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IndustryArena Forum > CNC Electronics > Gecko Drives > G540 has stopped working after 6 months
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    73

    Unhappy G540 has stopped working after 6 months

    Hello,

    After 6 months of use, my G540 suddenly stopped working halfway through a job and is not responding to anything. The fault light is continuously on - even after re-powering a number of times. Very fustrating.

    Can anyone give me a tips to troubleshoot as I live in Melbourne, Australia and cannot afford to ship back to Gecko.

    Cheers, Richard

  2. #2
    Take the cover off, remove the motherboard and remove all four drives.
    Power up the removed motherboard with the main connector attached. If you get a green LED, you have a bad drive. A red LED means a bad motherboard.

    If green, then:

    Turn off power, plug in only one drive with no motor attached and power up the motherboard. If you get a red LED, you have found the bad drive. If you get a green LED, turn off power and plug in another drive with no motor attached. Repeat the process until you have tested all four drives.

    Mariss

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    73
    Thanks Mariss,

    I'll follow your instructions this weekend and report back.

    Thanks Richard

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    73
    Hi Mariss,

    I heard from a colleague that there may have been some issues with some revisions of the g540 when slaving 2 axes via Mach3. I recently changed my design to slave my y and a axes and it had been working ok for about 2 weeks before this failure occurred. I bought the unit from Homann Designs about 18 months ago, so could this be related?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Posts
    35538
    There is nothing you can do in Mach3 that can cause damage to any drive.
    Gerry

    UCCNC 2017 Screenset
    http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2017.html

    Mach3 2010 Screenset
    http://www.thecncwoodworker.com/2010.html

    JointCAM - CNC Dovetails & Box Joints
    http://www.g-forcecnc.com/jointcam.html

    (Note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and are not necessarily those of CNCzone and its management)

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    6618
    If the slaving is what caused it, then there must be a wiring error. If it worked for awhile and now doesn't, I'd suspect an intermittent loose connection. If it was a loose wire on the motor side, it could damage the drive.
    Lee

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    1091
    Quote Originally Posted by cnc3678 View Post
    Hi Mariss,

    I heard from a colleague that there may have been some issues with some revisions of the g540 when slaving 2 axes via Mach3. I recently changed my design to slave my y and a axes and it had been working ok for about 2 weeks before this failure occurred. I bought the unit from Homann Designs about 18 months ago, so could this be related?
    Hi,

    If you return it to me, I can test it for you.

    Cheers,

    Peter
    -------------------------------------------------
    Homann Designs - http://www.homanndesigns.com/store

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    73
    Peter,

    Thanks. I'll drop it off over the weekend.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Posts
    73
    Thanks to Peter, testing of the unit proved that there was nothing wrong. When I reinstalled it, it worked fine much to my surprise.

    I can only assume that there was a loose or crook connection, but I'd checked this already?

    Anyway, I'm back up v-carving again!

    Richard

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