I have some questions with making some of the connections. I am not accustomed to working with circuit boards, so please excuse me if I am just missing something obvious. First, the encoders cables have two black wires, how do I know which one to use? What is the other one for? Second, there is nothing on the diagram showing where to attach the second x-axis encoder? Third and final question for now. What direction do the motor drive cables face when connected to the ramp board?
The thinner black encoder wire is the ground. The other thicker (sheathed) black / dark gray wire is unused. The second x-axis encoder is not utilized in the software at this time, so you may leave it unconnected for now.
You can plug the stepper motor cables into the RAMPS board in either direction. Changing the direction that the wire is plugged in (black-red-white-yellow vs yellow-white-red-black) will change the direction that the motor moves. So if a motor is moving right when it should be moving left, you can flip the stepper motor wire plugged into the RAMPS board. We’re working on the software to be able to invert the motor direction from the web app instead of flipping the connector.
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I appreciate your quick response. But it has created a couple more questions. If plugging in the motors differently drives them different directions, do x-1 and x-2 need to be plugged in opposite of each other? Also, something I forgot to ask earlier. There were no instructions to show how the moisture sensor is wired and the 3-d image would not show up on my tablet.
Thank you
Yes, the motor wire connectors for X1 and X2 should be plugged in opposite each other.
We’ve added some images to the Soil Sensor assembly instructions.
For some reason I plug X1 and X2 in the same way