Messages

1

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Charge Pump problems

« on: October 16, 2013, 09:21:30 AM »

The circuit uses a pulse stream to charge a capacitor. If the pulse stream stops the circuit switches the drivers off. Its kind of like the pulse keeps 'pumping' a charge into the capacitor.

Its done this way as a safety- there is no way Mach could keep doing the regular pulse if it has crashed or 'gone nuts' in some way. If the enable was simply a signal, either on or off, it could fail with the signal in the safe state, but mach could be totally dead.

Ah Huh... Roger that. Makes sense. RC discharge circuit. Thank you.

2

SmoothStepper USB / Re: Charge Pump problems

« on: October 16, 2013, 03:28:59 AM »

why is this function called "Charge Pump?"