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Okay I'm stuck again. When I go to heat up my hot end, it heats about .1 per 10 seconds. After about a minute I get "Heater decoupled".

How I got here:
I replaced the effector platform with the new Tricklaser platform because I wanted to try PLA (needed fan room). ABS was a huge failure for me and I wanted at least a tiny win or to be sure that I just need to start over. I reinstalled the 1.6 Mattercontrol and got a new pull of the 92.2 Repetier firmware. That is all. No changes to wiring or the actual hardware.

Things I have checked:
Thermistor - Seems to function fine, though today it read 3 degrees over the bed, which isn't normal.
Heater Cartridge - I checked resistance of cartridge @ 5.3. I even ordered a new one and it read 5.3.
Touch the Hot end! - Does not seem to be gaining warmth, my probe tells me it's gaining at the speed thermistor reports.

Hypothesis:
My board isn't pushing the correct voltage...or firmware is set up improperly.
I'm not sure how to test that yet, just hoping someone has seen and solved this issue.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I finally may have time in my life to try to fix the printer and get it working (1 year after initial purchase)

SAMPLE OF FIRMWARE


// ### Define your Printer Model here! ###
#define PRINTER 2

// SeeMeCNC Bowden w/PEEK barrel = 1
// HE240 on ERIS w/accel probe = 2
// HE280 w/accel probe = 3
#define HOTEND 1

// ### Define your motherboard here! ###
// 301 = RAMBo 302 = MINI RAMBo
#define MOTHERBOARD 301

// ##### Older Orions w/ATX had Y inverted and NEW PSU on orions needs opposite ###
// 1 = ATX on older machines 2 = Rail style PSU on newer machines ############################
#define POWER_SUPPLY 2

// ### Number of active extruders
// 1 is standard, 2 is with the Y coupler for dual filament input
#define NUM_EXTRUDER 1

-------------------------------------

if HOTEND == 1
#define MAXTEMP 260
#define UI_SET_MAX_EXTRUDER_TEMP 260
#define EXT0_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MAX 180
#define EXT0_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MIN 80
#define EXT0_PID_PGAIN_OR_DEAD_TIME 14.50
#define EXT0_PID_I 0.73
#define EXT0_PID_D 53.41
#define EXT0_PID_MAX 240
#define EXT1_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MAX 180
#define EXT1_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MIN 80
#define EXT1_PID_PGAIN_OR_DEAD_TIME 14.50
#define EXT1_PID_I 0.73
#define EXT1_PID_D 53.41
#define EXT1_PID_MAX 235

--------------------------------------

if HOTEND == 1
#define MAXTEMP 260
#define UI_SET_MAX_EXTRUDER_TEMP 260
#define EXT0_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MAX 180
#define EXT0_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MIN 80
#define EXT0_PID_PGAIN_OR_DEAD_TIME 14.50
#define EXT0_PID_I 0.73
#define EXT0_PID_D 53.41
#define EXT0_PID_MAX 240
#define EXT1_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MAX 180
#define EXT1_PID_INTEGRAL_DRIVE_MIN 80
#define EXT1_PID_PGAIN_OR_DEAD_TIME 14.50
#define EXT1_PID_I 0.73
#define EXT1_PID_D 53.41
#define EXT1_PID_MAX 235

Have you checked that the hotend is correctly defined. If it isn't, you may need to play with the temp tables. In addition, without running a PID tune, or tuning it manually (Increase P until it gets high enough fast enough, ETC), it is unlikely to perform well at all.

I never previously had to define the E3D v6 before 92.2 but I think you might be onto something. It doesn't explicitly say it supports the v6 so I just left it at 1.

I tried PID autotune but it was moving very slowly. It may have timed out but I can try again. Yeah, it's struggling to get above 33.

Autotune, after a few minutes, gave an ERROR: Timed out message.

One last thing: I tested voltage from the hotend while heating up. It registered ~0.33 when set to the 20v test mode. Does that sound right?

I'm going to need a picture of the meter screen, and to know how you measured the voltage (IE, at the RAMBO terminals, from one side of the heater cartridge to the other, or from cartridge to the terminals. But it sounds very wrong, as it either means .3V, or 3V, which means ~1/16th of the right amount of power, or a bad measurement.

Here is a photo of how I have the hot-end set up for a disconnect using xt60.
I tested voltage by setting "preheat" and touching the two posts running to the RAMBO.

[img]http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab345/bharris990/20170528_083352.jpg[/img]

Multimeter!

[img]http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab345/bharris990/20170528_083332.jpg[/img]

Keep in mind that I don't actually have a background in any of this. I had to look through my instructions to figure out the multimeter, figured DC was definitely the type, 20v closest to 12v so...I think that should be right.

You may also ask youself, "why is this guy trying a different hot end, connectors, etc. without getting his original machine working?"
I read a bunch of "things you wish you had done first now that you know more" forums so it wouldn't bite me in the ass later. But it has bitten me in the ass the first time around.

Le sigh. Maybe I need to sell this thing and get a M3d Pro. Seems much easier.

OK, 3V it is. (I found the manual for that DMM, man is it a crusty one. 2s/s). Take the faceplate off, and probe at the terminals on the Rambo itself please. If that's much higher, then it's either the connections at those terminals, or the soldering on the XT60's. That's one possibility. If it's still low, check the voltage at the inputs to the board. If that's 12V, it's either the software limiting it, or a hardware fault. I would check the "PID_DRIVE_MAX" in the EEPROM (Not the firmware, as the EEPROM overrides the firmware, and may have been dirty). If that's less than 200, I would increase it, and see if it helps. If not, see if SeemeCNC or Ultimachine will replace it. If the input is at the 3V or so, check the one for the bed (As you haven't really mentioned issues with that, I assume it's been working somewhat, which it wouldn't with a whopping 3V). If that is 12V, cut off the end of the wires to the hotend input, and re-strip the wires. If it's less than that, contact SeemeCNC to see if they'll replace the power supply.

Please let us know if that's not clear enough, and I can try to take pictures to illustrate where to test on the RAMBO if you need it.

Wow thank you fir the detailed reaponse. I had considered the soldering as a possible issue but it had worked up until recently. Will check everything today and get back. I will try to figure out the rambo terminal thing.

Okay now here is some progress: I tested the RAMBO terminal connections at the hot end side and heat bed side. This was directly on the screws that tighten down the thicker gauge wires and say "heat" on the board.

Heated bed:
The heated bed read 11.88v while I was preheating. Also, it reached the target heat of 80 at the speed I would expect from a lazy 12v bed.

Hot End:
Might as well be hot garbage. It showed 0.33, just as it did in the picture. Would it even read anything if a fuse was out? My guess is no. So this could be a serious RAMBO issue.

Bonus Test:
I tested the terminal screws where the power supply are hitting the RAMBO. 12.19v. Seems like the RAMBO to me.

I hope these were the right tests and make sense. Thanks again for all the help. Looking forward to hearing what you think.



Also, this was a rad learning experience.

It shouldn't read anything if the fuse is blown. However, my multimeter will often get a reading from noise up to ~1.4V (Mostly AC coupled, but still). With a lower grade multimeter, especially with the low sampling speed, you could be picking up noise, so I would test it anyways, since if it's a cheap fuse instead of the whole board that needs replaced, the fuse is probably also faster to get a new one instead of waiting for Seeme to ship out a new one, and it saves you shipping the hassle of rewiring everything. Just make sure you've got some spare fuses once you buy them, and before installing it, check the resistance of the hotend connector. (Horseshoe symbols on your meter, probably the 200 ohm range since it doesn't go lower). If it's below ~5 ohm (0.05 on the display), you may have a short somewhere.

One thing is that the multimeter you are using is going to be very limiting if you do much more troubleshooting. I would suggest if you're willing to go a bit more upmarket is the Fluke 12E+ (~98$, no service outside china, but well built for the educational market) or the 15B+ (~105$). Fluke makes very good multimeters. I personally use an 87V, which will do darn near anything you should be doing without serious training, and a lot that should need it, but at between 280-360 dollars, it's more expensive than some 3D printers, making it less of a value for folks working in the home shop. But anything with at least a 3 (You currently have a 2.5 place, as the 3 can only ever be 1) place display that goes down to a 20 ohm mode and similar DC voltage capacity will make you happier

the technical support guy at Seemecnc figured it out. My EEPROM was not being updated by uploading the firmware. For some reason my PID Max was set to 4. Not 240 as I had set it. 4.

Testing it now but pretty sure that sounds busted.

That would do the job, and was one of the theories that I came up with initially. I suppose I should have gone software before the electrical troubleshooting steps, although I like my electrical a lot better.

Hah! Thanks for the help. I'm currently printing my "first" calibration cube with these new settings. I remember I need to do something with the max z or something to squish the bottom layer to be more solid...looking that up in older threads but other than that I appear to be good to go. Really appreciate the patience. Fingers crossed.