Trinamic TMC5160 Issues - bdring/Grbl_Esp32 GitHub Wiki

TMC5160

Update (We believe this issue has been fixed in this PR)

The TMC5160 is is supported in the firmware, but a lot of people are having trouble with it. All registers can be set through the firmware and it works properly at lower currents. At higher currents it often shuts down. For some people this is as low as 0.5A. It appears to be more likely to occur with voltages above 12v and lower current power supplies. The only way to recover is a full main power cycle.

We do not know the cause. It could be something in the register setting values or it could be related to spikes or back EMF that is causing issues in power supplies. It could be related to the design of the controller, but other similar drivers such as the TMC2130 work fine at all current levels on the same controller.

Several people have talked to Trinamic support about the problem, but they have not been able to help us. They suggested buying their system and tuning software. We did that ($200), but it tunes a completely different circuit and it acts strangely itself.

Therefore we suggest you do not use these drivers at this time. We are happy to to work with anyone who wants to try, but we have already spent a lot of time and it is not a big priority at this time. Please understand if we do not have time to help you.