Classic Ultimaker just died (Only Green LED lights)

[3d-printer-user 0]

Hello everybody,

i have a serious problem with my Classic Ultimaker. The electronics died spontaneously during a print job. It was nothing special, nor was it printed very fast, so i guess that the load was not very high.

The board revision is 1.5.4. I have a ulticontroller installed and i made the self powering thingie. Everything worked fine for weeks and uncountable prints.

When i turn it on now, only LED7 is lighting Green. Nothing else happens. Aunt Google told me, that maybe something with the 12V lane? I´m not a electronics expert and i really need the printer, so i quickly ordered a new board. But nevertheless i´m very curious what kind of problem i have here and how i could fix it. I have a DMM by hand and PSU is fine. Have not tested if i can connect via USB with arduino but i assume that it will work.

Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot!

Regards!

 

[gr5 2,172]

1) How do you know the PSU is fine?

2) The PSU can get into a mode where it shuts down and the *only* way to turn it back on is to unplug it for a while (until led goes off and a little longer) and then plug it back in.

3) Do you have a volt meter? I can tell you where to probe.

4) The Ardunio board separates relatively easy from the rest of the electronics. Consider removing it (carefully) and connecting it *only* to the USB cable which powers it up nicely. Then you can see if communications works with the Arduino. Arduino's are very cheap and easy to get.

5) What country are you in? Your email just says "eu" - does that mean europe? It would be helpful if you noted your country in your profile settings.

6) I can't believe you got the nickname "Ultimaker". Wow. Way to go. Everyone is going to think you are an employee now, lol. Maybe you should change it.

edit: Us moderators decided to make him change his nickname.

[3d-printer-user 0]

1) I measured 19V, so i guess the Power Supply is not the problem.

2) Yes, have read this and checked it before i posted. No changes.

3) Yes! Yes, please tell me where i can probe so that i can test which components are dead. Maybe it´s only a voltage converter problem. They should be easy to replace.

4) Will do this later today. Haven´t had time for this yet.

5) Good old Germany. Will update my profile.

6) Can´t believe it either.

 

[gr5 2,172]

Does the fan come on when you power on?

 

Either way, put your ultimaker on it's side or back and remove the bottom cover.

 

I'm guessing the bad part is the one in the top left corner here - it's the part cooled the most by the fan:

 

Also known as IC1.

The schematic is here:

http://reprap.org/wiki/Ultimaker%27s_v1.5.4_PCB

Eagle software for opening it is here:

http://www.cadsoftusa.com/download-eagle/

Although the 1.5.7 schematic is actually more useful. Anyway probe those 3 pins on IC1. One should be at ground, one at 19V and the 3rd should be at 12V.

I would check that first.

[gr5 2,172]

Oh - and don't leave this powered up for more than 20 seconds at a time - don't want to overheat anything with that fan disconnected!

[3d-printer-user 0]

Nope, Fan was not running when i powered it on. That´s why i also guessed, that something with the 12V regulator must have happend. Thanks for the hint with IC1. This guy is getting 19V on the left pin, but giving out only 0,06V on the right pin. Middle seems to be -. So: He´s dead, Jim.

Will try to get a replacement by tomorrow.

 

[3d-printer-user 0]

Ok, made a few more tests now. Arduino is fine. When i disconnect the Ulticontroller and connect the Ultimaker by usb to my computer, Cura recognizes the printer and i can manually move the head and the bed. So drivers and stuff seems to be fine.

What is not working is the fan, cause it´s connected to the damaged L7812CV and obviously heating is not working as well.

So again: I will try to get a replacement L7812CV tomorrow morning and then we´ll see if heating comes back.

Any bets?

 

[gr5 2,172]

You might want to replace it with a switching regulator instead - less likely to ever break again. Discussion about this today over on google groups:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ultimaker/4CWoBH7Odm4

[3d-printer-user 0]

Resurrection procedure complete. Replaced the old 7812 with a switching regulator and now it´s working again.

Thank you very much gr5!

Hope that i can cancel my order... wrote an E-Mail.