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New ZBoard, heating bed turns on cooling fans. No power to bed.

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Zombienifty, Jun 10, 2021.

  1. Zombienifty

    Zombienifty New Member

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    Replaced the Mainboard in our R2 which fixed the reading of the thermistors but now heating the bed only turns on the cooling fans. No power output to the bed (though the led turns on). Manual fan control does nothing.

    Bed wires are soldered to the board, and it heated up once then started this. (Maybe I shouldn't have messed with the firmware?)

    Hot end heats up fine.

    Have tried 1.2.4 and 1.2.6 firmware, R2-generic-image on the Pi.

    Help please and thank you.
     
  2. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    The R2 only attempts to heat the bed for a short time, if unsuccessful you can not try again until the R2 is powered down and then back up. After powering up go to the LCD temp controls and set a bed temp. Check the voltage going to the bed. If there is no voltage at the bed, power down and up and check the voltage at the system board. If there is no voltage at the system board get a Partsbuilt.com board for the R2. It is more rugged and all of the parts are easily replaceable.
     
  3. Zombienifty

    Zombienifty New Member

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    That's the thing, it is a brand new Mainboard from partsbuilt.com, just installed it yesterday. It worked right after I installed it once then I messed with the Firmware trying to get it so it would stop locking up requiring a power down (pretty sure this was the RoboOS and not a mainboard firmware problem).

    So, is there a new/different Firmware that I should be using with the new Mainboard Replacement - R2 | ZBoard by Jonah that I should load back into it?
     
  4. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    Jonah should be able to send you new firmware that you can put on a USB drive and install via the LCD. If not I can do it ( will take a few days) if you tell me what your bed is like..i.e. do you use a flexplate? with glass? or just the Robo surface right on the bed?

    I think you should go through the steps I sent you first. I can then trouble shoot your problem.
     
  5. Zombienifty

    Zombienifty New Member

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    Have tried those steps many time, but just to double check I just turned it on (after being off all night) went right to bed temperature setting, put a meter on the board bed output and set the bed to 50°C turned it on and 0 volts output to the bed (the LED turns on) but the cooling fans turned on. Set the bed to 0°C (cooldown) and the cooling fans turn off.

    As a test I moved over to the right and checked the hotend output and it goes to 24V when turned on.

    If I go to manual fan control and turn the fans on nothing happens.

    The bed is the standard Robo surface that used to have the Pogo board but in trouble shooting I removed the pogo board and connected the wired directly to the bed.

    With the old mainboard the bed would heat up but the thermistor was reading very low (with the hotend as well) now the temperatures are reading correctly but I've done something with the bed output.
     
    #5 Zombienifty, Jun 11, 2021
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2021
  6. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    The bed thermistor should measure 100k at room temperature. Does the LCD display the right temperature for hotend and bed at room temperature?
     
  7. Zombienifty

    Zombienifty New Member

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    Yes, bed and hotend are showing ≈20°C, not seeing any more problems with the thermistors with the new board.

    The first time I heated up the bed after installing the new board the temperatures went up like I would expect (before changing the firmware). Did a successful PID calibration on the hotend.
     
  8. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    Sounds like a blown FET on the Ramps 1.4 boards. If the FETs touch they blow out. If the red light goes on when you set the bed temperature and the bed temperature does not rise the red light should turn off. This happens is less than 30 seconds. If that is the case and there is no voltage at the ramps board, bed output the FET is blown. You will need to get another Ramps 1.4 board. Good news is they are cheap and readily available. I put RTV glue between the FETs so that they are unable to short.
     
  9. Zombienifty

    Zombienifty New Member

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    Could be, doesn't explain why the part cooling fans turn on instead. The board does have the glue like you mention and I don't believe I've done anything around the board since I installed it to move the FET but it is something to check.
     
  10. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    The cooling fans have nothing to do with bed temperature. You should be getting a heater 1 faliure when the bed fails to heat. Power down the R2. At the Ramps board the bead should measure 4 ohms and the hotend should measure 14 ohms.
     
  11. Zombienifty

    Zombienifty New Member

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    That's the part of the problem that leads me to believe it's a software rather than hardware, why do the cooling fans turn on when I heat the bed (and turn off when I stop) and why to they not work with manual fan control. It's connected even though it shouldn't be.

    Bed measures 5.2Ω, not 4 but pretty close.
     
  12. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    I have add a zip file of a working hex file. Unzip, put on a usb drive. Go to the LCD display and then to files on the USB. Run this file.
     

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  13. Zombienifty

    Zombienifty New Member

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    That fixed it, bed heating fine and fans working again. Thank you much sir.
     
  14. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    The hex file is for my setup using the Partsbuilt system board.. The print head distance is set for an E3D $6 print head. The bed size is slightly smaller for my bearing blocks. I have modified the tuning for the bed and print head for more reliable tuning and better regulation.

    If you would like me to change the gap on the head during zoffset setting, let me know what your zoffset is and I will send you a hex file that will bring it around to -12 or whatever else you would like.
     
  15. Zombienifty

    Zombienifty New Member

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    Thanks, I think I got it adjusted. Printed out a couple of lines but our nozzle is shot and I have a new hotend on the way anyway so I think we are all set.

    It has been getting the Communication lost heater 0 error when I try and heat both the hotend and bed but works fine when I do just the hotend, maybe the new one will fix it but it's easy enough to work around.

    Thanks again.
     
  16. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    Heater 0 is the hotend. I have found that the heaters go slowly and get flaky. Your new hotend should set you up. If you want to use cheap chinese hotends, I use the E3Dv6 wade and I just got 5 in yesterday from china for $32. I print out a shroud that uses the chinese hotend and crimp on the connectors. I usually put on a hardened steel nozzle and am good to go. There is no difference in quality. The nozzle and the fans are all that matter.

    I can put together all of the info to do this if you want to use the cheap chinese hotends.
     
  17. Zombienifty

    Zombienifty New Member

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    Thanks but I'm good. Have one all ready ordered and on the way. Plus it's a work printer and was driving me nuts to see it just sitting there broken with no one working on it so I volunteered to fix it. I'm not sure how much more money they will let me put into it.
     

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