Unfortunatly it’s not a pressure problem and I’m afraid the ruida opto is fried as you said, should I have used a separate power source for the +24V on the valves and relays and just the wind and status pins on the board instead of plugging everything to the board directly? I use a big air compressor at 3 bars (about 45psi) for cutting (high pressure) and have a bypass for engraving. Everything worked fine with just one valve, after connecting the three and the relays to the board nothing work not even the valve that used to work.
Thank you very much for trying to help me!
Thank you for your reply!
I didn’t think of the maximum amps draw before but it make sense that was the cause of the problem as all the valves plus the relays definitely draw more than 500mA from the +24V pin.
This means I fried my board or is there a way to make it work? Was thinking about buying a separate 24V power source just for the valves and the relays but now even one valve that I always had working in the board isn’t activated by the wind pin either.
There are two limits in play here.
First, it is not clear from the Ruida documents what limit, if any, applies to the +24 V supply pins on the controller. As a result, I connect high-current devices directly to the +24 V power supply, rather than the (much more convenient) controller pin.
Second, the 300 mA limit I mentioned applies to each controller output pin like AuxAir. Loading those pins beyond the spec may not damage them, but they cannot switch a higher current. Because I have a box of solid state relays, I do not wire any solenoids / valves / whatever directly to the controller.
So the controller drives only the minimal load for the solid state relays; the +24 V for the input side of the relays can come from the controller. Those relays, in turn, drive the actual loads.
The crude diagram for my dual-flow air assist shows what’s going on:
The air pump runs from the 120 VAC power line, so it requires an AC SSR.
I installed a separate 24 VDC wall wart to run the solenoid valves, so the output side of the DC SSR connects between that and the high-flow solenoid valve.
The controller outputs are more durable than you think, so when you load them properly they’ll probably still work fine.
1 Like
Thank you very much, your answer made me feel calmer and more positive because it shouldn’t be a problem on the board! As this limit only apply to the Status and Wind pins i don’t think I’ve overload them.
I will post my diagram so you can see how I connected everything. But if everything is ok with the board I will try to buy some relays to connect the other valves.
This is how everything is supposed to be connected but after I connected everything and it didn’t work I disconnected and used only one valve on the wind and +24V to test and it also stopped working ( it worked previously)
If you’re not scared of a soldering iron, the opto isolators are individual components. I have head of several cases where owners have cracked the case and move one from an unused output over to the WIND terminal.
1 Like
That’s exactly what I was searching now and came across this post and a couple more saying the same:
The user solved the problem by soldering it and I’m thinking about taking them out of OUT1 and OUT2 and soldering them to Status and Wind. One important thing is what is recommended for this not to happen again! It’s better to have relays or a separate power supply for the +24V?
@Dave01 can you please send me a photo of your air assist as I think its similar to mine? I saw the one you have on Google Drive but if you can show how it’s connected or a diagram of it like mine it would be great.
I don’t buy into the Chinese statement of the optical isolator. I have yet to find an optical isolator that will handle 500mA@24V … If you can find one, I’d love to see it… that’s 12W if my math is right.
If you follow those who have ‘blown’ them out, it’s a transistor the optical isolator turns on…
The Ruida manual draws the output as optically isolated in the manual, but it seems those who have ‘broken’ them have proven the driver is a transistor.
I have a bunch of Ruida manuals, but this says it in English. Even though it only says it’s isolated, not that the isolator can sink 500mA.
@Ricardo_Pinho I used old technology to give you an idea about the measurement of voltages.
As it’s written, it is how the Ruida handles the output (actually a current ‘sink’). If you measure across it this way, there is no difference across the coil to measure.
If you close the switch or complete the ground, then you will measure 24V across it, if it can supply the current.
If you are measuring less there seems some problem with the Ruida outputs. You have pretty much confirmed that as it worked before and when you return to the configuration it no longer works.
I’ll hunt around and see if I can find one of the articles on replacing the driver…
Good luck
1 Like
You can check on the RDWorks forum if you want detailed info on swapping the opto couplers. That is primarily a Ruida forum.
The pic on my google Mod Page is about the best I have on my manifold. The wiring is pretty simple. STATUS to the main solenoid that enables the minimal bypass when ever it’s on. High and low are switch selectable on my Control Console. It’s the same panel as the Control Console 03 pic, I just added a SPDT switch to make the selection, and it is fed from the WIND terminal. I’m literally running every low voltage circuit from the factory 24V power supply. My wiring is pretty much the same as Russ has with the Ultimate Air Assist package sold on Cloudray, I just swapped the relay for the compressor with an air solenoid as I pull from a large higher pressure system. I do knock the pressure down before it gets to that manifold. Didn’t at first, and 120 - 150 psi is kinda hard on the little regulators and solenoids.
The power supply has a 5V feed, but in tracing something else, I discovered the ONLY thing on the 5V was the red dot. I added a resistor and switched it to 24V for consistency… and promptly broke the wire in the drag chain three months later. Never bothered to fix it.
Hope that helps, drop me a line or a comment here if you have any more questions.
Shoot me the links… I’m a registered user there… Probably where I saw the fix for the sink transistors…
My air goes in at 60lbs… The low pressure it knob adjustable…
I think most of us run the simple air assist…
Thanks
Russ’ wiring diagram for his Ultimate Air Assist in on Cloudray’s web site, second pic down. I couldn’t tell you what post it was on the RDWorks forum for the component swap, but pop in there with the question on swapping the opto couplers and you will get a pretty quick and sometimes TOO detailed an answer. A couple of the guys on there are the electrical engineer types.
And you should be good with only a 60 psi input.
The 500mA is a surge or startup value, hence the 300 to 350 mA operating current. My AirTac solenoid pulls between 360 and 375 mA depending on what meter I use and which solenoid I’m checking. None of them are real high dollar calibrated meters. But going on three years and no problems so I think I’m good.
FYI, the 500 and 300 - 350 come straight from the Ruida IT department.
1 Like
I have done this. Its super easy to do.
1 Like
Hi, sorry for the late reply, I didn’t save the password to the forum and only had it in this pc.
I would like to thank everyone that helped me out! You’re great, this solved my problem. I soldered new transistors and everything is working fine now 
1 Like
Can you tell us which ones?
Did you follow a guide somewhere?
Glad it’s up… take care
Yes, I ordered MMBT2222A transistors from Amazon and soldered then in the place I highlighted in the photo! The are the size of ants but it’s easy to solder with a good iron.
I will try to find the link for the post that recommended this transistors and post it here.
Thank you! Take care too.
I saw the transistors I need to use in this link:
3 Likes
Hi Dave, I have another question I think you can help me.
I updated my ruida firmware with the one on you Mod Page but now it creates a lot of lines in the LCD. Can you send me the link to the original website to download the firmware?
Thank you!
Not sure what’s causing that. You might try dropping back a version or two and reloading. I was jumping back and forth between versions over a few months trying to diagnose a firmware / software mismatch some time back. Doesn’t bother the controller to load and reload different versions. The file I have there came direct from Ruida, so I can’t be of any help there. The company you purchased the machine or controller from is supposed to be putting out current firmware since Ruida lets them modify it, but they usually drop the ball on it.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.