Need Help VP540i Crash / Shutdown

[LoicFR83400]

Hello , sorry for my language I'm French.

My printer shuts down on a print request ( incl. testprint) . no response from the power button.
The led in SERVOBOARD is Off.

After 15min disconnected cable it can restart. ( led On )

The problem is not present with cutting Flexi . ONLY IN PRINT
At first the problem was not systematic, then more and more, then all the time.

- periodic cleaning ( 4h ) and standbys OK
- Manuelle cleaning OK
- test print not ok shutdown NOT OK
- start if I disconnect the three tablecloths from the heads OK
- cutting media OK
- media size OK
- move media →←↓↑ OK
- Heaters temp. OK



the CRASH is created exactly after the heating at the first movement of the carriage

Thank you

 

[netsol]

i have never touched a vp540, but, the fact that it shuts down when trying to print would suggest that
one of the power supply voltages is "spongy" (weak) and dropping out when you attempt to print
without trying to print, can you simulate all the actions that happen during the printing cycle?
poll for media size, does carriage move to end and return?
advance media and reverse it. all normal?
are heaters coming up to temp?

the only way it would make sense to me would be IF you had a short (like one of the transistors that drive the print head) & you had an improper fuse (2 large) on one of the boards


i am sure there are lots of other possibilities, but, this is the first that occurs to me

 

[damonCA21]

I would guess a failing power supply as well. I would look at replacing this first and see if it solves the problem

 

[LoicFR83400]

i have never touched a vp540, but, the fact that it shuts down when trying to print would suggest that
one of the power supply voltages is "spongy" (weak) and dropping out when you attempt to print
without trying to print, can you simulate all the actions that happen during the printing cycle?
poll for media size, does carriage move to end and return?
advance media and reverse it. all normal?
are heaters coming up to temp?

the only way it would make sense to me would be IF you had a short (like one of the transistors that drive the print head) & you had an improper fuse (2 large) on one of the boards


i am sure there are lots of other possibilities, but, this is the first that occurs to me

Edit , thank you

 

[damonCA21]

The printer uses a lot more power to run the heater elements and print head at the same time than just the cut head, so the cut head will often work fine. It definitely sounds like a bad power supply. When the printer is asking the power supply to provide voltage for the heaters and head at the same time, then it is cutting out as it can't do it.

 

[damonCA21]

Also the power supply often won't just fail all at once and stop working, it can fail gradually over time, work sometimes, but then not others.

 

[LoicFR83400]

I just unplugged the heater, same problem. :/

How to test without necessarily replacing the powerboard .?

 

[damonCA21]

It sounds like it is the power going to the head then. The scan motor should be ok if the head is moving ok for cutting.

There isnt really a reliable way to test this other than what you have already done.

If it didnt work at all then you could test the power supply to see if it was totally dead and fuses etc.. but as it isn't happening straight away all the time, you can't really test it as you never know when it is going to work or not, so you can't get reliable test results.

Really you can spend forever trying to test and find intermittent faults, so it is time to start replacing the most obvious components, starting with the power supply.

 

[LoicFR83400]

Hello, I'm back...
With a new power board .... same problem ....

 

[damonCA21]

The next step would be to replace the servo board. out of all the boards on the printer those and the print carriage boards are the ones that develop faults most often. The servo board controls a lot of the functions on the printer so a faulty one can cause problems with other parts of it.
Avoid the chinese copy boards as you don't know they are going to work in the same way, get an original Roland one as you know it was made for your printer.

 

[Morph1]

Hi there , do you have any update on the progress of your repairs ? I am having the exact same issue , I am thinking it is the Servo Board, my printer does the exact same thing but I can cut vinyl fine, I noticed that when it powers out the servo board LED turns off and stays off for about 15 seconds then comes back on where the head carriage and the main board LED stays constant on. I went into the service mode and I was able to run the Motor Aging test for feed , scan and both and it worked perfect performing the test for over 15 min with no issue however once I send a file it will either power off or it tries to print but waits like 30 seconds each time the head makes a pass in either direction. I have owned this printer for the past 6 years and only had to replace the black head once, it was a solid and reliable machine up until last week... Please report back if you find a solution. Thx !

 

[damonCA21]

Hi there , do you have any update on the progress of your repairs ? I am having the exact same issue , I am thinking it is the Servo Board, my printer does the exact same thing but I can cut vinyl fine, I noticed that when it powers out the servo board LED turns off and stays off for about 15 seconds then comes back on where the head carriage and the main board LED stays constant on. I went into the service mode and I was able to run the Motor Aging test for feed , scan and both and it worked perfect performing the test for over 15 min with no issue however once I send a file it will either power off or it tries to print but waits like 30 seconds each time the head makes a pass in either direction. I have owned this printer for the past 6 years and only had to replace the black head once, it was a solid and reliable machine up until last week... Please report back if you find a solution. Thx !

i would agree the servo board is the first place to look. It is probably worth replacing it and seeing if that fixes the problem

 

[Jim Hancock]

The VP-540 has a known issue of the network section failing intermittently. When it happens, the printer will stop and you get a "Processing" message on the screen.

 

[Jim Hancock]

The VP-540 has a known issue of the network section failing intermittently. When it happens, the printer will stop and you get a "Processing" message on the screen.

My mistake on the potential issue - the VP-540i uses the RS-540 mainboard, which does not have the same network issue as the VP-540.