I received my G540 and power supply today. It will be a couple of wks befor I can start assemble because my job takes me out of town.....bummer.....I want to make sure I have everything when I start and I have a couple questions. Am I correct in thinking that the SS will take the place of my current second parallel port plus I will still have the use of the ones thru the 540. should I purchase the terminal board along with the SS? should I purchase a charge pump. My current controller has a C10 break out board, will I still need it? I currently have limit switches and would like to add homing switches. I have a dedicated desktop that I just installed Mach 3 on, currently using Mach 2. I am waiting on my new enclosure to arrive so I can figure out the layout. What size wire should I use on the insides. Will I still be able to use my relay board? Will I still need me other 5V power supply?

The G540 has an opto isolated breakout board built into it. You can hook a SmoothStepper directly to it (well if you use the LPH26 to DB25 cable you need a M-M gender changer, I have some on my website, you might be able to get one at Radio-Shack as well.)

You limit switches will hook right up to the G540 and the G540 also has the charge-pump circuit built right in. Also, with Mach 3 you can use the same switches as both limit switches and home switches.

You can reuse your C10 as a breakout board for the 2nd port of the SmoothStepper. Looking at the C10 documentation it looks like it also has a female connector so you'll need another M-M gender changer. Note: while the C10 is not opto isolated it will work great for things like control buttons, etc.

For the wiring in your enclosure 20 gauge wire is rated up to 11 amps for chassis wiring (chassis wiring indicates short runs). It will handle the current and works well with the G540 terminals.

Did your 5V enclosure power the C10? If you keep the C10 for Port 2 keep the 5V supply as well. If it is 1A or larger you can also power the SmoothStepper with it. For a single port USB power is usually enough for the SS. Be sure to check the SS docs for info on setting the power jumper.