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ZR33 problem


Fat Danny

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Hi all, relatively new to the forum and in need of some advice please

 

I have a ZR33 that doesnt have the remote light coming on. It will heat up to the point that it is ready and then start churning out smoke non stop until it is disconnected at the mains.

 

I have had the cover off and the fuse for the remote seems ok but it doesnt seem to be getting power to it. I havent tried it on DMX as yet. Is the machine switching to full output nonstop once it has warmed up normal behaviour for a machine without DMX or remote control? Does anybody know why the machine would want to output as soon as it is ready?

 

Thanks in advance for any help, pretty frustrated here!

 

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If there is no DMX or remote control, i.e. the remote control isn't connected, then the machine shouldn't even heat up.

If you unplug the remote does it stop? If it does, it sounds like the remote or cabling (assuming the remote is on a cable and not docked on the back of the machine) is faulty. E.g. if the ground wire has come off in the cabling then it would cause this fault.

 

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Tim's suggestion makes sense. I wonder if the ole red button has developed a short and is turning the pump on as soon as the heater is up to temperature.

The "remote light not coming on" by which I assume he means the power LED on the remote isn't lit, suggests a wiring problem rather than a button short. You have to send 1V back down the wire to make it heat, then anything above that makes it fog in varying density up to 10V for max output. So if the ground is missing it will just be sending 12V back down the wire.

If unplugging the remote doesn't make it stop then something weird has happened inside the machine.

Edited by timsabre
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I think the machine is heating up without the remote or DMX being connected, so what you are saying is there must be a short somewhere? Could this be on the board?

 

The wiring seems pretty good but I havent looked much further than just looking for bad looking connections. There are some jumpers on the PCB near to the DMX switches, could it be possible these have been set wrong?

 

It's definitely heating and it definitely isn't lighting up on the remote so I guess I should look further for a short, I just cant see any areas that might be prime suspects (in the back panel area at least)

 

Thanks for the quick reply that was brilliant

Edited by Fat Danny
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Tim, on further investigation I think you are right, there's a light on the main pcb that goes out when the link to the back of the XLR pcb is disconnected, that light has always been on so there has been some sort of connection happening there I think.

 

I have now managed to get the power light on the remote panel to work, it was a dodgy pin connector on that circuit from the main PCB to the small PCB at the back of the remote connection. So now I can get the remote power led to light up but I still get the same problem of it firing as soon as it reaches temperature, it does this with or without the remote so perhaps its not that circuit that is my problem.

 

I have adjusted the variable dials on the PCB (one for 'pump' one for 'sensor') and they are making a difference. The sensor dial can be used to make the machine fire, I guess by changing the ready to fire threshold, and then it is firing as soon as it reaches whatever that temperature it. So I need to find out what is bypassing everything and just allowing it to do that.

 

It is ok inside, no signs of any moisture, its all pretty basic wiring apart from the PCB, I guess theres maybe some sort of brain chip that has fried so that instead of thinking about whether it wants to fire when it receives a signal it now just does it? So frustrating as its a really good machine, I'm even tempted to just keep it and crudely just turn it on and off to operate if I have to

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Tim, on further investigation I think you are right, there's a light on the main pcb that goes out when the link to the back of the XLR pcb is disconnected, that light has always been on so there has been some sort of connection happening there I think.

 

I have now managed to get the power light on the remote panel to work, it was a dodgy pin connector on that circuit from the main PCB to the small PCB at the back of the remote connection. So now I can get the remote power led to light up but I still get the same problem of it firing as soon as it reaches temperature, it does this with or without the remote so perhaps its not that circuit that is my problem.

 

I have adjusted the variable dials on the PCB (one for 'pump' one for 'sensor') and they are making a difference. The sensor dial can be used to make the machine fire, I guess by changing the ready to fire threshold, and then it is firing as soon as it reaches whatever that temperature it. So I need to find out what is bypassing everything and just allowing it to do that.

 

It is ok inside, no signs of any moisture, its all pretty basic wiring apart from the PCB, I guess theres maybe some sort of brain chip that has fried so that instead of thinking about whether it wants to fire when it receives a signal it now just does it? So frustrating as its a really good machine, I'm even tempted to just keep it and crudely just turn it on and off to operate if I have to

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Hi Danny

The pump control from the microprocessor must be OK as it is not firing until it has got to temperature. It's all done in software on this machine so the processor must be working OK.

 

 

The software will only fire the pump if either it gets a valid DMX command, or if it gets a voltage from the remote above about 2V.

 

This connector where you found the "dodgy pin", this should have 3 connections, = Ground, 12V, Remote signal. Meter the remote signal and check it is at 0V when the remote is not plugged in. Are you sure there are not any other "dodgy pins" as I would definitely be looking in this area for the fault.

 

Edit.... is the remote the one with the knobs on it, not one with a display? I am slightly confused now as the diagram I have for ZR33 has a display on it. But all the photos I can find of ZR33 do not have a display.

 

If the DMX inputs have their own little pcb with a processor, try unplugging that in case that's doing something weird.

Edited by timsabre
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