Need Help SP-540v Print heater not heating

[iaintnoprophet]

Hello all, my Print heater seems to have stopped heating suddenly. The dryer heater still seems to work as expected. The print heater is looking for 42C but only reaches 29-30C. It is cold to the touch compared to the dryer. In the past, I've noticed it seemed cooler in the middle than the outsides...

Has anyone experienced this and can suggest where to start troubleshooting? There are heater control boards for sale all over the pace but does anyone know where to find a new heating element?

Thank you

 

[Roland Certified Tech]

Hello all, my Print heater seems to have stopped heating suddenly. The dryer heater still seems to work as expected. The print heater is looking for 42C but only reaches 29-30C. It is cold to the touch compared to the dryer. In the past, I've noticed it seemed cooler in the middle than the outsides...

Has anyone experienced this and can suggest where to start troubleshooting? There are heater control boards for sale all over the pace but does anyone know where to find a new heating element?

Thank you

Could be multiple things.
First the Heater Fuse in the chassis, like below the Main Board in the bottom corner.
Could be the Thermostat or Thermistor for the bed heater.
Could be the relay on the heater relay board in the belly of the printer.
You can swap the connectors for the bed heater with the dryer heater and see where the problem goes the determine id you have bad relays.
As alway, tap on the relays with the end of a screwdriver, as the switch inside can get stuck.

 

[damonCA21]

Hi, if you need them I have the heating elements, control boards, themistors, heater junction board in stock.
As RCT says, try swapping over the connectors first and see if the problem moves from the printer to dryer beds. It is unusual for the elements to burn out but can happen.
If it doesnt change then it is one of the other parts. They are a bit hard to test though, so often just swapping them for known working ones is easier

 

[iaintnoprophet]

Ok thanks, guys. I should be able to open it up this afternoon and hopefully see what's what.

 

[iaintnoprophet]

Alright so, tapping on the relays didn't make a difference. I swapped the heater and thermostat connectors from front to back and sure enough the print heater started working and the dryer cooled down. I swapped the thermistor connections and the temperature readings swapped front to back but the print heater stayed hot and the dryer kept cooling. The fuses look good and test for continuity. Made sure the other connections were seated. So i guess that narrows it down to one or both of the boards?

 

[damonCA21]

Normally if the control board fails neither will come on so most likely suspect is the junction board that has the relays on has failed which is more common

 

[damonCA21]

I have these in stock but beware some sellers sell the 300v one as being suitable for the 540v as they don't know the difference. They use different boards as the 540v has more heater elements than the 300v