5S / „There is a problem with the active level sensor“

[PhantomGnom 1]

Hi Makers,

 

I have an unusable S5 since nearly 2 months. Right from the beginning, the printer returned a „There is a problem with the active level sensor“ during the leveling. Normally, I was able to solve it by turning it off and back on. Not very good, but solvable (Should not happen in this pricing segment). In the meantime, the error persists and I cannot solve it myself. When starting the job, he tries to level. The plate moves up to approximately half of the way, then stops with the mentioned error moving back downwards.

 

What I already did:

 

Installed the latest firmware

Factory reset

Switched Print core

Manual bed leveling 

 

I don’t know what to do...

[gr5 1,504]

There are a few things to check.  One thing you don't need to worry about is the firmware or rebooting.  That rebooting "fixed" your issue is probably a coincidence.

 

1) First and foremost, check the wires.  Swing open the print head and check the wires.  The sensor is a flat plate at the base of the print head (as close as possible and paraellel to the print bed when doing active leveling).  There are 2 wires there (for me it's a red and white wire).  Tug on each gently and if one is disconnected then this is the issue.  Also remove the 2 screws at the back of the print head (very long screws).  Don't worry - nothing will come loose if you only remove those 2.  At that point the print head rear top pops off.  Push down firmly on the connector that is now revealed to make sure it is seated (with the print head in a corner so you don't bend the rods).

 

2) keep electromagnetic energy away from your printer during auto level - make sure there is a 1 foot clearance around the printer during autolevel (e.g. no laptops within a foot of the printer).  Other S5 printers side by side are fine.  Most importantly keep your hands, head and fingers at least a foot away from the printer during auto leveling.

 

3) Since it sounds like your leveling failed before the nozzle touched the glass these last 2 things aren't related: Springs in the cores and bed can mess up autoleveling - you'll see the nozzle hit the glass and keep going - for a long long time (not just a half second but maybe 2 seconds).  If that happens then the springs in the core are too weak and/or the springs in the bed are too strong.  Loosen the bed springs by rotated CCW (from below) quite a bit or try different cores on the core that has the issue.  DON'T DO THIS if the autolevel fails before it touches the build plate.

 

4) Finally contact your reseller.  If they are not helping you, let us know here in the forum and let us know who your reseller is or at least what country you are in.  We can direct you to better support if your reseller isn't helpful.  Unfortunately for this issue they may want you to return the printer.  If your printer is less than a year old I'm pretty sure you can get this fixed for free.

[PhantomGnom 1]

Hi, I have checked the cables and plugged them out and back in again.

 

Here are some pictures...

 

No change... 😔

 

Link

[PhantomGnom 1]

Looks like, I have to contact my reseller Conrad Electronic in Germany.

[gr5 1,504]

Woah!  What the hell - it didn't even get close.  I'm wondering if your z steps go messed up somehow or it thinks you have a smaller printer (an S3?)

 

[PhantomGnom 1]

yes, very strange. I have really no clue...

[fbrc8-erin 234]

11 hours ago, gr5 said:

 

2) keep electromagnetic energy away from your printer during auto level - make sure there is a 1 foot clearance around the printer during autolevel (e.g. no laptops within a foot of the printer).  Other S5 printers side by side are fine.  Most importantly keep your hands, head and fingers at least a foot away from the printer during auto leveling.

 

A note on another cause of electromagnetic interference--if your front fan cable gets pinched it can cause interference that makes your active leveling fail.

 

Unplug the white and black fan cable and try running your active leveling again. If it works fine you need a new front fan.

[PhantomGnom 1]

Hi, you did it. That was the issue. They were not really pinched (black/white) , but they have moved to the mid close to the sensor plate crossing it at the edge. Moving them back to the left side as far as possible fixed the issue. Thank you so much...

[fbrc8-erin 234]

Glad it's back up and running again. 😀

[uncle_bob 20]

Hi

 

Just to add to the list of "electromagnetic sources": 

 

A cell phone is a big source. If you are talking on it, that's pretty obvious and you likely will work out what's going on. What's not quite so obvious is that they "wake up" every so often to chat with the base station. It's sitting there in your shirt pocket seemingly doing nothing. At the "wrong time" it's making every bit as much of a racket (but for a short period of time) as if you were having a conversation on it......

 

Not an issue on a "does it every time" sort of problem. It could be an answer to "why does it fail once a week / month / year?"

 

Bob