Charge pump problems

[johng]

Hello!  How's it going?

I've had continuous problems with the safety charge pump on my WD-2 running Mach 3 with a UC100.

The machine runs fine for about 3 months, then suddenly it just stops energizing the motors (no thump when reset is hit in Mach 3).  The first time this happened was in March and first I replaced the relay board, then I replaced the C35S board, which fixed the problem.  I also unistalled/reinstalled Mach 3 and re-set the XML.

The problem happened again last week, so I ordered a new C35S board from CNC4PC.com and this time replacing it did not fix the problem.  On the previous board, the machine would run if I moved the safety charge pump jumper to the OFF position (disabling it).  After the newly installed board failed to fix the problem the second time, I tried moving the jumper and now the machine still does  not work.  I also reinstalled Mach 3 and reloaded the XML file, which did not help.



At this point, nothing in Mach 3 communicates with the WD-2, and nothing on the WD-2 communicates with the computer.  I got a new UD-100, and updated the drivers.  I can jog in Mach, but machine does nothing (of course the motors are not energized).  

The charge pump is enabled on pin 17 in mach.  The pin used to flicker green in the UC100 diagnostics screen in mach, but now does nothing.

Also the new C35S board is a slightly different layout, so I had to replace the ethernet connectors that go to the motor drives with longer ones so they would reach.  

I've never gotten any error messages from Mach 3 at all.


I'm pretty much out of ideas, and I'm new to the world of CNC, but I have decent troubleshooting abilities as far as figuring stuff out.  It's strange that the machine runs fine and then suddenly manifests this odd issue.

Thanks for any help or suggestions as to where to go from here.  

[johng]

This morning I put the old c35s board back in. The machine can be run with the charge pump jumper in the OFF position on this board, but not the new one. The E-stop button pressed on the CNC does not register in Mach 3, but mach 3 will jog the machine and run G-code as long as the charge pump is disabled.

Just a little more info!

[johng]

Today I wiped the entire computer hard drive and installed Windows XP in hopes that a change in operating system might offer some clues.

1) Replaced Windows 7 with Windows XP
2) reinstalled Mach 3 and Uc100 drivers

No change, same problem.



One thing I will mention is that when I first launch Mach 3 and take the WD out of E-stop, Mach will not reset (when the software reset is pressed). If I momentarily disconnect the parallel cable from the front of the CNC and then plug it back in, Mach will then reset properly and I can run code. That seems strange to me.



Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

[johng]

Things I tried today:

1) Check all wire connections on relay board, control board, and logic power

2) replace all +5 and ground wires and check for continuity

3) Create a new Mach 3 profile (with no XML) and only enable "charge pump" on port 1, pin 17, active low X (the idea being to eliminate corrupted XML file possibility)
- I hoped to get the charge pump working on this bare bones setup, didn't work

4) Wire power supply directly to new C35S control board on the bench (not connected to the rest of the machine) with Mach 3 and UC100 connected. I hope to get the charge pump on the new board working outside the context of the rest of the machine wiring. No luck. (I'm starting to think there may be a problem with the logic power supply)

5) Tried running the system off of a laptop with windows XP on it. Same result (charge pump not working, strange behavior of RESET button in Mach 3).

6) Dug up a new parallel port cable to swap out for the one I've been using, just to eliminate that possibility. No change.

7) Double checked for power supply ground loops with a continuity probe. Main ground is indeed isolated from the rest of the +5 circuit.

8) Used receptical test probe to verify the ground of the circuit the whole system is on. All good there.

I think I'm gonna order a new power supply (M-15-5) and see how that pans out. It's not very expensive so why not!

Anyhow, that's where I'm at. I'm really just using this thread as a diary of events in the hopes that it may one day help someone else that is inexperienced in the ways of the CNC!!!!

[johng]

So............

I have three C35S boards (none of which have charge pump functionality). I wired each one up to a 5v supply (used an old phone charger to eliminate the current onboard power supply) and then created a new Mach 3 profile in which I only enabled the charge pump on pin 17 (in hopes of eliminating a corrupt XML as the problem). No change, still inactive motors if SCHP is enabled, active motors if disabled.

I also probed pin 17 on the parallel cable to validate the existence of the 12.5khz signal, it's there.

I have finally just decided to order all new components (power supply, c35S, parallel cable, cat5 cables, ribbon cables) and I will completely rewire the box. I also upgraded my OS to Windows 10 (I've been told that this OS is actually the best for the Mach3 UC-100 situation by a reliable source).

The parts won't be here till next week, but I feel confident that this will fix the problem! I wish I was able to determine WHY I've had this issue twice in 6 months, but perhaps we will never know. Hopefully smooth sailing from here.

As usual, any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Have a collective great day.

[romaxxcnc]

Hi John,

We've been discussing this in email, as I mentioned to you, you are welcome to send the panel to us for troubleshooting, the interfaces that we use have been very reliable.

An intermittent problem like this is usually PC related or it could be a loose connection. My experience with electronics, they either work or they don't, they are not intermittent.

-Ron

[johng]

Ok, got this jammy going! I'm still not quite sure why the charge pump scenario went south. Everything is working as it should, and I'm sure it will stay that way! My computer is running Windows 10 now, and Mach 3 definitely seems more stable and predictable. I've actually learned a lot about Mach 3 in this process because I've been really examining that end of the situation, which is cool! Have a great day!