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Solved R1+ RAMPS board zero voltage across Fans / LED

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Nicholai Lekson, Jul 1, 2018.

  1. Nicholai Lekson

    Nicholai Lekson New Member

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    Hello all,
    Now that I have replaced my stepper motor cable, another issue has arisen regarding the RAMPS board. After testing everything, the LED, parts fan, and RAMPS cooling fan all cut out simultaneously. Their location on the board leaves me to believe that something may have shorted and ruined the connection of all 4 headers. I am wondering how to fix this if possible, as I would like to avoid buying a new R1+ board or a Generic RAMPS 1.4 if possible. Again, I have 0V across LEDL, LEDR, FAN2, and FAN1 on a R1+ RAMPS board.
     
    #1 Nicholai Lekson, Jul 1, 2018
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Really, honestly the generic RAMPS replacement is the best way to go. If you run that machine lone enough and hard enough you will eventually be replacing the RAMPS anyway :)
     
    #2 mark tomlinson, Jul 1, 2018
  3. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    #3 BrooklynBay, Jul 1, 2018
  4. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    If your reading 0 volts that means those items will never function and something in the board is damaged. Replace it :D No point in trying to work around a 15.00 ramps board :D I buy the kits on amazon that have the arduino, ramps, stepper drivers and lcd controller (all for like 40 bucks) and have not had the dead on arrival I use to with buying a singular board.
     
    #4 Geof, Jul 2, 2018
  5. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    You will be relanding wires in new places just like the generic RAMPS redo however this is not the same landing points so make sure you create a thread to document it after you get it working. Should work I imagine, but it is a different board.
     
    #5 mark tomlinson, Jul 2, 2018
  6. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Not sure why you'd want to stray from the 1.4 when there is nothing achieved as far as function? meh, I'm a simple one though.
     
    #6 Geof, Jul 2, 2018
  7. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    I bought this board because it looks like it's capable of handling more current & heat than a 1.4 board (at least that's what they claim in the listing).
     
    #7 BrooklynBay, Jul 3, 2018
  8. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    I trust these boards about....zero percent. If your concerned about the heatbed or hotend add an SSR and take the current off the board :D (my opinion, not a fact or instruction :D )
     
    #8 Geof, Jul 3, 2018
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    It may be able to better handle the heat of the given rated current, but more current? No. The MOSFETS are the same style and will handle the same current. This one has better heat sinking with the way it is built so it will be able to dissipate the heat from the MOSFETS better (at least in theory). Not going to handle more current though, just the same current ... longer.
     
    #9 mark tomlinson, Jul 3, 2018
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  10. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    I bought a couple of mosfet boards to take some load off of my stock RAMPS board. I'm waiting for a few parts to come in the mail. I've already had issues with melted solder connections, and a burned plug for the heated bed.
     
    #10 BrooklynBay, Jul 3, 2018
  11. Nicholai Lekson

    Nicholai Lekson New Member

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    I decided to go the generic RAMPS route, but it seems that my extruder stepper refuses to work! I have swapped the motor to the X stepper wires, which worked, and swapped the stepper driver multiple times to no avail. Any stepper connected to E0 will click loudly no matter the current or stepper driver board used. Is the RAMPS itself bad?
     
    #11 Nicholai Lekson, Jul 3, 2018
  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    It sounds that way.
    My experience with generic boards the past year has been that if I buy an individual board only ($10 or less on Amazon) I tend to often get bad ones that must be returned (via Prime so no cost to me) and replaced sometimes multiple times to get a working one. If I buy the All-In-One kits for $45 or so that include the Arduino/RAMPS/Stepper Drivers/LCD then I get a good RAMPS.

    So the summary of this is, it is a cheap board and they are made cheaply in China. Last one I replaced I needed to get three boards for one to work.

    Your Mileage May Vary.
     
    #12 mark tomlinson, Jul 4, 2018
  13. Nicholai Lekson

    Nicholai Lekson New Member

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    I found out the issue was with wiring on the cable I bought, the phases weren't properly wired at the RAMPS plug, so I fixed that and it works flawlessly, better than before even. Now though, my temperatures fluctuate wildly when I turn on the Power supply? I am using a correctly set up E3D PT100 and the stock bed if that helps. What could be causing the erratic Temp readings when the power is turned on?
     
    #13 Nicholai Lekson, Jul 4, 2018
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Noise or a loose connection. There could be some signal picked up buy the wiring (not very common) or you have a loose connection in the wire somewhere. It is remotely possible it is the thermocouple itself being flakey, but not very likely. Mine certainly is pretty stable in temps. Review this thread: http://community.robo3d.com/index.php?threads/e3d-pt100-how-to-install-and-configure.7900/
     
    #14 mark tomlinson, Jul 4, 2018
  15. Nicholai Lekson

    Nicholai Lekson New Member

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    I've read that thread multiple times, and to me it contains no pertinent information. I believe the cause of such erratic measurements is from a blown Voltage Regulator on my Arduino Mega, because when the Arduino is powered off USB, the readings are dead-nuts on. Only when 12V power is applied to the Mega do the measurements jump around, which leads me to believe it is the VREG. Is this a reasonable cause for my erratic measurements?
     
    #15 Nicholai Lekson, Jul 4, 2018
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yup. I have mine trace cut to avoid this, it can only power from the 12v in (as an aside there USED to be a jumper on the Mega to force this and it got removed in later revisions -- not by Robo, but Arduino)
     
    #16 mark tomlinson, Jul 4, 2018
  17. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    On the bright side those are cheap boards (really all of them are) so a new Arduino (clone) Mega 2560 is not a huge expense.
    As always I still suggest the All-in-One kit from one of the Amazon retailers (Arduino, RAMPS, Stepper drivers, LCD, etc) as it is cheaper.
     
    #17 mark tomlinson, Jul 4, 2018
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  18. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Ditto. New board from the kit and it hasn't failed me yet. The boards individually area nightmare at times.
     
    #18 Geof, Jul 5, 2018
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  19. Nicholai Lekson

    Nicholai Lekson New Member

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    I replaced the Mega with a new one, and the issues went away! In fact, I got everything working shortly after, and now my R1+ is printing quieter, the temperature oscillation is much less, and (this is probably just a side effect) there is less ringing in my prints! I have two extra arduinos and RAMPS boards now too.
     
    #19 Nicholai Lekson, Jul 5, 2018
    mark tomlinson, Geof and WheresWaldo like this.
  20. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Awesome.

    And that is not a bad thing :)
     
    #20 mark tomlinson, Jul 5, 2018
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