Trinamic board not recognised ...

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GemBro
Posts: 4
Joined: 01.11.2014 03:15

Trinamic board not recognised ...

Post by GemBro »

Hi Stas,

I've got a Trinamic board PD3-110-42-232 that is compatible with Helicon Remote ... I also purchased a stepper to go with the board and also the USB cable FTDI USB RS232 WE-1800-BT-00 you suggested, to connect the Trinamic board to the PC ...
/helicon-remote-stackshot/

I cannot find any info on how Helicon Remote 'knows' the board is present? (via the USB cable) ... I cannot see it under Camera Settings (where my Canon 550D is shown) ... it doesn't show up in the list ...

I have tested my setup by connecting the board, motor & cable using Trinamic's own TMCL-IDE program and that all works fine ... I just cannot get Helicon Remote to recognise the Trinamic board ...

What am I doing wrong?

My setup:
Windows 7 (64bit)
Trinamic Board - PD3-110-42-232
USB cable - FTDI USB RS232 WE-1800-BT-00
Helicon Remote v3.2.4 & v3.27 (Tried both ...do I need to upgrade/downgrade?)

cheers,
Gem
GemBro
Posts: 4
Joined: 01.11.2014 03:15

Re: Trinamic board not recognised ...

Post by GemBro »

Could anyone who has got the Trinamic boards working, with Helicon Remote, please say what or how they got theirs to work? ... i.e. what version of HC they have and what drivers they used for the FTDI cable? ...

I've even tried the latest version of HC ... still nothing ... got a feeling I've wasted a lot of money on the Trinamic gear ... :( ...

cheers,
Gem
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Stas Yatsenko
Posts: 3841
Joined: 06.05.2009 14:05
Contact:

Re: Trinamic board not recognised ...

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

Connect Trinamic to your PC. Don't forget to plug in the power supply as well. Open Device Manager, find the USB Serial Converter device under USB Controllers category, double-click it, go to Advanced tab and uncheck the "Load VCP" checkbox. Press OK. Now unplug the USB cable and plug it back in. Launch Helicon Remote (the latest version, 3.4.8), wait for a couple seconds and send a bug report if Trinamic is still not licted in the list of available devices ("Select a camera" button).
GemBro
Posts: 4
Joined: 01.11.2014 03:15

Re: Trinamic board not recognised ...

Post by GemBro »

Hi Stas,

I have just tried what you suggested and still nothing ... so I am trying a different cable, a FTDI FT232RL USB to serial (TTL) with a TTL to RS232 converter in-line (using a MAX232 chip) to see if this will work ... but it didn't ... but this cable does control the Trinamic motor via their TMCL-IDE program ...

The original cable I used was the one suggested on the website (FTDI USB RS232 WE-1800-BT-00 USB Cable):
/helicon-remote-stackshot/

So ... still no go I'm afraid ...

Report sent in email ... support guys replied ... they don't know what's wrong either :? ...

thanks
GemBro
GemBro
Posts: 4
Joined: 01.11.2014 03:15

Re: Trinamic board not recognised ...

Post by GemBro »

Ok good news ... it looks like it's my PC, which I don't understand ... tried Helicon Remote and the Trinamic board on another PC (laptop) and it works fine ... so somehow my PC has got it's USBs messed up ... but it's only the FTDI device that doesn't want to work ... now I know this I can try and sort out the PC's USB issue ... might be a conflict going on somewhere ...

Also ... while I was testing this all out and using different cables and stuff, I found out you can control the Trinamic board (via Helicon Remote) by using an FTDI breakout board (TTL) connected to a MAX232 chip (to give RS232) ... may work out cheaper than the FTDI USB RS232R cable solution ... unfortunately I can't use links in here for others to see ...

cheers,
GemBro
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Stas Yatsenko
Posts: 3841
Joined: 06.05.2009 14:05
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Re: Trinamic board not recognised ...

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

Try reinstalling the FTDI driver.
vansav8r
Posts: 8
Joined: 24.12.2018 12:16

Re: Trinamic board not recognised ...

Post by vansav8r »

Hi Stas,
I have built a rail using the RS232 Trinamic controller board and FTDI USB converter but I am unable to get Remote to recognise the controller, device manager sees the FTDI converter and I have unchecked "Load VCP"in advanced settings, the controller board is energising the stepper by holding it still, the board has a green flashing led, TMCL-IDE seems to see the FTDI converter on Com 8 and refreshes frequently. I have connected the USB converter to controller as follows

TxD to Rxd ,
Rxd to TxD
Gnd to Gnd

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Regards
Jim
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Stas Yatsenko
Posts: 3841
Joined: 06.05.2009 14:05
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Re: Trinamic board not recognised ...

Post by Stas Yatsenko »

Does TMCL-IDE actually work with the stepper? If not, could be a problem with the driver or with wiring or with the converter itself. If it does work, then make sure to close it before using Remote as COM doesn't support multiple clients. If still doesn't work, probably a driver/configuration issue. Try deleting the driver along with any settings you may have applied manually, then let Windows reinstall the default driver.
vansav8r
Posts: 8
Joined: 24.12.2018 12:16

Re: Trinamic board not recognised ...

Post by vansav8r »

The problem was solved by using the Farnell FTDI adapter, now working fine thanks for the support.
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