Hi, I just took delivery of my CNC xPRO v4 board and (apologies for hijacking the thread) I can't figure out how (or rather where) to connect a relay to turn my DeWalt router on and off (M3/M5). Am I missing something? I'm not familiar with these boards and am upgrading from a simple grbl shield mounted on an Arduino. I have scanned the wiki site but am stumped. I've attached an image of the type of relay I was planning to use if that helps at all. Any advice gratefully received.
Your board uses ACTIVE LOW so you also need to recompile Grbl (Default is ACTIVE HIGH) SIGNAL GND goes to GND SIGNAL goes to Spindle 5v goes to 5v (to power the Relay coil) Way way easier though, and about a million times safer would be to get IOT Switching Relay Power Strip instead
Thanks Peter, the IOT for 240v is US$110 compared to the US$28 for the 110v version, but it's still an option. Can you forgive my ignorance but when you say SIGNAL goes to Spindle, would that be the pin/terminal labelled 'Spindle PWM (0-5v/0-10v)?
Thank you again Peter, I really appreciate the help. The boards don't come with more than a diagram of the pins, and I guess because they're relatively new, the guidance on the main Wiki site is on the lite side. Cheers!
I hear you! Its not perfect, but since BlackBox is a Grbl board too - maybe you can do a little cross checking on OpenBuilds BlackBox 4X Documentation too - its not 1:1 but you might be able to look at whats on the wiki, and what we have, together the picture might click into place?
I'm starting to wonder if I should have gone with the BlackBox now, but I'll persevere. It's a real shame that the manufacturer doesn't provide more extensive documentation but I should have done more research beforehand. The Spindle PWM pin seems to be a constant signal, unaffected by M3/M5. There are two sets of spare (jumper) pins but no jumpers supplied and no explanation of what they do. I'll continue my research. It's a well-built board but so far let down by a lack of manufacturer support.
Ah, it's backwards! The PWN pin has the NO side of the relay as closed by default, so the NC side is open. An M03 command closes the NC side (and vice versa). Odd, but it works. Basically, if I wire it incorrectly, it works!
