AB Powerflex 40 EtherNet/IP Adapter issues

Im getting no life from a network adaptor on a Powerflex 40 drive. Drive works fine locally but adaptor is non responsive. Drive was removed from network some years ago (no one is sure why) but has been used via the keypad since.

There are no status led's active on the card at any point. I have tried the adaptor in a different drive and it works fine. Also tried an adaptor from a different drive and different ribbon cable but still nothing. Its like there is no power getting to the adaptor.

Tried setting start control and speed reference to the card, and although I can change the parameter in the drive there is still no sign of life on the network adaptor led's.

Any bright ideas before it gets boxed up?

Cheers

The card has electrolytic caps on the power supply board for it. During and after the "Capacitor Plague" (Google it) that ended in 2008, AB had to recall a lot of those PF40 ethernet boards because of that. A lot of the recall notices never made it out to the end users because either they were suppressed by OEMs and distributors, or lost in transmission within organizations.

The other issue that took place even after the Capacitor Plague was that this board was an accessory that stuck out from the main board, requiring what was affectionately called the "maternity dress" cover. The addition of that cover changed the air flow through the drive and any installation that was not strictly following the clearance requirements in the manual suffered from excessive heating of that power supply board. Even the slightest air flow eddy created by wire duct being too close resulted in failure. The telltale sign is to look at the little nylon standoffs inside; they turn brown when over heated.

You should just be able to replace that Ethernet adaptor though. It's not worth trying to fix.

Thanks. On inspection it was the power supply board thats fried. Two drives mounted in a non vented enclosure, in a non ventilated (shipping container) pump house with two 7.5kw pumps running flat out. I wonder why it cooked itself????

Yeah, go figure...

Replace them with 525s, over sized one size up, add the aux fan option and it will be rated at 70C (154F) operation.