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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Posts
    8

    UC100 not always connecting to PC

    I am having a problem where the UC100 is not being recognized, does not show up in the Device Manager under USB ports, if I disconnect it from the breakout board, which by the way I have been using for 2 years or longer, and then unplug the USB cable from it, it will then boot and connect to the PC.

    My breakout board uses two 5 volt supplies, to keep everything isolated. Now I am not so sure that the I/O on the UC100 side should have a different power source than the UC100, i.e. from the PC rather than a USB charger plugged into the power strip.

    Win 7 64 Bit, been running for 2 years or longer.
    xylotek stepper controller, 3 axis A axis slaved to X Mach 3

    Any thoughts on why the UC100 is not being recognized by the PC all of a sudden? Thanks in advance

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    626

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    No experience with UC100's or UCCNC.... You saying is was working ok, but isn't now?

    Are you using a PC or Laptop?

    Tried using a different USB cable?

    Are you using any other USB devices at the same time?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Posts
    8

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    Yes, I have tried other cables, all the usb connections are the same as this is a dedicated machine for my CNC, Win 7 PC.

    I think that it may be that the breakout board is powered before the UC100 gets power. I am going to see if that is the case. This is different because I did have an Arduino delaying power to the breakout board for 3 or so seconds, now I do not have that installed. SO I will check that out.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    Quote Originally Posted by woodcrafter10 View Post
    I am having a problem where the UC100 is not being recognized, does not show up in the Device Manager under USB ports, if I disconnect it from the breakout board, which by the way I have been using for 2 years or longer, and then unplug the USB cable from it, it will then boot and connect to the PC.

    My breakout board uses two 5 volt supplies, to keep everything isolated. Now I am not so sure that the I/O on the UC100 side should have a different power source than the UC100, i.e. from the PC rather than a USB charger plugged into the power strip.

    Win 7 64 Bit, been running for 2 years or longer.
    xylotek stepper controller, 3 axis A axis slaved to X Mach 3

    Any thoughts on why the UC100 is not being recognized by the PC all of a sudden? Thanks in advance
    Reinstall the UC100 software remove the old first, I have the UC100 but have never seen that problem I'm using Win10 though

    You should not need 2 5v supplies, the UC100 get it's power from the USB connection
    Mactec54

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Posts
    8

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    I reinstalled the software mulitple times just as you indicated removing the old first, that did not resolve it.

    The first UC100 I had failed and the vendor blamed the I/O side of destroying the UC100. I believe he just did not want to replace the UC100, but Amazon made him, to appease him, I put in the breakout board to isolate the I/O through Optical Isolators from the UC100, I even had problems with that. My background is in Electronics/electrical engineering and was a service engineer for two major machine tool manufacturers so I was familiar with trouble shooting problems.

    What I discovered today is that the I/O side of the UC100 can not have power on it until after the UC100 powers up. (at least my unit seems to behave this way) I have an Arduino Nano that I have programed to delay the power sequence to the I/O board until after the USB power has stabilized. The Nano is powered by the same USB power source
    As long as the I/O is not powered when the PC is started the PC will see the UC100 and everything will work. (The vendor insisted that powering the inputs to the UC100 without isolation was the cause of the failure. I think he was trying to say that the stepper controller and the limit switches were causing spurious spikes and destroying the UC100.)
    Long winded explanation of why I had this setup, right now it seems the problem is solved, Thank you all for your inputs

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    Quote Originally Posted by woodcrafter10 View Post
    I reinstalled the software mulitple times just as you indicated removing the old first, that did not resolve it.

    The first UC100 I had failed and the vendor blamed the I/O side of destroying the UC100. I believe he just did not want to replace the UC100, but Amazon made him, to appease him, I put in the breakout board to isolate the I/O through Optical Isolators from the UC100, I even had problems with that. My background is in Electronics/electrical engineering and was a service engineer for two major machine tool manufacturers so I was familiar with trouble shooting problems.

    What I discovered today is that the I/O side of the UC100 can not have power on it until after the UC100 powers up. (at least my unit seems to behave this way) I have an Arduino Nano that I have programed to delay the power sequence to the I/O board until after the USB power has stabilized. The Nano is powered by the same USB power source
    As long as the I/O is not powered when the PC is started the PC will see the UC100 and everything will work. (The vendor insisted that powering the inputs to the UC100 without isolation was the cause of the failure. I think he was trying to say that the stepper controller and the limit switches were causing spurious spikes and destroying the UC100.)
    Long winded explanation of why I had this setup, right now it seems the problem is solved, Thank you all for your inputs
    Yes I would agree with them, you want everything to be opto isolated that is the normal way everyone uses anything like this, the UC100 has it's own CPU so needs to be in control so must power up with the computer

    So yes it has to power up with the computer before the rest of the machine or it will fail
    Mactec54

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Posts
    8

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    I have proven that if I hold off powering the I/O until the UC100 establishes communications with the PC all is well.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    943

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    Quote Originally Posted by woodcrafter10 View Post
    I have proven that if I hold off powering the I/O until the UC100 establishes communications with the PC all is well.
    Is your breakout board optically isolated?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    626

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    Quote Originally Posted by woodcrafter10 View Post
    I have proven that if I hold off powering the I/O until the UC100 establishes communications with the PC all is well.
    How long is the wait?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Posts
    8

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    "How long is the wait?"

    From the time the PC USB ports get powered to the breakout board receives 5VDC is about 60 seconds. By then everything is stable and I may or may not be starting my Mach 3, but the UC100 showes up in the device manager consistently now. I no longer have the arduino sketch, so I would have to rewright it if I wanted to change it the 60 seconds is not a problem as the PC takes about that long to completely boot up..

    I found the problem with why the problem showed up in the first place, the 5VDC to the relay common was intermittent so the IO was not getting voltage all the time, I had By-passed the delay without realizing that I needed that delay for the UC100 to properly connect, I thought I had the delay just to prevent the I/O from connection too soon, as it turned out it was just a broken wire providing the power to the breakout board.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Posts
    8

    Re: UC100 not always connecting to PC

    "Is your breakout board optically isolated?"

    Yes it is and please see other reply.

    Thank you all for the excellent input and assistance.

    I guess I should use the reply with quote responses, I will in the future

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