Losing Controller Connection

[JerryBurks]

I have been using the MK3 controller with USB connection to various laptops for years without much trouble. But since yesterday I had the PC lose connection to the controller twice. Nothing bad happened, the router just stopped moving. I could reconnect the controller, spindle stopped, and I could restart the program without position error.

Any reason for that to happen other than an obvious USB problem? I did replace my old 6 foot USB cable with a 10 foot cable a few weeks ago, but both are double shielded with ferrite beads on both ends.

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[PlanetCNC]

Connect your old cable and problem will be solved.

A have very bad experience with cables longer than 2m (6 feet). If I need longer cable I alway use one with active repeater. Usually they are 5m long.

[JerryBurks]

Thanks for the recommendation. I may just have to move the PC closer or maybe even attach it to the machine to avoid tripping over the shorter cable (which was the reason to get a longer cable anyway).

I used an active USB repeater/isolator (Linear Technologies LTP2884) before and that worked fine for running a g-code program, even with very rapid short movements and many lines.
But it makes the jogging a bit jerky. Looks like some significant data package latency for real-time action.

[PlanetCNC]

If jogging is jerky then active cable (which is actually a small hub) is not 100% compatible with windows driver.
In old days this was pretty common.

EDIT:
I just say you wrote LTP2884. This is Full Speed only (12Mb/s) device. Controller needs High Speed (480Mb/s) throughput.

[mactec54]

I have been using the MK3 controller with USB connection to various laptops for years without much trouble. But since yesterday I had the PC lose connection to the controller twice. Nothing bad happened, the router just stopped moving. I could reconnect the controller, spindle stopped, and I could restart the program without position error.

Any reason for that to happen other than an obvious USB problem? I did replace my old 6 foot USB cable with a 10 foot cable a few weeks ago, but both are double shielded with ferrite beads on both ends.

That is too long for a USB cable, normally it is best to keep within 1m / 2m max or 3 feet / 6 feet even 6 feet is pushing it for CNC use, if you have problems with being close because of noise then you will need a USB Isolator.

[mharter11]

I had similar issues that you are having. Plug the USB cord directly to the computer, I would get the disconnect. Plug the USB cord into a USB hub that is then connected to the computer...all worked properly. It has something to do with the way USB cables handle error signals. Putting the USB hub in between the cord and the computer filters out these errors so your controller doesn't disconnect.