Goal: I have a two color Stack Light (Red over Yellow) just outside my “Laser Lab” door, that I put up mostly for a laugh (exaggerating the importance of the Laser part of the Lab). I NEVER leave my laser while it’s running. But what I was shooting for is, a yellow light any time the laser is powered up and a red light anytime the laser is actually firing (or running a job).
I have a circuit to the yellow light between +24v and the OUT1 pin, and that does exactly what I want… after the system comes to life and the laser head “homes” it turns the yellow light on, (it’s a bonus that it turns off when “running a job”). But I also have the +24v and “Status” pin going to the red light. I assumed that when the system is actually firing or “running a job” that Status pin would be hot… but I get nothing.
Am I missing something here? I’ve seen all the schematics and they refer to that Status pin as meaning that a job is running. I don’t need an alarm, or a green light, just something to indicate Idling or running.
Well… I did throw a bench power supply on both the yellow and red lamps to make sure it wasn’t a lamp problem, and the red was still working. I’ll break out a meter tomorrow and check the outputs. I thought I had done everything correct… but we’ll see in the morning.
Yup. That one and several threads that included schematics. I’m a firm believer in using search tool before engaging my fingers (and typing out a totally redundant post).
That paragraph was why I thought, “Yellow to OUT1 and Red to Status.” Which is what I have. Yellow works as expected… but I have never seen output through the Status circuit. Which is what lead me to the new post on the same topic.
I did put my bench power supply on the wiring to the Red lamp last night and it works. I’ll be throwing a meter on the Status pin later this morning… as soon as I’ve woken up enough to handle electrical equipment.
Remember that the controller has pull-down transistors without an internal pull-up resistor, so they don’t do much without an external load connected to the +24 V (or whatever) supply.
Source: Been there, done that.
Solution: less blood in my caffeine stream.
If I understand correctly, what you are saying is, don’t just test the pins with the probe… test the pins with the lamps still attached (sorry, only know enough about electronics to be dangerous)? Results below:
When testing across +24v and Ground, at any time, I get 23.7
When testing across +24 and OUT1, when the laser is homed and idle, I get 24v, and yellow lamp is illuminated.
When testing across +24v and OUT1, while a job is running, I get 00.4 and no yellow lamp.
When testing across +24v and Status, while a job is running or at idle, I get 00.4 and no red lamp.
I just tested this on my controller but with no load and I got the same results so there may be something more fundamental at play. I’m not equipped at the moment to take this any further, however. At least not without getting clever…
The general idea: the transistor inside the controller acts as a switch connecting the output pin to 0 V (“ground” or “common”). It does not provide an “output voltage” you can measure.
So the LED lamp acts as a “load” with one terminal connected to the +24 V (nominal, you measured 23.7 V) supply and the other terminal to the controller’s transistor switch.
When the switch is OFF (the output signal is inactive) it does not conduct any current, so both lamp terminals are at the same voltage (+24 V) and the lamp is dark. You measured 0 V (0.4 V, more or less) from one lamp terminal to the other and would measure 24 V from the controller output to “ground”: the output is high when it is off.
When the switch is ON (output signal is active) it conducts current and connects the pin to “ground”. Now one lamp terminal is at +24 V and the other is at 0 V, so the LED lights up. You measured 24 V across the LED and would measure 0 V from the controller output to “ground”: the output is low when it is on.
The last test, where the Status output does not change, suggests the output does not activate when you think it does or, perhaps, something killed the output transistor. They are replaceable if you have good soldering iron skillz, but it’s not to be undertaken as your first PCB repair task.
Maybe I’m using the wrong term here… but my schematic might explain what I mean.
This behaves as I expect.
Confirmation is a wonderful thing. No need to go any further on my part… I’ll mess with this some more. Just can’t understand why the “Status” pin does not do what I’m lead to believe it does.
Your drawing show the yellow connected to OUT1, when this goes low it should illuminate the yellow light…
I can’t understand how this qualifies as behaves as expected?
Status goes active (low) when the machine is in run mode executing a job. If it doesn’t I suspect a hardware issue.
I can’t speak about any other Ruida, here, but mine.
In deference to @ednisley speculation, there must be pull ups on these… and with Status/Wind.
If I measure the out1 and out2 voltages with no load, they read the 24V, unless active.
From the top to bottom, in the video, it’s status, out1, out2.
Excuse the rats nest wiring in this video, but it hangs off there so I can see what’s active.
The video starts with power off, then load the job, and start… this results in an error since, the chiller is off… enable chiller and run the job… you can see the results…
I guess what I’m saying here is that I never expected both the Yellow and Red lights to be on at the same time. Hence, the Yellow goes off when the Red (Status) should be coming on.
That’s certainly a possibility, but I don’t think I want to swap out a Controller on such a minor problem… everything else seems to be working correctly, so far. Not a deal breaker, given the things I’m still waiting for.
Everything you show here makes sense, and your lamps respond as I would expect. I don’t need an error lamp, so I’m not interested in Out2. Your Out1 works as mine does. On when idle, off when running a job, on again when stopped. But my Status has never done anything at any time. Yours does.
Tremendously. Thank you again for taking the time to help.
This may be a case of “better to keep my mouth closed and be thought a fool,…” on my part, but as an experiment, could you try connecting your red wire to “Wind” and run a job with air enabled (in Cuts/Layers), and see if that will turn on the red light? On my 50W OMTECH I have a 24V LED in parallel with the low-pressure air solenoid which is controlled by “Status”. It stays illuminated (when running a job) even when “Wind” is active (Air enabled). I think Jack’s last post is spot on, which is why I was suggesting you try using “Wind” instead. If that worked, it would pretty much confirm Jack’s suspicion of a bad transistor. Just spit balling here, take everything I say with a grain (or two) of salt. Cheers.
Hi all,
So… you have one set of leads that work as expected,ok. Run that working set to a 24v dpdt magnetic relay.
Relay on = yellow light
Relay off = red light
Simple enough and cheaper than replacing a controller.
