Does anyone here happen to know how to keep the DRV8825 stepper drivers on a Ramps 1.4 running Marlin from making a high pitched whine when they’re idle? If I turn the motors off in Repetier they don’t make the noise. If I step the motor 0.1mm in Repetier the whine will stop, then start when I move another 0.1mm or so.
You are listening to the sound of microstepping.
The whine is a normal part of operation for a stepper motor. If they’re in a holding position which is at a specific microstep, they will whine. No way to stop it. You might be able to jump down to a lower microstepping value (1/16th vs 1/32nd) and hop over that frequency though, but your machine will be louder.
I changed the jumpers and set it to 1/16 already, and it helped a little. Any particular reason why the Stepsticks these are replacing didn’t make that noise? Or at least not at that frequency? Ideally I would make the pitch higher to be out of my audible range, although I’m sure my dog won’t appreciate it.
It’s basically the chopper driver in the current control loop in the chip operating in the audible range; in addition to what @ThantiK said, I remember that @Thomas_Sanladerer in one of his videos said that raising the stepper motor voltage is another option
@Andrew_Bavery , there’s kind of a tradeoff in the stepper driver design. Depending on the set of resistors used on the board, you can get frequencies out of audible range of hearing, or you can get more accurate step positions, etc.
Turning the driver current down will also lessen the noise, but at the cost of motor power.
@ThantiK The whole reason I did the upgrade was to get more power out of my motors to move my heavy Y axis bed. It seems like the power is there, but I just can’t stand the noise when trying to print. I may have to only print when no one is home to hear it, and I can go in another room.
@Ishaan_Gov I turned the voltage up and it just got worse. Bad enough that I can’t stand to print with it making that much noise.
@Andrew_Bavery , sorry for my lack of clarity; I meant voltage to the chip, as in supply it with 24V or with a cheap boost module if you can; you would actually want to reduce the stepper current if you can afford it
@Andrew_Bavery , @Ishaan_Gov is right. 24v in, on the watterott drivers I had – nearly silent. But when @Thomas_Sanladerer did a review on them, he was running them at 12v and got a high pitched whine.
Input voltage to the drivers (and thus driving voltage) being raised does help.
Additionally, I suspect non-clean DC input can also cause audible interference noise.
Can a standard Arduino Mega 2560 with Ramps 1.4 handle 24v? Right now I have a cheapo 12v switching supply from China running things.
@Andrew_Bavery , You will need to cut the trace leading to the Vin pin from your RAMPS to the Arduino and provide an externally regulated 5V supply (or 9v or 12v to the Vin); the max voltage of the Arduino’s onboard regulator is 20V, and you probably don’t want to go over ~12-15V
I’m having the similar issue. I am running Sainsmart 2in1 which is Arduino Mega 2560 and Ramps 1.4 with a built-in 24v input to a regulator. I am running 24v. DRV8825 and 1/32 steps. Lots of high-pitch whine and the steppers get warm while idle.