BLDC Check (Battery Test) - PCNC 440

Background

If you are troubleshooting a spindle issue on your PCNC 440, the Battery Test, is a good way to rule out your BLDC being at fault.

What You Need

• 1.5v battery (any AA,AAA, or C battery will work)

• Some lengths of wire

Warning! Turn the machine off before touching any wiring of the spindle.

Before you remove any wires from the plug to the spindle, take a picture that shows what wire goes where. 

Battery Test

1.  Unplug the 8 position green plug and remove the 301(+5V), 302(SV), 300(COM), and 306(EN) wires from it. 

2. Take a small piece of wire and fasten one end in position #5, where the 306(EN) wire was.  

3. Take a longer piece of wire and twist one end to the free end of the small piece of wire and fasten both in position #3, where the 300(COM) wire was.

4. Take a another longer piece of wire and fasten one end in position #2, where the 302(SV) wire was.

5. Make sure the spindle is clear of any body parts/tooling.  Bring the machine out of E-Stop and press the RESET button in PathPilot.

6. Touch the longer wire from position #3, where the 300(COM) wire was, and hold it to the negative side of the battery

7. Touch the other longer piece of wire from position #2, where the 302(SV) wire was, and hold it to the positive side of the battery.

If the spindle driver is good the spindle should start spinning in the 2600-3000 range (High Belt) and the spindle driver LCD screen will read numbers in the same 2600-3000 range.  If the numbers are zero and the spindle is not spinning then the driver is bad.  If the spindle driver is showing numbers in the 2600-3000 range but the spindle is not spinning in the 2600-3000 range (High Belt) or not spinning at all, check the spindle motor to see if it failed. Spindle Won't Turn - PCNC 440 | Measure-the-motor-resistance-(Ω)