Faulty smart effectors (yes, plural)

janjoh

Ok, I guess I must be doing something extremely wrong, but I juts noticed that this is my third smart effector toolboard that has gone bad. Each just over two years of usage. However, as I dont print much, I would guess they all have less then 200 hours of print time.

It starts as one or two spurious triggers of the ZProbe, and then they go in to six or seven blinks. Or they start up normally, but they miss probings causing the "Horrid noise of belt grinding".

Now, as I suspected on the first one that it was me being clumsy or whatever, I've taken the utmost care in assembling #2 and #3.

I do not think that my setup is remarkable. Hayden Rods, Mosquitto hotend on the 713Maker Aluminum adaptor. 5015 Blower. (And yes, lately an accelerometer bolted on to one of the mag ball studs. Bondtech LGX Lite as a flying extruder with approx 200mm of bowden.

I can not see any marks or similar on the PCB. Even pulled put a magnifying glass.

So, Where would I realistically start troubleshooting this?

apak

@janjoh could you show us your setup? and how you manage to attach the accelerometer.

TIA

nikscha

@janjoh I have a very similar setup ^^
I've been abusing the only smarteffector I ever bought and it's still working fine. I have numerour scratches on the pcb, some of the traces are even exposed. So I'd be surprised if it's a hardware problem. Maybe interference is causing problems? Maybe static?

What pcb revision is your current (and previous) smart effector?

Have you ever changed the sensitivity on the smart effector?

janjoh

@nikscha , @apak Sorry, i really thought i attached the photos. Here we go.

Sensitivity is default. The loose wires are intentional. "Future expansion" or "Cables left over"

nikscha

@janjoh Looks all normal to me. You have a revision 2.0 pcb, same as me. I don't think I can help you at this point. Maybe a case for waranty?

janjoh

@nikscha Yeah, but it is just over two years. Which seem to be the theme.. and therefor AFAIK out of warranty.

Phaedrux

Unfortunately that is well out of warranty, but occasionally we have refurbished boards we can offer at reduced cost on exchange. Please contact roland@duet3d.com to enquire about availability and include a link to this thread.

Paulh

@Phaedrux
I had similar issues with the version 1 , 2 and now version 4 effector the last being straight out of the box : still no reply to my very recent enquiry in the smart effector forum although many reads. I have the same issue as janjoh that after 2-3 years my 2 other effectors (versions 1 and 2) failed as evidenced by the "horrid noise of belt grinding" and the bed being hit very hard on probing. The experience with the new version 4 was not better.
My usage would not be deemed very great although maybe slightly more than janjoh.

dc42

@Paulh did you start a forum thread about the issue you had with your version 4 Smart Effector?

janjoh

@Phaedrux Thank you for the comment on refurbed units. I do however think that I will not put any more money into smart effector until (maybe) such a time as the mythical updated version may become available. I have a fairly reliable machine, and I know how to use a feeler gauge.