[MKC]

A short common list of some of the things that help to identify if you have a control, drive, or motor problem.

VFS5 Spindle drives:
If the green CPU light on the front of the drive remains flashing typically either you have lost the temp jumper in the machine wiring, or the program in the spindle drive. This is a will not run condition even though you get no spindle drive fault.
Most commonly a spindle drive memory problem.

VFS5 communications: VFS5's are very intelligent spindle drives, they interface via RS232 on the DB9 connector on the front of the drive. The communication/setup software is available for free from kollmorgen.com under Products/AC servo drives/discontinued products/VFS5
The software is Motion Link Plus for VFS5's, not to be confused with Motion Link, or Servo Star Motion Link which are not the correct software to use for this drive.
Important note on these, not all cheapy usb to RS232 adapters will talk to them, use a FULLY compliant adapter if you have problems.
The communications cable is 3 wires ONLY, pins 2, 3, and 5, 5 is straight through, 2 and 3 swap end to end. Do NOT use an off the shelf null modem cable, it may work, or may cost you expensive drive/computer repairs.

VFS5 Faults: Regardless of what your control says, if you do not have a red fault light on the spindle drive, then it is NOT faulted. This can be an important difference when diagnosing spindle vs overall machine problems. If the Spindle drive is red lighted, then it is always best to connect with Motion Link Plus and a laptop to read the fault history. Once connected to the drive go to "help" then "fault history" this should give you a list of the last 20 faults the drive has seen.

VFS5 program memory:
These drives contain a battery backed memory module, the battery is sealed inside the module and is NOT replaceable without replacing the entire unit. The module itself is generally not field replaceable because of the necesity most times for special decryption software that is not found out in the wild.
The memory module seems to have an operating life of 10-12 years so about now the bulk of these spindle drives are coming due on these. If the battery goes bad then most times all machine programs inside of the spindle drive are lost.
It is always best to keep backup copies of the spindle program so that they are around in case this happens.

Axis drives:
AS10300, 301, 302 drives can all be communicated with via Servo Star Motion Link software and the same cable used for a VFS5. The software is different and NOT compatible between them. The front display on these drives is a valuable source of information.
Common Faults:
"U" Undervolts, DC buss voltage low, will recover as soon as the fault condition goes away.
"R" pretty much anything is a feedback fault from the motor, line break, etc etc
"P" Bad fault, either the motor, the motor power cable, or the drive itself is shorted out. Disconnect the motor leads at the drive and reset. If it still shows "P" then its broken. if not then its probably the motor or cables
"O", "1", "2" etc are Op modes, NOT faults, however a lower case o is overtemp and only shows up on the bottom half of the display

Thats it for now, hope this helps shorten downtime and trouble shooting for everyone here.

Regards,
Chris P
Inside Support

[mike_Kilroy]

If you have a broken drive, spindle, or motor, we are here to help repair them - that is about all we do. feel free to call us with questions or post to us for help; we can usually get someone back up and running with a repair or replacement drive in as little as 1 hour!

Post to either MKC or me.