Posts by SethFreemanSISU

Hello GoodFellas41,

Did you happen to find a resolution to this problem? I just encountered the same problem. I called KUKA support and we were able to find the cause in our case. We believe for ours that an internal cable inside the base of the robot must be missing, unplugged, or damaged. We are working with a KUKA tech to replace the cable.

Along the way, we checked the XD 20.1 and XD 202.2 connections on the KRC5 Micro to make sure they were securely plugged in. If they are not properly plugged in, this issue can happen. KUKA suggests zip tying these cables in place to provide some strain relief. We also checked the X30 connector on the base of the robot to make sure it was securely plugged in.

Our company is switching over from using primarily KRC4 compacts to KRC5 micros. When using the KRC4 compacts we would often connect an external monitor, mouse, and keyboard to the controller to do some troubleshooting or configuration tasks. We got in the habit of doing this because the screens on some older models of the KUKA pendants had very poor touch detection, especially towards the bottom of the screen. When I connected to the KRC4 compacts in the past I used a monitor with a DVI-D port, and I used a double sided DVI-D cable to connect the monitor to the DVI-D port on the controller. After connecting the monitor, I needed to shut down the controller and start it again in order for the controller to detect the connected monitor. This method of connecting a monitor to the KRC4 worked and I could view the user interface on the monitor, and if I closed the HMI I could use see the native windows operating system running on the controller. The added benefit of connecting an external display was that I could view the KUKA recovery USB graphical user interface when booting the controller with the recovery USB connected (you can't see the USB's user interface from the KUKA pendant as far as I am aware).

Once, I tried connecting a monitor to the KRC4 compact controller using the display port on the controller, and used an HDMI-to-Display adapter to connect to the HDMI port on the monitor. However the controller never detected the monitor. I assumed the display port didn't work, or maybe that the adapter was the problem. That was fine as long as I could keep using the DVI-D port.

These days, looking at the KRC5 micros they only have a display port. I have tried connecting a monitor with a display port to the KRC5 micro with a display-to-display cable. However, when rebooting the system the monitor was not detected. I even tried removing the pendant when the system was shut down and turning on the controller, and it still did not detect the external monitor. This is strange to me because section 5.9.4 of the KRC5 micro manual describes that an external monitor can be connected via the XGDP for service purposes. The good news is that the touch screens on the pendants are much better these days.

I have also noticed that the KRC5 micros have less USB ports, meaning in order to plug in a mouse, keyboard, and a recovery USB at the same time you have to use some sort of USB splitter for the mouse and keyboard. I have since learned that the recovery USB can be configured to run certain actions "silently" upon boot, so that the external monitor is not required to use the USB recovery stick. These changes lead me to wonder if KUKA is trying to push users away from connecting an external monitor, keyboard and mouse, and just use the pendant instead. I have read that they are big on the SPOC principal these days.

With this context I have two questions:
1. Is there a way to get the KRC5 micro to detect the external monitor over the display port? If anyone has done it successfully and can point out what I might have done wrong that would be helpful.
2. Am I correct that KUKA is trying to discourage the mouse-keyboard-monitor workflow, and rather encourage users to primarily use the pendant? Or in other words, have I formed a bad habit of connecting the mouse-keyboard-monitor combo that I should unlearn?