RAMPS 1.4 - Reversed + & - What's Fried?

[Woof-!]

I had everything wired- Endstops, Motors, Arduino, LCD screen, and 4 A4988 step sticks. -The LCD screen seems to still work- motors, the hot end, & thermistor have reversible wiring, right

[Mooselake]

Not a clue, since you don't give enough information to tell what's going on.

Can you be more specific?

Kirk

[Woof-!]

Yes! - So a month ago I was working on a 3D printer design and I accidentally got my positive wires leading into the negative end of the Ramps 1.4 terminal and my negative wire in the positive end of the terminal- then added electricity. - Now my Arduino Mega 2560 R3 is not found with my IDE - I'm sure I fried it portions of it. I still get words on the LCD screen and my mechanical endstops still light up when pressed, but I'm curious to know if it's just my arduino that would be effected by this?

[RetireeJay]

I had everything wired- Endstops, Motors, Arduino, LCD screen, and 4 A4988 step sticks. -The LCD screen seems to still work- motors, the hot end, & thermistor have reversible wiring, right

- Endstops: If they are switches, then they are completely polarity-agnostic

- Motors: There are no components in the motors that are damaged by one polarity or another; in fact, stepper motors require reversals of polarity to work. That said, the four-wire connector that connects a motor to a Printrboard can be plugged in with either of two orientations, and changing the orientation will reverse the direction of motion of the motor. I don't know if that is true of Ramps 4988 step sticks.

- Arduino: If you reverse the polarity of the power supply going in to the Arduino, you kill it.

- A4988 step sticks: I have no Ramps experience; I don't know if plugging them in backwards will damage them - but I suspect it would. Also, if they are plugged in to the motherboard at the time a reversed power supply is connected, they probably get damaged.

So, in summary, if it has an electronic chip on it, it is sensitive to reverse power polarity; if it doesn't have a chip, it's OK.