Hi guys. . I write on here as a last resort before I turn insane . I have owned a wanhao duplicator 4x for about a year now… but a few weeks ago whilst trying to rectify a blockage, my pliers caused a short and blew all my stepper drivers… I saw a duplicator 4s with a steel frame online for dirt cheap so I decided to buy that and transfer all my internals but use the drivers from the 4s. (The 4s was sold cheap as it apparently kept turning itself off during prints) Unfortunately I was so eager to get printing again that I rushed it and incorrectly connected the cables for the right extruder and accidently connected the far left pin of the connected into the far right pin for the left stepper (the connectors are right next to the drivers) When I turned on the printer, smoke poured out of the connector for the thermocouple… I quickly realised my mistake, turned it off and repeated it properly … I then turned it back on and the outer steel braid for the thermocouple shorted out on the chassis. I disconnected everything apart from power to the board and tested with a voltmeter… I am getting 24v on all 4 pins for the right fan and heat core connector… but only if I put the negative probe on the chassis… if I test from neutral then I get no reading at all… If i leave this disconnected then I can plug everything else back in with no problems. Now this is where it gets interesting… I assumed that I had fried the board so decided to use the other board that came with the 4s in the first place (I didn’t use it initially as I assumed that this was what was causing the turning off issue) Low and behold, it does exactly the same thing. I have replaced the psu for both (however that seems to have no problem in supplying 24v dc) I have connected the old LCD unit from my 4x to the 4s to no avail. I am left with replacing the wiring completely, a new switch panel and a new mightyboard . But as you can imagine , I don’t want to spend another 100 pound on a board to find it also does the same thing. Before I go any further into the darkness can someone make any suggestions please ? … Thank you in advance! Vic
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make your own from scratch, get your ardino diagnostics and wire from the board to the device, don’t assume that it has been wired correctly in the first place. on manufacture it could be loomed wrong and in testing they have change board settings and conns to accomadate. It does happen. if you are getting 24v thro conns it will blow or set on fire. how much do you value your life, or you could always run it in the garden. BTW. boards are quality tested , wiring is not. 
StevetheBuddistXXX
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I won’t be using it in this setup as I don’t want a fire haha… i have left all plugs disconnected until I find the issue… I’m contemplating scrapping all the board and cables and just changing for ramps… any ideas how easy the swap would be ? I assume I’d have to downgrade to a 12v dc psu and all fans and heaters down to 12v … plus a thermister instead of thermocouple… would it be ok to be wired up to existing steppers/end stops/ heat bed etc? … and how would i go about loading firmware to accommodate said items?
if your conns on your board are push pin type any movement or strain in that voltage will burn the board from the conns, I think max rating 15v on new one, you would need 32v screwins just for normal loading. don’t understand exactly what you mean about changing from thermocouple to thermistor, you should have both, the thermistor knocks out the thermocouple to prevent burnout, firmware should update thro usb conn as long as your pc can emulate a serial connection. interesting point, most new machines coming out of usa, go for standard size usb conns on the board or on a mount, wherby nearly all china go for mini cat 5 usb. nearly impossible to find a wireless driver for these, so usb conn useless unless you run a pre win 7 serial mount to pc, as all new machine don’t bother with the emulation. all nemas and other devices ok to operate and indeed should run on 12v. I use design spark from rs comps for my board design, reasonable prices for 10 or more in 1 order. wishing you every success and welcome to the dark side StevetheBuddistXXX
That’s great information thank you! I will do some more research… if all goes well then il put up a post … hopefully it will help people out in the future! It’s amazing how much cheaper a ramps kit is compared to a replacement mightyboard! … thanks again!
