Dead controller?

[Orestes Pouliasis]

Hello,

(I hope I am posting this at the right section) Unfortunately, my controller (Trocen AWC708S) seems to have kicked the bucket.

Yesterday, I was doing some work on my laser. The laser on/off switch was bad (it would stick in the ON position sometimes), so I replaced it with one of the identical switches found below that control the US plugs on the side of the machine that I don't use. Powered up the machine, everything worked correctly and I then started engraving.

I was trying to find the proper value for the offset scan adj. for 300 mm/s. Some of the lines were wavy instead of straight (X unilateral movement, it has been an ongoing problem) so I turned off the machine, and I was trying to see (for the millionth time) if something was loose on the X axis. My belt wasn't loose, nor anything I could see, but there was a spot on the axis that the machine had trouble navigating (on the far right of the X axis). I then turned the machine on to see if moving my work to the far left of the table would make any difference.

That's when it happened. The controller was dead. The machine didn't auto home while the controller's screen remained black. I tried turning it off and trying again after a short while but obviously the same thing happened. Everything else (extractor fan, laser pointer, air assist, LED strip, etc) were all working.

I then starting probing with my multimeter. The PSU receives 230V AC and outputs 24V on one rail and 5V on the other. The controller does indeed receive 24V and there are some red LEDs glowing behind the controller board's cover. The stepper motor drivers both have their green LEDs lit.

Finally, the E-stop switch works as it should.

Is there anything I am missing? Is it really the controller? What would cause such a sudden failure?

Thanks in advance.

[Gene Uselman]

Welcome Orestes- I have no experience with the Trocen controller and we rarely have a member with one, it is interesting that it seems to use RDworks which is made by a different controller manufacturer [Ruida]. For Ruida controllers it is possible to buy just the control/readout panel but I have no idea for Trocen. It can be very difficult to troubleshoot this kind of problem and there are many peripheral problems that might enter into it also. On some Ruida models there is a separate power plug on the readout panel for instance. You might want to post how old it is and how long you have been using it and where the leds that are still lit are located [controller/readout] etc- perhaps someone will post some ideas as to how to start troubleshooting the problem. Gene

[Orestes Pouliasis]

After a lot of head scratching and questioning my sanity, I finally figured it out.

The controller must have been stuck in some kind of loop. I removed the display module and opened it up, and voila, there was a CR2032 battery. I removed it and waited for 1-2 minutes. Did a quick test and it worked! Well it lost the time and date but you can't have everything .

Hope this saves someone from rushing out to buy a new controller thinking that it's dead. I know I almost did.

[Gene Uselman]

Thank you for posting the solution- I would consider replacing the battery?

[Orestes Pouliasis]

The battery is not to blame. The battery just helps the controller to prevent the loss of data that is stored in its volatile memory by supplying a small amount of current to whatever memory module stores that data.

(I'm guessing that) Whatever was causing my trouble was stored there, by removing the battery the controller "forgot" what was on it and was able to escape whatever loop it was stuck in.

Nevertheless, I measured its voltage with my multimeter and it was at ~3.2-3.3V (this type of cell has a nominal voltage of 3.0V), which is to be expected since the machine is only 2 months old.

Now to fix the wavy line issue...

[Doug Fisher]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone taken their Ruida apart and thus know if Ruida controllers have a backup battery like the Trocen?

[Dave Vigness]

I seem to remember somebody opening one up to replace a fried optic coupler and showing a few pics, but no mention or sight of a battery.

[Gene Uselman]

Our own Tim took a 6445 apart and took pictures a year or so ago.
viewtopic.php?f=123&t=4798&p=25922&hili ... ler#p25922

[Doug Fisher]

At first, I thought the second picture in that thread showed a round silver battery on the upper right side. Upon downloading and enlarging, I am not so sure that is a battery versus a quality control sticker. I will stop the thread drift here and make an enquiry over there