Searching for error code meanings BLDC driver

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

I have recently purchased a 600W DC motor and its associated BLDC driver from eBay and mounted it to the cross slide of my lathe for use as a grinding spindle/axial drilling attachment.  I have wired it up (correctly), switched it on and set the parameters to their default values.  On setting the panel switch to “run”, it did, and the speed potentiometer functioned as expected.  I switched it off and the next time I switched it back on for videoing purposes, all I got, after the initial start-up sequence, was an error code “03” or “04” and now it won’t run at all!

I have emailed the seller for assistance but don’t hold out much hope – they are merely box-shifters in Germany for the Chinese manufacturers, I think.  There were initialisation instructions and parameter settings supplied in the item’s description, which I used in the first set-up.  Sadly, nothing about error codes, however.

The driver is an NBD600M2 and the spindle motor is JK57BLS08-05.  An internet search using all or any of the obvious search terms yields zero responses for requests for a manual or even error number decode.  I suspect that the software for the driver is pretty generic to a lot of drivers, so a manual for a similar unit may provide some useful pointers.

Anybody able to offer some help/a manual/guesses?

John

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Also listed, it would appear, [in  110v version] on Amazon [albeit not currently available]
… it may be worth looking through the reviews.

MichaelG.

.

https://www.amazon.com/RATTMMOTOR-Brushless-Air-Cooled-13000RPM-Converter/dp/B09CM2VLCJ#customerReviews

 

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Thank you, Michael, for your efforts.  That is the 110V version of the unit that I bought, and the instructions illustrated are the exact ones that were shown in the listing by my reseller.  The reviews are, unfortunately, no source of further info. In fact, one reviewer complains that no manual was included in the pack and is sending it back, so is obviously oblivious to the instructions hidden in plain sight in the advert!

As it happens, I just went out to the garage to retrieve the camera and switched the spindle motor on again, only to find that it worked OK. Maybe it’s an overheat problem, though I find that hard to believe, as it was initially only on for a couple of minutes at most.

The search continues ……..

John

 

[simondavies3Participant @simondavies3]

John, I have the same motor/driver combination and I looked at my documentation – which has no reference to error codes at all.

I have a vague memory of a similar set of error codes soon after I installed it on my mill, and like yours, they just went away after I did the full “disconnect everything in sight” fault detect.

Hasn’t happened again, although I don’t use it very frequently (it is used as a high speed CNC milling spindle) – would be interested if you could share any error codes that you do have.
The guys at Rattn seemed pretty responsive when I8 requested some other information so maybe its worth contacting them anyway?

Cheers,

Simon

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Is this BLDC or a 3 phase induction motor?  The documentation mentions U V W phase connections which would suggest an induction type.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

How are you generating the 110V? There may be issues with some methods. The 110V “tool” transformeres can upset some electronics because they are actually a pair of 55V supplies 180 degrees out of phase with respect to ground.

Robert.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Is it possible that you are meant to set the speed control to zero before turning on as a safety feature or overcurrent protection from suddenly trying to go full speed instantly? I think some of the DC motor lathes have that feature and the controller might have come from the same stable.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Googling your driver (after googling BLDC to find out what that meant – BrushLess motor) i noticed one result saying ….for engraver motor…. so it might be worth investigating engraver related forums.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Wow!  I didn’t expect so many responses.  Let me address them in turn.

Simon.  I suspect that the symptoms will disappear as yours did.  I will certainly share any error code explanations that I discover.

JohnHaine.  I readily admit to being an electrical/electronics expert – far from it, but the blurb which accompanies the kit further confuses me.  The driver is a BLDC motor driver that supplies 3 phases to the motor which has the three-phase wires attached via a screwed plug.  So, I don’t know, I wasn’t aware that DC motors could be 3-phased.

Robert.  The model I’m using is the version which takes 230V AC input – the M2 suffix indicates that, so no 11V AC was harmed in the installation.  But thanks for your input, anyway,

Bayzle.  My new mini lathe operates in exactly the mode that you describe, i.e. turn the speed control to zero before switching on, which is what I did.  Your second point regarding it being an engraver motor has rather been superseded by events.  To my surprise, I received an email response from the seller this morning, giving me a link to the user manual, which I have now downloaded.  Unfortunately it is no more enlightening that the details given on eBay.  No error codes mentioned at all.  They did, however, state:

Error 03 represents over-current
Error 04 represents an unexpected stop of the rotor

The engineer told me that if the 04 error occurs during startup,you need to check if the motor wiring is normal(you can also take a photo to show the wirings,i will send to engineer to help you check again). If the error appears during operation,that could also be a problem with the controller.

Regarding overcurrent alarm, we first need to confirm whether the spindle is in good condition, please see the attachment picture, you can use multimeter to test any 2 pin numerical, then stay above 10 seconds, you can record these three values, then send me three values, our engineer will help you to check whether this spindle is good or not.

My italics.  They also sent a picture of the wiring for the motor connections, but it omits to say whether it;s a view of the plug or the socket.  I pretty sure it’s the male part on the motor.

I have yet to conduct those resistance checks, that’s a job for later.

I will report back when I’ve done the checks.

Thanks all for your input.  I’ll get to the bottom of this, eventually.

John

 

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Sorry, all.  I’ve just re-read my last post, above, for the umpteenth time, and I realise that I missed out a word which rather made nonsense of my response to JohnHaine.  What I should have written was that  “…. I readily admit to NOT being an electrical/electronics expert……”

Thought I had better clear that up, albeit too late to edit the post.  Better to speak up and risk looking like a twonk, rather than stay quiet and confirm it.

John

 

[Colin DParticipant @colind]

BLDC motors ARE basically 3 phase induction motors !

Although they do have permanent magnets inside, unlike “real” 3 phase induction motors.

It’s sort of a confusing misnaming, that has come into common usage, that’s my understanding anyway.

Colin

[Colin D]

On Colin D Said:

BLDC motors ARE basically 3 phase induction motors !

Although they do have permanent magnets inside, unlike “real” 3 phase induction motors.

It’s sort of a confusing misnaming, that has come into common usage, that’s my understanding anyway.

Colin

Sort of.  Not a misnaming – they’re related, but different enough to matter.

Don’t expect to feed 3-phase AC into a BLDC and have it work!   A BLDC is powered by DC pulses, not a sinusoidal wave alternating above and below zero volts.   The pulses have to be generated electronically by a device similar to, but not compatible with, a VFD.

Although 3-phase motors are excellent, BLDCs are an improvement.

Dave

 

[Clive SteerParticipant @clivesteer55943]

I haven’t read all the contributions yet but if the speed pot is not at zero speed when mains is applied then the controller will not respond to pot input. This is to prevent in unexpected machine restart if there were a mains failure and performs the similar function as a no volt relay.

CS

[SillyOldDuffer]

On SillyOldDuffer Said:

[…] A BLDC is powered by DC pulses […]

And therein lies the root of the semantic problem

MichaelG.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Hmmm…..

We are in danger of muddying the waters, here.  While I appreciate the efforts of those contributors trying to explain BLDC motors to me, I fear that the actual means by which they function is only of partial interest.  My main requirement is to feed DC volts in at one end of the motor and get rotational movement out of the other end, without generating fault codes in the driver.  What goes on between the ends of the motor is of academic interest only, I’m afraid.

Oh dear, that sounds awfully ungrateful of me, but be assured, I appreciate all the time and effort everyone is putting into their replies.

The seller has got back to me following my response to their query about the motor winding resistances.  All three windings give roughly similar results at 3.6Ω. That proves that at least the motor is sound. They even supplied a short list of error codes, which I append below for the benefit of others following in my footsteps:

Error 00=encryption chip abnormality
Error 01=high voltage
Error 02=undervoltage
Error 03=overcurrent
Error 04=rotor unexpectedly stops
Error 05=Other exceptions

I have come to the conclusion that the wiring diagram for the plug, as supplied in the item description is wrong, as the unused pin is in different position to the one in the diagram which they supplied for me to check the windings and is reflected in one of the photos in the first review on Amazon to which Michael Gilligan’s first post refers.  Thanks, Michael. It was this that alerted me to the mislabelling of the installation diagram.  The other possibility is that the internal wiring of the motor plug has been mixed during manufacture.

I have some rewiring to do this morning, which I hope will sort my out problem.  If I don’t electrocute myself, I’ll be back to let you know how I got on.  I bet you can’t wait!

John

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Stay safe, John

MichaelG.

[John Hinkley]

On John Hinkley Said:

Hmmm…..

We are in danger of muddying the waters, here.  While I appreciate the efforts of those contributors trying to explain BLDC motors to me, …

John

 

Apologies John, we have thread drift!  I’d plead guilty except I’m not explaining BLDCs to you, I’m clarifying someone else’s comment.

The drift started innocently because your trouble might have been caused by trying to drive a BLDC with a VFD.  Though the possibility was worth mentioning I’m pretty sure that’s not the case.   As far as I can tell you have a BLDC and a BLDC controller combination that should work.

That leaves wiring error, configuration error, faulty motor, or faulty controller.      Of these, wiring error seems most likely, either due to an assembly mistake or a documentation problem.   As others have spotted problems with the documentation, thanks Michael, I think you’re on the right track.

Unfortunately, the way forums work causes them to meander.  Someone starts a topic in hope of getting a simple answer, only to find they get a multitude of complicated alternatives, some of which are more interesting to contributors than the original question!

Dave

 

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

No apologies necessary, Dave.  My comments weren’t directed at any one individual, it was just a general observation.

You are correct in your assumption that the motor and driver were purchased as a package so one would expect it to work as advertised.  Maybe if they had supplied the connecting cable already wired up so as to be a plug-and-play device only requiring a mains connection, I wouldn’t be having the problems that I am.

I’ve just come in from checking the wiring yet again and I still get Err=3 on startup.  They have asked me to send them a video of me taking the resistance values, which I’ll do later.  The results are a mirror image of what they should be.  That is to say, it’s as if you are looking at the socket on the motor from the “other” side.

Naturally the weekend lies ahead, so I don’t expect any response until Monday at the earliest.

John

(unelectrocuted)

 

[Colin DParticipant @colind]

Did you get to the bottom of this, John ?

 

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

Colin D,

Well, sort of.  There have been multiple email exchanges between me and the manufacturers, involving making videos of me taking resistance readings of the motor windings and of the driver display as I switched it on and went through the parameter settings.  These were scrutinised by their engineer, and he determined that the motor was OK and it was the driver itself that was at fault.  I’ve had to send it back to China (at the manufacturer’s expense). I am currently awaiting the arrival of its replacement which is in the UK somewhere between Slough and me.  Hopefully I will be able to report success as early as tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!

I have asked for feedback once they’ve had a chance to investigate the fault.  I have to say, that the suppliers/manufacturer have been more than fair and have responded to my queries in a timely manner.

John

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Great to see that you, as an individual, have successfully engaged with a Chinese supplier, John

… very encouraging indeed.

MichaelG.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

To be fair, Michael, my first contact was with the “supplier” who is based in Germany – hence the doubt that I expressed in an earlier post that I wasn’t expecting much in the way of assistance.  They appeared to have forwarded my request direct to the manufacturers in China, who picked up the ball and ran with it.  The time difference didn’t help, but they replied to my queries and video submissions almost by return, bearing that time difference in mind.

John

 

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

To hopefully wrap this up, I’m pleased to report that the replacement driver arrived by courier this morning.  I have wired it up and switched it on.  (Not easy with fingers crossed!)  Happy to inform you that it worked first time, responding to the speed control and running smoothly for a minute or two before I switched it off.  Had a spot of lunch, then went out to make a video of it.  That went well; all performing as it should, so switched it off at the mains.  Then I noticed that, as the internal capacitors lost their charge, I got an error code 2 come up on the display, (Err=2 is undervoltage).  Somewhat taken aback, I switched on again and everything was running OK.  Figuring that the undervoltage was what one might expect with the mains no longer applied, I decided to ignore it.  Time will tell if it was wise so to do.

The rest of the afternoon will be spent editing and publishing the video.

And they all lived happily ever after.

John

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I shall order my IceCream and PopCorn  in anticipation 🙂

MichaelG.

 

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

And finally …………….

I’ve had a follow-up message from the driver manufacturer in which they state:

“We have taken the old driver back to the factory for testing, and the engineers said that after testing, they preliminarily determined that it was caused by inaccurate ADC acquisition due to the filtering capacitor, this is a hardware issue, they will replace the filter capacitor with a new one.”

They have further tests to make after that, but I think, and hope, that it absolves me from being the cause.  I admit to not knowing what ‘inaccurate ADC acquisition due to the filtering capacitor’ means, and am happy to remain in ignorance.

John

 

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