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Due to a not-given compatibility with Makerbot mechanical endstop wiring (and carelessness on my side) I ended up burning the voltage regulator on my Arduino Mega 2560. Now, powering the Arduino separately from a USB power supply, I can operate the electronics, however, I am still unable to receive any signal from the endstops and I don't want to hook up my replacement Arduino until I see that my wiring is correct.

Could I have burnt anything else on either the Arduino (pullup resistors were firmware disabled) or the RAMPS 1.4 which makes it impossible to receive a singal from the endstops?

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  • $\begingroup$ I just burned up a voltage regulator on a Chinese clone Arduino Mega board powered by RAMPS and my research led me to conclude that it is not uncommon and that the clones may have substandard regulators. If you want to use a Chinese board, one solution I found on another thread was to cut D1 on RAMPS and power the Mega directly with a lower voltage supply (or USB). I am just going to get a genuine Arduino board. $\endgroup$
    – 4redwings
    Feb 26, 2018 at 20:01
  • $\begingroup$ @4redwings - While I most definitively applaud the intention to buy a genuine Arduino and support open knowledge in that way, the question is specifically about the possibility to have toasted something else than the voltage regulator, so yours can't really count as an answer. :) $\endgroup$
    – mac
    Feb 26, 2018 at 22:42
  • $\begingroup$ Have you found and fixed the problem? If so, has the answer below led you to the solution? Please vote to accept the answer so this question is not bumped up once in a while and can be removed from the unanswered question list. You may even add your own solution and accept that after 48 hours! If you have not been able to address the problem please update your question. $\endgroup$
    – 0scar ♦
    Sep 10, 2018 at 10:22

1 Answer 1

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Take a look at Ryan's answer to my question. I believe the MightBoard is based on the Mega 2560, so it is possible that some of the other components could have been damaged. If you look at the comments below Ryan's answer, we discussed the possibility of the processor itself being damaged. I had attempted this fix on two different MightBoards and they both ended up turning on, but the firmware wouldn't boot. So, it's safe to say that in my case, the processor on the Arduino was shot.

All and all, I'd recommend not using MakerBot's endstops as they seem to be the main culprit for this issue and has been for years (it happened to me twice since I got my machine in 2012).

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  • $\begingroup$ I agree, the makerbot endstops are a pain for unexperienced reprap users like I was/am. I already read your thread before, but I didn't dive deep enough into the comments. My Marlin boots up rather regularly on the board and I can navigate the menu on the controller screen without problems, though. Safest bet for now seems to be using just an endstop switch without the board and using both on the new arduino. Is there anything on the RAMPS that could have been burnt as well? I'm not too god in reading electronic circuit diagrams... $\endgroup$
    – kamuro
    Feb 18, 2016 at 16:13
  • $\begingroup$ I don't think that the results would be as catastrophic as the voltage regulator (mine literally blew up both times), but if the higher voltage managed to leak to some of the more sensitive components, it could damage them. Such components could be the processor, LCD, LED's, etc. In the event of the voltage regulator blowing, I could see how the same sudden surge that destroyed the regulator could leak to the other components before the connection is completely severed. I'm certainly not an electronics expert though. $\endgroup$
    – tbm0115
    Feb 18, 2016 at 16:22

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