TTL Signal – Converting 12VDC Fan Controller Output to TTL Signal for Laser

level-shiftingttl

I'm adding a laser cutter to my 3D printer. I want to repurpose the cooling fan output to control the laser. My laser has a power supply which accepts a 5V TTL signal to turn the beam on/off.

The fan output is as follows:
Fan OFF – both red and black wires are held at 12VDC.
Fan ON – Red wire 12VDC, Black wire pulled to GND.
(also supports PWM output at various levels, black wire is used for PWM signal while red wire is held at 12VDC.)

I had wrongly assumed the black wire would be held at GND while the 12VDC wire would be used to control the fan. So I assumed I had a GND reference available, so I built this level shifting circuit (which, of course, doesn't work due to black wire being pulled to 12VDC when off). Its purpose was to simply ground the TTL+ pin to the TTL- pin when 12VDC was present on the input, effectively inputting a logic 0 to the laser controller, or allow TTL+ pin to float high when 0VDC was present from the fan controller, inputting a logic 1 to the laser. I realize this inverts the fan output (fan off = laser on) but that's not a problem. And it did work when testing with a 12VDC power supply.

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

However, since the outputs of the fan controller both go to 12VDC when the fan is off, this doesn't work. How can this circuit be re-designed in the simplest way possible (hopefully without requiring outside power) to shift this strange 12VDC signal to 0/5VDC TTL signal, or effectively short/open the connection between TTL+ and TTL- pins? I guess a relay would work for simple ON/OFF controls, but that would preclude using PWM to control the laser…

Thanks for any insight.

Best Answer

Why don't just solder two wires straight to the Gate and Source pins of the fan MOSFET on RAMPS board? So you will get 5V PWM signal straight from ATMega controller.

That is what I did - soldered two-wire JST-connector to the pins to make it unplugable. Works like a charm.