Kawasaki robot motor not turning on.

  • Good.

    Ok, just a brake release check now.

    - Make sure estop is off.

    - Set teach/repeat keyswitch to teach.

    - Set teach lock to on.

    - Set run/hold switch to run.

    - Press motor power on controller panel, should light up.

    - Press in and hold either of the triggers (deadmans).

    You should here brakes release and no errors.

  • well... almost there. The brakes release, but after holding it down for a while (not trying to move anything) it goes to an error state.


    Error 1500: Jt 1 of motor overload.


    it can be cleared, but it goes back to error mode after a while.

  • Very strange to hear that for JT1.

    Can you provide an image of the posture of the robot?

    Also can you see the brake release switches at the top inside the controller.

    If you can, can you press and hold JT1 and ask someone to try and push the robot around JT1.

    - Take care doing this, and only press and hold JT1.

    - See if it appears to rotate ok.

  • Wow......what a crazy posture.

    If that's it's last position, looks very strange.

    May just have been tight....but no gravity is acting against it.....ok, we'll not dwell on this at this stage.


    Ok, well the next and final thing is to carry out re-zeroing as you can see in the status screen all the joint angles are incorrect.


    Each joint has a scribe line fixed to it and on the adjoining part has a scribe line too.

    These are the mechanical zero marks.

    To re-zero, each joint, these scribe lines need to be aligned.

    At the moment you will have limited motion due to the current joint angles so do the following:


    Encoder Rotation Counter Reset.

    - Turn motor power off.

    - MENU, FUNC and Aux 140 Encoder Rotation Counter Reset.

    - Set JOINT NO. to 0

    - Set DEGRESS to 0

    - Select F1 Yes.

    - Return to Status screen


    Moving the joints.

    - Make sure in Teach, teach lock on and hold/run is in run.

    - Select TEACHING and then AS LOCATION.

    - Set coordinate (lower right of screen) to JOINT.

    - Set manual speed to 1, 2, 3 (3 is fastest at 250mm/s).

    - Turn on motor power.

    - Press/hold deadmans.

    - Press JT1/JT6 axis keys to jog the specific joint.

    - Align the scribe lines for each joint.

  • When you have the arm so that all JT1-JT6 scribe lines are aligned then:


    Part 1:

    Encoder Rotation Counter Reset.

    - Turn motor power off.

    - MENU, FUNC and Aux 140 Encoder Rotation Counter Reset.

    - Set JOINT NO. to 0

    - Set DEGRESS to 0

    - Select F1 Yes.

    - Return to Aux func


    Part 2:

    Zeroing

    - Turn motor power off.

    - MENU, FUNC and Aux 41 Zeroing.

    - Set JOINT NO. to 0

    - Set DEGRESS to 0

    - Select F1 Yes.

    - Return to Status screen


    All joint angles JT1-JT6 should be at 0.000

    Then you should have full control over the robot now.

    TEACHING, AS LOCATION and try all the joints and test the complete working envelope of each joint.

    (make sure to check your environment that you don't hit anything).

    Once this is tested, that's pretty much done.

    I would make a full file save at this point, so you have something to return to.


    Only thing left is to configure Tool coordinates, IO and programming for use.

  • Good job.


    I would make a file save so that you have something to recover to in case of issues.

    Then I would just write a simple joint exercise program moving all the joints and cycle it around, get some heat going through it so you can stretch her legs again.

    Keeping safety and speed in mind obviously.

    Then it's ready for use, assuming the grease is all ok and doesn't need replacing and no further errors are encountered............:top:


    From the images of the teach pendant, card rack and arm condition it looks in really good condition what is the manufacturing date on the rating plate on the controller?

  • 01/2001. But this robot was a backup robot so i doesnt have that many hours on it.


    Ye, need to check the greases and give her a little washup. And make that backup.


    Thank you so much for all the help!


    Also, the backup you sent me back. what changes did you make? i feel like some configuration was set wrong?

  • 20 years old then...............nice.

    Another example of Kawasaki Robots longevity, but as you say if there's not a lot of working hours on the clock, then it could certainly be re-purposed or possibly sold on.


    You're welcome, I love the C Controller and recently more and more of them are re-appearing on the 2nd user market for re-purposing and returning the controller to a default condition or in your case where they have left dormant for years.

    As long as the hardware is functioning, then getting them back into operation is always good to see,


    Also, the backup you sent me back. what changes did you make? i feel like some configuration was set wrong?

    Back in the day upon a failed 1GA/1HA board, Kawasaki would send a replacement already loaded with the correct firmware level and then you would just need to carry out an initialization and the load in a previous known backup to return it to operation.

    In theory a 5 min job.


    What we have done is apply the same procedure but addressed the AS firmware issue.

    As you didn't have a previous known backup, then specific settings applied at manufacture/delivery state are lost and these usually include features/functions that maybe improvements based on the firmware used which do not get set at the firmware level.

    So it is these I have set for you so that you have the bear minimum configuration to use the robot.

    These settings would have been included in a previous known backup.


    I don't publicise specifics as sometimes they are not required and if applied incorrectly could render the controller in operable or sometimes create dangerous issues,


    The only thing I will say, is download a program called winmerge.

    Use this to compare a live backup with the initial backup you sent, and you'll see several settings changed, these are the minimum settings required for your controller.

  • I see. good to know.


    The thing is, this robot is waaay to big for anything i would need a robot for right now. so i might have to find a new owner for it, but time will tell. I have a few abb robots here as well which are more of the size that I need right now.


    Anyway. I thank thee sir again. :smiling_face:

  • Kawasaki supplied different spec C controllers for North America, Europe and Asia which are basically the same hardware but have different firmware, settings and sometimes settings bespoke to a specific client such as Ford spec or Aus spec relative to the safety and standards for that location.

    (C2x, C3x, C4x Controller variants).


    A hardware reinitialization completely removes all of these settings relative to the installed firmware used and sets them to a default for that firmware so unless you know these settings or have a known backup, then hardware initialization usually renders the controller in-operable.


    Hardware initializations should only be carried out when a previous known backup is available and 1GA/1HA is suspect of corruption, being bad, or for firmware upgrades.


    Unfortunately as of late, many people are carrying this hardware initialization out BEFORE making sure they have some means of restoration and at this point.......everything is lost and the controller is rendered in-operable until basic configurations are set.


    Usually for a client to 'empty' the controller of all user data (not system configurations), they would just carry out a software system initialization which is via Aux 100.

    This only removes user data and resets non operational critical settings and does not impact on the core functionality of the controller/arm.


    There's a section here at Robot Forum you can advertise freely should you decide to sell it:

    Used Robots and parts - Robotforum - Support and discussion community for industrial robots and cobots (robot-forum.com)


    Also Global Robots in the UK buy and sell 2nd user systems, they maybe interested.....not sure just what they would offer, but worth contacting them should you decide to sell.

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