5th axis upgrade wiring

1

It appears that the instructions for the avid 5th drive upgrade show a different power supply than I have in my system, and include the installation of a capacitor that was not included in my kit. Has anyone here with my same model of machine installed the 5th drive upgrade? I believe I have revision 21.1, released in 2021.

I can wait until Monday for avid support to get back to me, but I was hoping to get my 4th axis running this weekend.

Here is how the control box looks in avids instructions:

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Here is my control box, note the different power supplies:

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I am not sure where to put these wires from the motor drive’s phoenix connector:

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I am also not sure if the capacitor is a missing part or if that has been changed in the newer machine version.

2

The capacitor is unnecessary in newer versions. I believe those wires should go here with the others from your existing 4 drives:

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3

Thanks, looks like you are correct.

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5

Personally I like having large capacitors on my stepper systems. Especially if your power system is not 3 phase.

They are there to compensate for those times when the air conditioning turns on or somebody starts a vacuum and the lights dim in your house right when all of the axis sudden get commanded to rapid to the opposite end of the machine.

It’s not a guaranteed loss of steps but it’s always safer to have the capacity. My Sieg X3 has an absolute monster capacitor for the Z axis. Like the size of somebody’s head (ok, I am exaggerating but it is a comically large cap :stuck_out_tongue: ). It was built back before Maxwell Tech had invented their supercapacitors.

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