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Bartlett Instrument Co. |
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Q. How do I know which kiln controller board I have?A. The 700 board has a 14 segment display, meaning all letters are capitalized and formed correctly. The 600 board display flashes "IDLE" and then the temperature, when stopped. Otherwise, the 200 and 300 boards flash the temperature and then show nothing, after being stopped.
Q. During programming of a firing, I typed a wrong number. How do I correct this?A. Before pressing "ENTER", enter zero until all zeros are displayed, then enter the correct number. If you have already pressed "ENTER", you must press "ENTER" to progress through to the end of the program then start the program again.
Q. How do I clear the 'ErrP' from the display?A. Press the "1" key. After several seconds the current temperature will be displayed. Several other numbers or 'StOP' may be displayed before the current temperature.
Q. I turned on the controller and 'FAIL' is displayed. What does this mean?A. The thermocouple is not connected to the controller. When connecting the thermocouple, connect the RED wire to the connector with RED dot and connect the YELLOW wire to the connector with the YELLOW dot. On all thermocouples, the RED wire is always negative; the YELLOW wire in this case is the positive. Also there may be a break in one of the thermocouple lead wires, if so, the thermocouple must be replaced. Click here to see the V6-CF Connection Diagram.
Q. How can I find out the final temperature which was reached during a cone firing?A. At the end of a cone firing, the current kiln temperature and 'CPLt' will be alternately flashing in the display. Press "STOP". Then press "Review Program", the final temperature will display. This final temperature will be retained until the next firing or until the controller is reprogrammed.
Q. Why won't the controller start after I press the "Start/Stop" key?A. If you have a 700 series controller, it may be set to a two-key start. If it is set this way, you must first press "Start/Stop", then press "Enter". The kiln will not start unless these two keys are pressed in the correct order. This is a safety option, which can be set in the "Hidden" menu. Please see the technical manual on information how to change this option.
Q. What does the rate of "9999" mean?A. When "9999" is used as a rate, that indicates a maximum ramp rate (either up or down) is being used.
Q. How can the current temperature of the other zones (zones 1 & 3) be displayed when using the RTC1000 in 3-zone mode?A. Press the "1" key to cycle through the temperatures of each zone consecutively. The display will flash the thermocouple number and the zone temperature.
Q. The status of one or more kilns is showing up as not being connected. What do I do?
- Are all the kilns showing up as not connected?
- YES
The most common reason for this to occur is that the wrong COM port is selected. Read the question below "What COM port do I use?" to figure out if you have the right COM port selected. After doing this if the problem persists, and you are sure the COM port is set correctly, you will have to check the wiring starting from the back of the computer to the last kiln to make sure everything is properly connected.
- NO
- Do all the kiln controllers have unique ID numbers?
From factory each kiln controller board's ID number is set to 1 as a default. If you have more than one kiln connected to the KISS program, then each kiln needs a unique ID number between 1 and 10. The only way to change the ID number is to change it at the control board on the kiln. The ID number is listed below the other menu in the options category. Press the "OTHER" button until 'ID' is displayed, than press "ENTER". The display will flash between 'ID' and the number assigned to it. Type in the ID number that you want the kiln to have and press "ENTER". The ID number is now changed.
- YES Check the hardware connection from between the kiln boxes and from the kiln to the kiln boxes.
- NO Assign each connected kiln a unique ID number as described above.
Q. What COM port do I use?A. If your computer does not provide information about what COM ports you have available to use, then you must use a process of elimination to figure it out. Connect the RS232/485 converter to your serial port on the back of your computer. Then, in the installation screen from the KISS program, start by selecting COM 1 and pushing the GO button. If you get a message saying "Invalid Port Number", then select COM2 and try it again. If you get a message saying "Port Assignment Completed Successfully", then you have selected a valid COM port. Now to check if it is the one that the RS232/485 converter is connected to, you will have to run the echo test (read the question "How do I perform the Echo Test" below for help on this procedure). If the echo test is completed successfully then this is the COM port you will want to use. If the echo test fails, then you will want to select COM3 and start the process over again. Keep trying this process until you either find a good port or until you have tried all 4 COM ports. If you did not find a COM port that works, then check to make sure the RS232/485 is properly connected to a serial port on the computer, the jumper on the converter is set to ON, and the power supply for the RS232/485 is plugged in and then go through the process of elimination again.
Q. Why is one kiln box in a different color on the main display screen?A. The kiln box on the main display screen that is displayed in a different color than the other boxes is the "currently selected kiln". This term means that when the user clicks on the functions on the main menu bar, such as Status or Collect Data, this information will be reflected of the kiln that has its box displayed in the blue color. To select a different kiln, just click with the mouse on that kiln's box.
Q. Why does the watch icon appear and what is its meaning?
A. This icon, referred to in the documentation as "the watch icon", will be displayed when KISS is communicating with the kiln controller and the user must wait for this communication to be completed before anything else can happen.
Q. How do I perform the Echo Test?back to topA. The first thing that you need to do is place the jumper on the
RS232/485 converter to the ON position. Then you will want to disconnect the wire that runs out to the kilns. Next, from the installation screen in the KISS program click on the button labeled "Echo Test". If you get a message back indicating the test was not sucessful then the computer is not set up correctly. Read over "What COM port do I use?". If it indicates that the test was sucessful, then reconnect the wire that connects to the kilns. Click on the "Echo Test" button again. If it is sucessful then you may have a loose wire somewhere in your connections. If the test fails now, this indicates that you have a short (or direct connection) between the transmit and recieve wires. This is all that needs to be done to perform this test. Make sure that when you are done with the echo test that you place the jumper back to the OFF position.
Q. What do these error messages mean that I have gotten?
A. Here is a list of some of the most common errors and their meanings.Parameter file has been corrupted. A new one will be created for you.
A problem has occurred with the initialization file which contains the name of the communication port to which the kiln hardware is connected, as well as the user-defined kiln names. A new file is created, with the communication port as specified by the user after this error message. The kiln names will be returned to the initial names of "Kiln 1", "Kiln 2", etc. This file will always be created in the default directory for this application. If this error continues to occur, this file "kiss.ini" is getting deleted or modified so it is not usuable by this application.
Cannot program disconnected kiln
If the user tries to program a kiln while it is not connected, KISS will display this message instead of the programming screen. The hardware problem to the selected kiln needs correcting before programming can be done. If the hardware has been corrected and the main display is not recognizing the kiln, display the status menu of this kiln to get more detailed information.
Cannot program kiln while running
If the user tries to program a kiln while it is already firing, KISS will display this message instead of the programming screen. The user should go to the status screen and stop the current firing before trying to program the kiln.
Any error message that says "Some Event" not successful - Please try again
Examples: Programming not successful - Please try again
Echo test not successful - Please try again
This means that for some reason KISS and the kiln are no longer communicating. Please check your connections and try it again.
Invalid Port Number
The user entered a COM port that is either not on the computer or already in use.
File already in use for another kiln
Data collection filename given is already being used to collect data from another file.
Information Not Entered for this Segment
When user is entering information for a ramp/hold program, they have tried to save a segment without entering all of the necessary data.
buffercount < 2 or invalid string
You will get these messages for one of 2 reasons. One is that you are trying to send invalid data to the controller. An example would be trying to not properly change a cone offset value. The other reason you would get these errors is that data is being sent to the controller is getting changed due to noise on the lines. You may have to check to see if you are using shielded or unshielded wire. If you are using unshielded wire and the problem consists you might have to change to a shielded wire. Also, if the end of the wire on the very last connection is not terminated correctly using a resistor, could cause noise on the lines.
