attached via usb, also the blue light comes on but non of the green lights come on. If I plug the arduino into my laptop and its working then insert the shield I can see the arduino disappear on my computer and the second I take the shield off it pops back up no problem. Im using a Lenovo running windows 10. It did this when I first put the x carve together but after about an hour it just magically started working so I thought great loose wire or something and thats all, however a day later and its doing the same thing. I rewired the shield but no difference.The first time I turned it on today all of the green lights were on but I couldnt move any of the motors except the x which just shook then the green light went out and it was dead. since it isn’t the wiring and it isn’t my laptop or the arduino i think it must mean that the shield is bad, any other opinions would be nice.
When this problem occurs, almost all the time, the problem is that the gShield is not properly mounted on the Arduino. It is difficult to attach the gShield in the electronic enclosure that Inventables provides without having mis-aligned pins. You have to make sure that the pins line up properly and that the gShield is pressed fully into the Arduino for it to work right.
If you have a powered USB around, try putting it between the laptop and the arduino. It may be that the laptop USB can’t supply enough power for both arduino and gshield electronics.
My other suggestion would be that you’re not getting the pins lined up properly when mounting the gshield. If you have the Inventables case for them, try mounting them outside the case, as some people have reported problems getting them lined up in the case.
Myth.
Take the arduino and gshield out of the enclosure and hook them together. I had this issue last night and found the case was restricting me from seating the gshield fully. Make sure power when attaching together.
I will try taking them out and see if that fixes it, however I found under inspection that the gshield sustained some damage so I soldered back on the broken piece but i ordered a new one so ether way Im going to replace it.
What makes you say myth?
(P.S. Not a myth for those using an old laptop thinking they can get away with battery power.)
Arduino and gShield draw 50mA. USB spec provides for 500mA from USB port. Ten times what the Arduino and gShield use.
50mA to fire a relay?
Arduino and gShield don’t have a relay.
Hmph. You’re right. I thought the spindle was turned on via a relay. It must just draw a PWM signal from the arduino.
Still, lots of crap attached to an old laptop USB bus, laptop on battery power (can decrease output to USB port to whatever energy saving level bios is set to), a few pins pulled low to ground, Mouse, keyboard, USB drive, led’s etc. and connection lost.
50Ma for both is incredibly efficient. Though I cannot find that spec anywhere, that is impressive.
Though I cannot find that spec anywhere
Not a spec, I measured it.
Most people here are using an SSR for their routers and most SSRs use an opto-isolated input so they only draw about 10-20mA. Even a coil operated relay doesn’t use a lot ~200mA. A standard USB port should be fine.
The 500mA allowance on USB is per port. So if you have four ports your computer should be able to deliver 500mA to each or a total of 2 amps.
Not to say that some computer manufacturers don’t fudge.
Ahhh. That makes sense. Be interesting to measure the spike when connecting and when pins are low to ground,etc. But I don’t have a multimeter capable of measuring and recording those spikes. 200Ma is probably the consistent draw with coil closed. The spike can be 2-3x. Yes, some computers have a default power profile that compromises USB power output under certain conditions (more common in laptops). I’ve just learned not to power anything more complicated than an LED from a USB hub by years and years of trial and mostly error on my part (lots of microcontroller projects over the years). 50Ma is impressive.
I have the dewalt 611 anyway so it just plugs into the wall. Joining the shield with the arduino outside the case seemed to work but the x axis is still having some trouble, it just disconnects sometimes but i think thats from the damage. seems kind of dumb that they would manufacture a case that doesn’t properly fit the arduino but can design a cnc machine.
I don’t know if it’s a design problem, or maybe just quality control. The case that came with mine worked fine without any modification.
Ok I got my new shield and all the problems I was having are gone. Any tips on moding the case so I can use my machine without the arduino just sitting on the table waiting to be broken again. Also If anyone has any tips for getting Universal G code sender to run I’m having trouble with that
The two most common problems getting UGCS to work:
Download and install Java.
Set the baud rate to 115200.
Some people have to start it using the .bat file and others just double click on the .jar file (assuming Windows).
Thank you. Solved my problem.