-
Grenadier Heating shuts off without warning
Just did a batch of small stickers here and noticed a big difference on the first and last sheets, prints are blurred..
then realised the heat had gone off??its not the first time this has happened but up to now we blamed the operator 😕
maybe its something silly we’ve done or is it more serious??
any help appreciated
-
5 Replies
-
Hi Brian,
Before I can give any answer, can you tell me the type of heater controller on your Grenadier.
Is it the one with a black box mounted on top of the electronics and a large display
Is it the one with the slim display minus the black box
The way in which these two operate are totally different
Also when you say the heater goes off does the display still show any kind of temperature or even any errors.
-
Hi Tom,
its the large black box mounted on top, i cant attach a photo here tho’the display stays on but the heat goes back to room temp while printing and this shows on the display although the heat is now off??
-
Hi Brian,
These heaters are a very simple device and can be broken down into three separate sections:-
Controller – The front panel this is the main part the brains if you like, this is programmed to tell the black box to apply power to the heater mats. Once a temperature is set it uses feedback from the thermocouple on the actual heater mat to turn on and off the relays in the black box.
Black box – This consists mainly of two relays that turn on or off power to the heater mats.
Heater mats – Pre and post heater mats that feedback temperature to the controller via the thermocouple. It is the thermocouple that is telling the controller that the temperature is at room ambient, which is why you are seeing this on the display.
Your problem -The display shows the room temperature would indicate that the controller is telling the power to shut off. if you remove the black box cover, when doing this there will be an earth lead attached to the underside so it will not come off completely until you remove it. You will see the two relays and close by there will be two red led’s, one each for the pre and post heater mats. These are on when ever the relays are providing power to the mats. At the time of the problem would need to know if these are on, (please note they will turn on and off intermittently whilst providing power as the temperature fluctuates). If they are off the controller is being told by the thermocouple that the desired temperature has been achieved. In which case I would suspect the heater mats thermocouple.
Is it both heater mats or only one that is at fault – if it is only one then you could swap around the relays in the black box (please make sure power is switched off). If the problem moves to the other mat then the relay is at fault, if it stays the same my guess would be the heater mat.
It was not that often the actual controller was replaced compared to heater mats and black box. I am not sure where these are available from now, but the relays will have a name and part number of sorts on them and you should be able to google it to find replacements as far as heater mats are concerned they were originally purchased from a company called UAL in the preston/leeds area.
Tom
-
quote Tom Plunkett:Hi Brian,These heaters are a very simple device and can be broken down into three separate sections:-
Controller – The front panel this is the main part the brains if you like, this is programmed to tell the black box to apply power to the heater mats. Once a temperature is set it uses feedback from the thermocouple on the actual heater mat to turn on and off the relays in the black box.
Black box – This consists mainly of two relays that turn on or off power to the heater mats.
Heater mats – Pre and post heater mats that feedback temperature to the controller via the thermocouple. It is the thermocouple that is telling the controller that the temperature is at room ambient, which is why you are seeing this on the display.
Your problem -The display shows the room temperature would indicate that the controller is telling the power to shut off. if you remove the black box cover, when doing this there will be an earth lead attached to the underside so it will not come off completely until you remove it. You will see the two relays and close by there will be two red led’s, one each for the pre and post heater mats. These are on when ever the relays are providing power to the mats. At the time of the problem would need to know if these are on, (please note they will turn on and off intermittently whilst providing power as the temperature fluctuates). If they are off the controller is being told by the thermocouple that the desired temperature has been achieved. In which case I would suspect the heater mats thermocouple.
Is it both heater mats or only one that is at fault – if it is only one then you could swap around the relays in the black box (please make sure power is switched off). If the problem moves to the other mat then the relay is at fault, if it stays the same my guess would be the heater mat.
It was not that often the actual controller was replaced compared to heater mats and black box. I am not sure where these are available from now, but the relays will have a name and part number of sorts on them and you should be able to google it to find replacements as far as heater mats are concerned they were originally purchased from a company called UAL in the preston/leeds area.
Tom
This Plunkett guy seems to be a helpful fellow. 😉
-
Tom, thanks for taking the time to post that 😉
we’ll have a look tomorrow morning and see how we go..
Log in to reply.