PrintrBoard F6 and fan controls

[sbussinger]

I just replaced my Rev F5 PrintrBoard after breaking the MicroUSB connector off of it (the second time I've done this -- what a terrible design choice!). I got PrintrBot's new Rev F6 PrintrBoard with USB-B connector. I've cut out the hole on the side of the chassis so the connector peeks through and hooked everything back up again. But I'm having trouble with the fan control.

The new board has two (2 pin) fan control connectors on the side (marked Fan 1 and Fan 2). The wiring diagrams on the PrintrBot site don't show these. I've tried plugging my fan cable into both of them and I'm not getting any control over the fan using M106/M107. While plugged into the Fan 1 pins, my fan turned on automatically when the hotend hit 50 degrees, but I couldn't manually turn it on or off (it turns back off when the hotend temperature drops below 50 again). This makes me think Fan 1 is intended as a hotend cooling fan (like for an E3Dv6 or similar). Fan 2 didn't seem to do anything.

Any thoughts on how to turn my print cooling fan on/off in the firmware on this controller board?

[RetireeJay]

I don't know the details about that board, but it sounds like you have Fan 1 figured out correctly.

Did you try reversing the plug for your print-cooling fan plugged into Fan 2? Some fans will only turn when the polarity of the voltage feeding them is correct.

[sbussinger]

Since the fan would spin on FAN1 it doesn't seem likely that FAN2 would have the opposite polarity, but I tried it anyway. Sadly, it didn't work reversed either.

[teicher]

Pure speculation on my part, but maybe that second fan connector is controlled by some gcode that isn't yet documented on their website.

Have you tried opening a support ticket? I would certainly recommend having one open while you continue to experiment on your own.

[sbussinger]

I did open a ticket, but it's not been a particularly helpful support channel for me in the past.

[RetireeJay]

It is likely a configuration problem in the firmware. I pulled the F6 schematic from Github, and the CPU pin used for Fan 1 is the pin that's been used in the past for the speed-controlled print-cooling fan. The CPU pin used for Fan 2 is the "new" one that SHOULD be running the Hot End body cooling fan.

[musk]

On my F6, one of the fan connectors responds as normal to M106 M107 commands and the other corresponds to being above 50c. I didn't notice any difference when controlling the filament fan, all my existing gcode works the same for that as it did on the F5. I'm not sure which connector is which now that it's all concealed inside the bottom of a Metal Plus.

Are you trying to address a specific fan with fancy P commands? Marlin only supports one fan speed control according to this: http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M106:_Fan_On

[sbussinger]

I'm not trying to do anything fancy, I'm just trying to replace the broken F5 PrintrBoard with the new F6 PrintrBoard. I use Simplify3D to control the printer normally, but when the standard Simplify3D Fan Speed slider didn't work I started trying the M106 codes to keep the troubleshooting as simple as possible and eliminate variables.

I tried

M106 S255
M106 P0 S255
M106 P1 S255
M106 P2 S255

which according the the RepRap GCode page should all be interpreted the same on Marlin anyway.

I'm using the firmware the board shipped with, I wonder if it's worth reloading the firmware?

[musk]

To rule out the fan cabling of the non-working fan, I'd connect it to the 50c fan connector just to make sure that both fans and their wiring are working properly on that known good plug. If they do, then a flash is probably next.

[sbussinger]

I've only got the one fan (I'm using the stock ceramic hotend so I don't have a hotend cooler fan). I've just been moving that one fan around, so it's not the fan.

I finally got PrintrBot support to acknowledge (after 4 emails over as many days) that the way it's supposed to work is FAN2 is supposed to be temperature controlled (for a hotend cooler) and FAN1 is supposed to be controlled by the M-codes (for a print cooler). That's not how mine is working. They sent me new firmware so now I have to figure out how to flash the machine.

P.S. Surely there's a way to flash the firmware from a Windows machine without installing the Java Runtime???

[RetireeJay]

P.S. Surely there's a way to flash the firmware from a Windows machine without installing the Java Runtime???

You are right, the Atmel web site says that the Java Runtime Environment is required to run recent versions of FLIP. I have no objection to Java; in fact, I'm very slowly learning to write in it! I have never experienced any problem caused by having the Java Runtime Environment installed. I guess if you have access to a Mac or Unix machine you can program the board without using FLIP; there are instructions linked for doing this in the Printrbottalk Wiki (the white-red-beige button next to the "Search..." text box).

[Mooselake]

As a former professional Java programmer my opinion is that installing the JRE (java runtime environment) carries little risk, plus you can uninstall it after you've flashed and tested your Printrboard. While Java is reported to (and undoubtedly does, any online app has them) contain some security holes, those affect it's use in online applications and won't cause an issue or exposure while flashing firmware.

If you're still unwilling to use the JRE I suggest you obtain a Raspberry Pi 3 (the latest version, still around $35), along with a USB power supply (needs a stout one, not a several year old cheap phone charger), and flash from that. You can use ssh (putty is a popular Windows ssh client and is what I use) to get a command line shell, or connect a keyboard and HDMI monitor if you want a GUI. You can then use the Pi to run Octoprint so it's not wasted. I have an RPi 2 that runs my home network manager (retired network guy...), just sits and runs. Boring, really, no drama, so should octo just fine. Don't forget to Paetron Gina Häußge a couple bucks now that OctoPrint is her full time job.

Kirk

[sbussinger]

I forgot to come back and let you all know how it turned out. Reflashing the PrintrBoard and resetting everything cleared up the problem! Seems to be working well now.

My main objections to the JRE are the online vulnerabilities. Besides, installing 50MB (or whatever it is now) for the JRE just so I can send a few hundred KB binary is silly. I found a laptop laying around that had Java on it already, so I just used that.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Oh, and for what it's worth, I like the design of the PrintrBoard rev F6 MUCH better than the old one. Not only does it fix the USB connector choice, but the extra fan controller is nice as well. I'm not using it now, but I may very well in the future.

[Arcmatt]

I know this is an old post, but it is one I referenced when I was trying to configure my Marlin 1.1.8 firmware for my Printrboard RevF6. What I finally figured out was that if using PrintrBots firmware, the Fan 2 connections on the Printrboard will turn the fan on for the hot end when it heats at or above 50ºC and off when it cools to or below 50ºC. I also wanted this behavior for my custom Marlin firmware. So I went to https://github.com/Printrbot/printrboard and downloaded the schematics for the Printrboard. I then opened them in Eagle CAD to get the following information:

Printrboard RevF6 Pinout.png

Looking in the upper left hand corner, there is a pin labeled PWM-FAN 2 with pin #55. Using this pin # in the Marlin firmware throws a bunch of errors. So not the right pin #. In the 'Configuration adv.h' file for the Marlin firmware this pin is by default listed as pin #37, which does not work.

ConfigAdvPin37.png

But there is a website listed for the Printrboard (AT90USB1256) : https://labitat.dk/wiki/Panelolu_and_Pr ... e_easy_way

Printrboard Pin Config.png

The website shows that pin #55 should be pin #46 (highlighted in green), but this also does not work. The website also lists that this pin should be pin #44 for an Arduino, which the Printrboard is an Arduino Mega 1286 basically, and indeed pin #44 produces the same behavior as PrintrBots own firmware, turning the hot end fan on at or above 50ºC, and off at or below 50ºC. As you can also see from my screen shot, the 50ºC setting can also be changed to whatever temperature you choose to use, I left it at 50ºC.

ConfigAdvPin44.png

So, for future reference, with a Printrboard RevF6, if you want to use custom firmware but still have the hot end fan turn on and off automatically from the Fan 2 connection on the Printrboard, this pin needs to be set to pin #44.