Smart Voltage Issue?

CrossFire ® PRO Troubleshooting
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The setup I have:
CrossFire Pro, with THC, IHS, limit switches
Everlast 62i with CNC torch. I have this connected to the CrossFire through the CNC port on the back of the Everlast.
A separate PC, monitor, mouse and keyboard. These are all mounted on wood with no connection to the machine except for the USB control.

The Issue
The torch cut height is too high some of the time, and on occasion will change with each new cut. I cut some 1/4" mild steel plate at 30 amps 80 ipm, cut height set to 0.06". It cut the first few cuts fine, but after that the cut height appeared to be closer to 3/8" and it cut the material with a large bevel if it cut through at all.

I then cut some 14 gauge mild steel for a small test sign, and it cut fine for the first sign. Then it changed the height again when I cut the second sign. I tried turning off THC and it cut fine. I noticed that when the cut height changed, it also changed the smart voltage. It seemed like when it was cutting properly the smart voltage was around 46 to 52 Volts. So I set the voltage to be 50 Volts and it cut fine with that.

When it cut the worst, the smart voltage was different for each new letter it had to cut. The first couple letters where fine, but it set one to be 180 volts where the torch was at 1 or 2 inches above the material, and another it was at 20 volts where the torch head was basically rubbing against the material. I’m confused as to how it didn’t trip an error during that run.

I have cleaned the Z axis and made sure the IHS switch was working. I checked some ground points to make sure the machine is not grounded with the electronics or the computer. I increased the sample size for the smart voltage. It cuts fine when THC is turned off. Not sure if its a coincidence but it seems to act worse the thinner the metal, I cut 5/8 mild steel and it worked great for several large cuts.

I could try hooking up the THC directly to the live voltage of the plasma cutter, but not sure if that would change anything as if that was an issue wouldn’t it affect both the smart voltage and the THC?

It does seem to work if I set the nominal voltage, but I would like to make sure their isn’t something else wrong with the machine. I’m assuming something is causing the issue with the smart voltage, and would like to make sure its not something major.

Any help appreciated

Thanks in advance

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THC needs to be wired direct to the lugs inside the Everlast not the CNC port. Only the trigger is wired to the CNC port.

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The “smart voltage” is what the THC detects in the first 1/4" of each cut loop. It takes a voltage reading during that first 1/4" and then uses that reading for the rest of that cut loop.

If the voltage reading coming from the Everlast CNC port is fluctuating due to a failure of one of the components on the board, the smart voltage will not be correct.

For instance, if the Everlast voltage reading was 120v during the start of the cut, that will be the smart voltage value for that cut loop. If the voltage reading drops to 50v during the rest of the cut, the THC will keep raising the torch until it gets to 120v.

Open the machine and connect to raw voltage at the lugs behind the torch and clamp. Bad voltage readings through the CNC port is a well known issue with Everlast machines.

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After you wire for the direct voltage, like David and George are saying, make sure those wires go to the VIM in the blue outlined section of the VIM module (“RAW VOLTAGE”):

VIM Module ExplainedBlueGreen
VIM Module ExplainedBlueGreen1434×948 126 KB

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Thanks for the replys

So do you think the voltage reading at the CNC port could be incorrect during the first 1/4 of cut for the smart voltage reading? Just wondering as the voltage does stabilize if I set the nominal voltage instead of using the smart voltage.

Either way, I’ll hook it up to the raw voltage and give it a try in the next couple days when I get a chance

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Yes, possibly. If your cut height gets set improperly, whether by mistake during post processing or your set up (computer/cables/?) is not reacting the expected way it will set the cut height wrong. At this point, all bets are off. With the cut height wrong, Smart Voltage will be making a determination of desired voltage off of a faulty situation. Bad data always results in bad conclusions.

Nominal voltage does not make any such determination. You tell it what the voltage needs to be and THC maintains that voltage the best it can. So even if your cut height is wrong, THC will put the torch at the height that results in the voltage reading that you set.

Now the kicker is: Divided or Raw voltage, which is better?
If you could trust all cutters to do this correctly, it shouldn’t matter. The more expensive brands tend to give an accurate divided voltage. The cheaper brands can be hit or miss: That is when they say “Go with Raw Voltage.”

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Update:

So I went to cut something before I wired the THC directly to the Everlast, and the torch had intermittent igniting problems. I manually fired the torch and it would only fire every 3 or 4 time.
I then hooked up the THC to the Raw voltage directly to the torch and ground clamp of the Everlast. This didn’t fix the not firing issue, but it did bring the smart voltage up to about 85 volts instead of the 50 volts it was before.
I tried changing torch consumables and that didn’t help either. I’m thinking its something wrong with the machine, so I contacted Everlast support. Just waiting to hear back from them.

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If you don’t hear back from Everlast call me.

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As always George, you go above and beyond.

All of us who know you, appreciate you sharing your expertise so willingly. Thank you!

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