1 (edited by crendraven 2016-06-01 14:33:59)

Topic: *Fixed* Heater not heating

Hi all,

I have a 1.6 filastruder kit that I've finally found the time to put together, however I've run into a problem.
I've wired it up according to the wiring diagram just to check everything works, and I think something isn't right.
When I was assembling the kit, the heating element was 'stuck' shut, so I took the collar off completely. Leaving it sit there yielded no results, and it was still far too narrow to fit over the coupler. I gently pushed on each side of the heater element to open it up so that it would fit onto the collar, and it made an audible "clack" sound as it came apart. It now fits fine on the coupler and the collar and insulation have been installed.

The PID controller powers up fine, and the thermocouple is reporting a room temperature of about 16 degrees, which appears fine, however that's as far as it goes. Is the PID meant to start heating when it's turned on, or is there a button to start? Has opening up the heating element (by hand, no forcing with tools) so it would actually fit onto the coupler broken it?

The heater is connected between pin 7 and pin 10
The thermocouple is connected between pin 3 and 4 with correct polarity
The power supply is connected to pin 9 and 10 with correct polarity.
No switches or motor or stall protector are currently connected as I thought I'd test the heater first.

The PID is currently in autotune mode so I don't want to disturb it if this is normal operation and I'm just missing something.

Apologies if this is covered elsewhere, I had a bit of a search but couldn't find anything.

2

Re: *Fixed* Heater not heating

What's the resistance of the heater?

3

Re: *Fixed* Heater not heating

I'm actually not in possession of a multimeter right now (I'll be getting a new one early next week) so I can't check.
Would connecting it directly to a 12v battery pack be a crude way to test if it's dead?

4

Re: *Fixed* Heater not heating

You can try that, but be careful not to burn yourself. A resistance check will be the best though, since it can determine if the heater is partially failed as well.

5

Re: *Fixed* Heater not heating

Right, multimeter acquired.

The heater has a resistance of 3.8 ohms, and heats very slowly when connected to a 12V source.
Slow enough that after about a minute it was about the same temperature as my hand, although I used a battery pack just to be safe.

6

Re: *Fixed* Heater not heating

3.8 ohms is normal, the heater has not failed or been damaged. Did you extend the wires? Perhaps those splices are bad.

You say you just set it up to test - did you install the jumper wire between pins 8 and 9?

7

Re: *Fixed* Heater not heating

Oh for the love of...

Yeah I totally missed that one. Cheers. All working now.