Hi All,
We currently have 5 Haas machines and we are implementing a battery change procedure. I honestly can't see why I would want to pay for a service call for a $4.00 battery. Its like calling in an electrician to change a light bulb. Is there a simple easy way of doing this myself instead of feeling the sting of a service call? Can I just buy the external battery myself? Any help would be appreciated!

John

Except the light bulb doesn't store all your Parameters and Settings.

Make sure you save everything and that the files are readable and can be reloaded back into the machine.

Also make sure you do it with the power on for the reasons Geof mentioned.
Al.

Also make sure you do it with the power on for the reasons Geof mentioned.
Al.

Our TM-1s require you pull one board and the multitude of cables going to it. Now these are older machines with the CRT screen so new ones may be different. But when the new battery failed downing the machine after three weeks the tech replaced it the next day early AM, set the machine back up using my backups made the day the alarm came back up, he also checked several different componets to see if there was a reason for a new Lithium Ion battery to go bad. All that was under warranty and we didn't pay a cent to have the electronics gone over as well as all the parameters/settings checked and the reinstallation of the options confirmed. BTW when you do back up everything do it twice. The first backup disk, a brand new Sony if it matters, wouldn't read so we used the second one.

I undersatnd all the precautionary steps involved because we already made this mistake once. Trying to change the battery while the machines are on is next to impossible. Our lathe requires you to remove three boards to get to the battery. I don't know about you but Im not sticking my hands in that mess while its live. The battery has an external plug to plug in another battery while you are replacing the one on the board. I was just hoping someone had discovered some new tricks in doing this instead of pulling everything apart. I have 13 other cnc machines with Fanuc controls with batteries readily available and change over is simple and easy. I think I may stick to those machines in the future. Haas sweeps you off your feet with the low price but they make up for it in the service and replacement area!:mad:

I believe you can pull quite a few boards off the Haas (with the power off) without loosing anything. At least I have :D

I would think if there is provision to plug a second battery in while the first one is being replaced is all you would really have to do, after the backups are made, of course. The only reason to have the power on for the switch would be for the dumb systems that don't have provision for the jumper battery.

On other controls, I've made extension cables for the battery....... one end plugs into the board and the other plugs into the battery, about 20 inches long so the battery is now easily accessible to change next time. Added a protective velcro cover to stick it to the cabinet wall.
Not sure if this is feasable for a Haas.

if you lose the battery or disconnect the old one before you connect the new one you will lose all bbu ram which is parameters programs settings offsets variables and the serial # of the machine. the last one is the worst if you cannot change the serial # of the machine then you cannot enter the passwords for your options. reytech offers a solution for this problem if you happen to lose your serial # call 845-521-6052 or you will have to pay for a service call to erase your memory and re install software or whatever they think they need to do to repair it.

How long should the battery last? This is sounding like something that should be replaced before it takes a dump as a preventative measure, no?

How long should the battery last? This is sounding like something that should be replaced before it takes a dump as a preventative measure, no?

Best preventative is to backup all information in the machine regularly, and record the machine s/n on the disks, make two of each machine. You do get an alarm, if I understand correctly, on all these machines telling you that the battery voltage is getting low and to have the battery replaced. It took 5wks for my HFO to come change the battery in a TM-1 and I used the machine the whole time just clearing the alarm at power up restart. It wasn't until that new battery failed under warranty that I was extremely glad to have my backups. I had the alarm one day, called for service and the next day the machine had gone back to "initial software load" state the next morning and luckily the tech got there about an hour later as he was already schedualed.

Can someone outline the procedure to do the necessary backups. I have a TL-1. Thanks in advance.

Can someone outline the procedure to do the necessary backups. I have a TL-1. Thanks in advance.

This is the procedure to save everything in one go I think.

Put floppy in and do this sequence on the keypad.

LIST PROG

END

ALARMS

Type "DEBUG"

WRITE

POSIT

PAGE UP to a screen that says POS-RAW DAT

Type in the machine's Serial Number

F2

Will save everything.


An alternate way to save Parameters and Settings separately is:

LIST PROG

PARAM (F2 and F3 should show on the Parameter page when you go there from LIST PROG.

Type in Serial #.PAR

F2

For Settings you go to the Settings page from LIST PROG and use .SER after the Serial #.

How would one go about saving all this information without the floppy drive? I have a 1991 VF1 without a floppy drive. Would using the RS232 port work? Would the process be the same?

John

How would one go about saving all this information without the floppy drive? I have a 1991 VF1 without a floppy drive. Would using the RS232 port work? Would the process be the same?

John

I think the alternative method saving them separately works with RS232; going to the LIST PROG then the other page and you use the SEND RS232 key.