Need Help VJ 1624 Strange Behavior

[Buzzefretz2000]

Greetings to all, and I have to say i admire the knowledge in this forum.
The hard part is getting people to understand what happened.
I have a VJ 1624, I installed a new printhead and maintenance station, I have done this before a few times successfully.
I sucked some ink through the dampers and received a "subtank refill" message, I've gotten these before and i always get past it by waiting or turning off the printer,
Finally, I turned on the machine and performed a nozzle check which came out perfect. I started printing a test print and after 10 minutes of printing the carriage stopped mid travel and i got "subtank hi K" message.
I turned off the machine and turned it back on, the carriage was still stopped in the middle and as the machine came back on the carriage moved a little to the right and stopped and I got "E068 ERR" error,
I turned the machine off and moved the carriage to its home position and still get the 068 error, no matter where the carriage is I get the error, Ive tried everything, I've turned off the machine multiple times, I just can't get past the error. Does anyone have an idea of what is going on? Can I reset home position somehow? any help is appreciated.

 

[Ssignature]

Subtank Hi means the high or full switch is not activated.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Subtank Hi means the high or full switch is not activated.

Exactly. It's kind of counter intuitive. It means the sub tank isn't filling so you probably have a clogged tube between the cartridge and sub tank and/or an empty cartridge that isn't flagging as empty.

The error 68 means the CR encoder sensor isn't reading the encoder strip properly. Make sure the strip didn't pop out from the sensor while you were working on it.

 

[Buzzefretz2000]

Exactly. It's kind of counter intuitive. It means the sub tank isn't filling so you probably have a clogged tube between the cartridge and sub tank and/or an empty cartridge that isn't flagging as empty.

The error 68 means the CR encoder sensor isn't reading the encoder strip properly. Make sure the strip didn't pop out from the sensor while you were working on it.

Hi, it didnt pop out because it was printing great when the "Subtank hi" message came up mid travel, when I turned it back on i get error 068 immediately, its been explained to me that error 68 means the carriage is not where the motherboard thinks its supposed to be

 

[Solventinkjet]

Hi, it didnt pop out because it was printing great when the "Subtank hi" message came up mid travel, when I turned it back on i get error 068 immediately, its been explained to me that error 68 means the carriage is not where the motherboard thinks its supposed to be

The encoder sensor and strip are what tell the main board where the head is. Try simply moving the head all the way to the left of the machine and then powering on. If it still errors out immediately or shortly after moving and in random spots, you probably have an encoder issue. If it errors out only when it gets back to the station, you probably have a head lock issue, although usually you get a different error if that's the case.

I would also run the encoder test in service mode to see if it's reading at all. Start the machine while holding the up, right, and down buttons to enter service mode. Then go into the test menu and find the encoder test. Select CR encoder and the screen will display 0000. Now move the head manually back and forth and the value should change. If it stays at 0000, the sensor isn't reading the strip for some reason. If it does change, it's either not reading it consistently enough or it's possible the head carriage is getting jammed at initialization, although usually you get a different error if that's the case.

 

[Buzzefretz2000]

The encoder sensor and strip are what tell the main board where the head is. Try simply moving the head all the way to the left of the machine and then powering on. If it still errors out immediately or shortly after moving and in random spots, you probably have an encoder issue. If it errors out only when it gets back to the station, you probably have a head lock issue, although usually you get a different error if that's the case.

I would also run the encoder test in service mode to see if it's reading at all. Start the machine while holding the up, right, and down buttons to enter service mode. Then go into the test menu and find the encoder test. Select CR encoder and the screen will display 0000. Now move the head manually back and forth and the value should change. If it stays at 0000, the sensor isn't reading the strip for some reason. If it does change, it's either not reading it consistently enough or it's possible the head carriage is getting jammed at initialization, although usually you get a different error if that's the case.

Dear Solvent, I appreciate so much that you were willing to try to help, I did what you said, I put the head to the left and a bunch of other places and it errors out immediately did the encoder test and i get 0000 and it doesnt change when I move the head. any ideas?

 

[Solventinkjet]

Glad to help! There's really only a few things it could be. Either the strip popped out from the sensor or got unplugged from the CR board (for some strange reason), the sensor itself has failed and needs to be replaced, or the components on the main board that control the signal have become damaged which someone may be able to fix or you would need a new main board. Some people might say the CR board could be bad as well but I've never seen a CR board cause an actual issue in my career.