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UC100 USB to Parallel controller

PostPosted: Sat Mar 09, 2019 8:03 pm
by masii52
I have a UC100 control that has been working good for about 3 years with a desktop computer.
It recently has started to disconnect from the computer (Toshiba core i5 laptop) for no apparent reason.
I have double checked all connections and found nothing that would cause this.
So I acquired a Dell core i5 laptop from my son thinking the USB ports on the Toshiba were dropping out.
I hooked up the Dell and same thing happens I get an error message after a little while running the program that the computer can't find the UC100.
I went into the device manager under USB controllers and disabled the power saving feature but that had no effect.
I don't know if the UC100 is bad or laptops are a no no.
I emailed CNCDRIVE when this was happening with the Toshiba laptop but I never got an answer from them.
Has anyone had this problem and corrected it??
I can't do any machining like this.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thank You in advance,
Mike

Re: UC100 USB to Parallel controller

PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:23 am
by cncdrive
Check in the Windows device manager if you see the UC100 or not when it is plugged into the USB port.
If it is not seen then there is no connection to the device.
The USB cable or connector/connection is broken or the UC100 is damaged.

Re: UC100 USB to Parallel controller

PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:30 pm
by masii52
What do I do if the UC100 is damaged? Send it back to you to repair or discard it?
I'm going to try a different cable and see if that's the problem.

Re: UC100 USB to Parallel controller

PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:44 pm
by Robertspark
What operating system are you running?

Unfortunately where I am at the moment I only have W7 Pro in front of me but as you can see from the device manager there is a setting for the USB device to turn off this device.

Just check you have not got a setting that has changed its self with a windows update to put the device in sleep mode or something.

Re: UC100 USB to Parallel controller

PostPosted: Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:52 pm
by cncdrive
It depends on how did it damage.
I mean if it is repairable or not.
For example if the USB mini connector damaged mechanically then it is likely repairable with replacing the connector.
But if the device got an overvoltage shock and the microcontroller and USB chip damaged then it does not worth to repair it, because it is more cost to repair than a new device.

Re: UC100 USB to Parallel controller

PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:47 am
by msimpson99
I am not sure this is a defective UC100. I have four of them and they all do this. And they do it on several different machines, Routers, mills, ect.
When it happens it looks like the UC100 goes into some sort of error mode. It looks as though there is some sort of sync error.

What I did was to take the USB cable that came with the UC100 and replace it with a very small 6" one I got from Amazon. I then run a full 25pin parallel port cable tween the UC100 and my G540 driver.

Since I have done this the problems have gone away.

Re: UC100 USB to Parallel controller

PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 5:52 am
by cncdrive
Sync error happens if there is a lost connection between the computer and the motion controller. The data gets corrupted and if there are enough corrupt neighbour data packets then the UC100 will have not enough data to safely continue the operation and so it disconnects creating a sync error on the PC side.

Since USB is ground referenced communication the longer the USB cable the easier noise can effect the system, because the cable has an impedance, the longer cable has larger impedance which limits the current rise and so the voltage change between the PC ground and the UC100 ground.
If your control system is noisy and if this noise effects your PC ground then the UC100 ground must follow the voltage change otherwise if it can't follow then there will be a communication error, because the voltage of the USB lines are referenced to the ground point which is then no more 0Volts.
The shorter USB cable gives more noise immunity, because it has lower impedance.

The solutions are:

1.) to elliminate the noise at it's source.
2.) to use shorter USB cable with possibly more thick wires inside.
3.) to add a grounding wire between the PC chassis and the UC100 ground (DSUB shell or any of the pins 18. to 25.)
4.) use of an ethernet controller, because ethernet is isolated and not ground referenced communication.