Hello group, I will hope to explain leading up to where I am now. First, I’ve had my CrossFire Pro for a while now and love it! Using a Razorweld Cut 45 Plasma. But a few months ago I was noticing spotty behavior. The plasma would fire fine and then moments later just not. (Giving me a prompt) I would power down and up electronic box, unplug and plugging in all things again… sometimes it would fire back up again. I assumed there was just something loose and needed reset. I paid attention to what I was doing each time to see if I could recreate the issue and how it would bring it back to life. So if I needed to replace anything. I have updated the latest FireControl thats all set. I open up the ends of the cables to see if the wires were broken off at the metal 2 prong female ends. Sorry I don’t know the correct terms for those.
The machine moves just fine with FireControl and behaves as intended.
A week ago I could not for the life of me and all the restarting, new and plugging in and out I can not get a fire. So, I tested with the plasma manually, triggered it, had arc and fired right away. I then tested and enabled the Torch Fire and without any luck of it firing. I hear what I think is an attempt to fire if that makes sense.
I only feel the plasma and consumes are not the issue due to being able to fire and cut with hand held manual. I’ve tried to read and search all I could before coming to you all here. Is there any suggestions I could get to keep trying or look for?
Thanks for you time. Only being a hobby guy with the Pro I really miss it already after a week.
so it fires manually from the trigger but not from within firecontrol? does it fire if you click on the manual button in firecontrol? if not do you here the relay click inside the control panel?
So yes with the trigger it fires. Within FireControl manual it does not.
Sorry I have the Raxorweld Cut 45 Plasma…
Is the control panel the box on the side of the table or within the plasma?
control panel is on the table. if you hit the manual fire button in firecontrol, you should hear the relay click. if it clicks then it could be a short in the torch on/off cable.
I do believe I have heard that relay try to fire / the click. How would you suggest to test for this short. Should I remove the control panel? If sir, do I just set it on the ground or on a box or something?
Unplug the cable from the control box and use a paperclip or a piece of wire to short the end. The torch should fire. If it doesn’t then the wires inside the cable are broken somewhere.
I removed the box from the frame and tried the manual control fire. No fire. I took a photo of the inside of the box with the lights displayed. Along with these 2 lit, there is a orange rapidly blinking one next to the green.
I retried the manual fire in FireControl again. A red LED light lit under what I think it the relay. I tried to hear for the relay when doing the manual fire and could not hear the relay.
SOLVED! I removed the relay and put it right back in firmly. I tested and fired! Second, I had put the box back onto the table and tested. FIRED! I just finished a simple cut and I feel Im back in business.
Thank you Nica for pushing me into a direction to focus on. Customer Service at it finest.
Well my problem must be back now… I went to fire up again and nothing. Here is what I have done to troubleshoot again.
Changed out consumables nozzle and electrode, test FireControl with manual torch on. No Fire
Took the box off the frame, test FireControl with manual torch on. No Fire
Trigger from plasma wand by hand / manually. Fired
Jumping the end of the cable with the paperclip. Fired. (Every time I test this, it fires)
Unplugged tested the wire side of the port for the same fire cable with a paperclip while cable was plugged in. Fired
Pulled and reseated the relay, tried a FireControl manual torch on. No Fire
I can hear the relay click each time I test FireControl manual torch on.
Tested each cable with DMM and found one (short cable to THC box) had a wire broken off the lead in the plug in side, soldered end and DMM shows it is fixed, plugged back in, FireControl manual torch on. No Fire
Im kinda stuck now to what is next to test. But have a few questions that might better help me eliminate possible problems or help me better understand what to be looking for.
What happens if the THC goes bad?
What happens if the relay is bad?
How can I test each of those things separately?
Obviously, Not really sure what happened sense the last time I commented on this thread but I’m back to where I was. Any and all help is greatly appreciated for sure.
The thc would have nothing to do with the torch firing or not. could still be a bad relay where something is broken internally. the fact that you can fire it form pullin gthe trigger and shorting the end of the cable that plugs into the torch on/off port on the contorl box points to something in the control box itself.
look at the torch on/off port from the inside of the control box and you should see 2 wires that have terminal ends. make sure those are pushed in, then trace the wires back to the white board and make sure end is firmly pushed in to the board.
Thanks again for the response Nica. I had checked those wires to be sure they were connected nicely. I pulled them apart and tested the port side that way, then plugged the wired back as they were. I will run and unplug from the white board and plug it back in. BRB
Would I be able to test the relay itself?
Would the relay click if it was bad?
I pulled the harness from the white board and reseated that firmly. FrieControl No fire. Im trying to test the relay but the relay is configured differently than the bottom of the reference Youtube relay you had provided.
maybe @langmuir-aksel might be able to help you out from here. i’m sure you can test it similarly to a normal relay using the solder tabs on the bottom. just have to know which ones are which.
I reseated the relay. I’m no longer getting any relay click now with FireControl. I guess I will have to order one. I almost have to assume it was there in the relay.
Where do I go to order parts?
I almost have to assume it was there in the relay.