Ultimaker 3 with ER 15 not resolved by swapping print cores

[ryandavidmandell 1]

Hello,

 

One of my Ultimaker 3 machines is showing a ER 15 code about 10 minutes into a print, on every attempt.  I have swapped out the print core (which is supposed to resolve the problem, according to the Help information available) to no avail. 

 

Does anyone have ideas about where to look next? What parts might need to be replaced?

 

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration.

 

Best wishes,

Ryan

[Smithy 757]

Check the contacts in the print head itself, maybe they are dirty or damaged.

Another idea is to reseat the print head cabel (the big white one along the bowden).

 

[ryandavidmandell 1]

Thank you Smithy.  I tried your suggestions: inspected contacts on print heads (looked good), and disassembled the print head to look at the cable connection.  I disconnected and reseated the cable, then reassembled everything.

 

I got two prints to run successfully, but now I'm back to the same ER 15 message.

 

Any other ideas?  I'm happy (well, happy is a strong word) to spend some money on replacement parts, but what I definitely don't have is time to continue troubleshooting.

 

Best wishes,

Ryan

 

[gr5 1,513]

ER1`5 is heater error (for people not familiar).  It almost certainly means the heater in the core isn't getting any power.  At all.  For at least 30 seconds.

 

When you put the core in the printer, after it's in - give the clear part an extra push.  Sometimes it seems like the core is in and all is good but when you push on it you get an extra click.

 

The cable that goes into the print head connects to a connector.  I've seen where the cable pulls so hard that the connector has stretched and the pins in that connector are stretched such that they don't make good contact.  This is really hard to believe as a failure mechanism, but I've seen the photos.  So I'd be tempted to change out that board - I think it's pretty cheap - not sure.

 

Alternatively it could be the solid state switch that turns the heat on and off  - not the red PCB but the white one.  I don't think that's the problem because those parts tend to fail 100% on or 100% off.  Not intermittently.  So if the heater heats up even a little then it's probably not the solid state switches on there.

 

It could be the cable itself.  That's pretty rare I think.

 

Did you uncover the bottom of the printer and check where the cable connects to the white board?  It's called "heater0" or "heater1" or something like that.  There's 3 heaters for bed, core1 and core2.

 

Intermittent errors are the hardest to fix.  If it consistently failed (never heat up at all) then I could find the fault in minutes with an ohm meter.

[ryandavidmandell 1]

Thank you gr5.  I will pursue your suggestions and report back.

 

Best,

Ryan