G540/Mach3 - charge pump fault won't clear

[pstemari]

I'm running a G540 w Mach3 and finding a strange issue. If I click the "offline" button in Mach3, the G540 goes into a charge pump fault state. That's totally expected.

What's not expected is that hitting reset in Mach3 doesn't clear that fault. Neither does restarting Mach3 or power-cycling the G540. The only thing that seems to clear it is flipping the charge pump switch off and on again.

Seems like there's something not right here. Suggestions? Other than "don't click that button"

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[phomann]

HI,

You need to go into the Mach3 general config tab and tick the checkbox "Chargepump on in Reset"

Cheers,

Peter.

[pstemari]

I thought I had that checked but I'll verify

To be clear on how that works, without that checked, the sequence of events is:

1. Program reset is pushed
2. Mach3 sees the error from the drive go inactive
3. Charge pump is restarted

IOW, Mach3 won't try restarting the charge pump until after the drive stops indicating a fault.

[phomann]

With the "Chargepump on in Reset" checked, Mach3 will allways generate the chargepump while it is running, regardless of the state of the Mach3 Reset state.

This is what the chargepump is designed to do. It is there to let the controller know that Mach3 has control of the printer port, that's all. People have tried to use it to also indicate when Mach3 is in Reset, and it always ends in tears, unless the controller hardware has special hardware/software to deal with it.

If you don't have "Chargepump on in Reset" checked, you end up with a circular fault occuring.

The G540 asserts it's Fault output because the chargepump is not present, and Mach3 removes the chargpump because it sees the Fault input asserted.

Some controllers put a delay in generating the fault output when the Charge pump is not there to give Mach3 time to react, but in the end this is just a kludge, and can cause other undesirable side effects.

Cheers,

Peter.

[pstemari]

Thanks, that all makes sense.

I was hoping/expecting Mach3 to restart the charge pump, at least for a second or two, when reset was pushed, but you're right, that's a kludge on either side of the interface. Either the drive electronics would have to not assert an error back to the software when the charge pump was missing, or you'd need a three-way handshake: "computer ok", "driver ok", "go".

[gbouchon]

I am a newbie to CNC and have have 40 years experience with computers. The fault lite on the G540 is on regardless of Charge pump on/off setting. Installed a new PMDX-2PARPCI card in the pc. The fault lite is still on. "Press Reset" has no effect. The cnc machine will not move. Have tried 1 axis and then 2 with no change. This machine has 2 axis X and Z. Interestingly the "Emergency mode Active " message will not stop displaying in MACH3.
The pc motherboard is a V400DBL with 3g memory running 2000mhz cpu.
Using a 20" flat screen monitor and would like to know what is the smallest size monitor size for MACH 3 screen display. This setup up is in my friend machine shop. The cnc machine main board went up in smoke 8 years ago. I had enough part to build a pc for the cnc machine and my friend bought the G540 4 years ago. As it stands now, we are not to first base yet. Found out there is a small O'scope in the loft but I need some more detail diag. If this is the wrong forum please excuse my error.

[phomann]

Hi,

First thing to do is set the Chargepump switch on the G540 to off, and check the ports and pins settings you have against the G540 manual. Then see if Mach3 will come out of estop. If it doesn't then you may need to go into the ports and pins setup for the Mach3 inputs and invert the Reset pin input state.

Once you have Mach3 staying out of reset with the G540 chargepump switch off, turn it back on and go into the Mach3 general config tab and tick the checkbox "Chargepump on in Reset"

With the "Chargepump on in Reset" checked, Mach3 will allways generate the chargepump while it is running, regardless of the state of the Mach3 Reset state.

This is what the chargepump is designed to do. It is there to let the controller know that Mach3 has control of the printer port, that's all. People have tried to use it to also indicate when Mach3 is in Reset, and it always ends in tears, unless the controller hardware has special hardware/software to deal with it.

If you don't have "Chargepump on in Reset" checked, you end up with a circular fault occuring.

The G540 asserts it's Fault output because the chargepump is not present, and Mach3 removes the chargpump because it sees the Fault input asserted.

Some controllers put a delay in generating the fault output when the Charge pump is not there to give Mach3 time to react, but in the end this is just a kludge, and can cause other undesirable side effects.

Cheers,

Peter.

[gbouchon]

I am a newbie to CNC and have have 40 years experience with computers. The fault lite on the G540 is on regardless of Charge pump on/off setting. Installed a new PMDX-2PARPCI card in the pc. The fault lite is still on. "Press Reset" has no effect. The cnc machine will not move. Have tried 1 axis and then 2 with no change. This machine has 2 axis X and Z. Interestingly the "Emergency mode Active " message will not stop displaying in MACH3.
The pc motherboard is a V400DBL with 3g memory running 2000mhz cpu.
Using a 20" flat screen monitor and would like to know what is the smallest size monitor size for MACH 3 screen display. This setup up is in my friend machine shop. The cnc machine main board went up in smoke 8 years ago. I had enough part to build a pc for the cnc machine and my friend bought the G540 4 years ago. As it stands now, we are not to first base yet. Found out there is a small O'scope in the loft but I need some more detail diag. If this is the wrong forum please excuse my error.

Thanks for the help. Can not locate "Chargepump on in Reset" option on the Config logistic screen. Current ver is R3.042.032. The latest is R3.43.066 (support website). Did find 2 other options for "Chargepump on" on that screen. This looks like it is time to update MACH 3?