The z-axis on my genesis 1.7 keeps trying to move after reaching the top or bottom of its length. The motor just keeps trying until E-Stop. It moves along it’s length with no issue otherwise. Additionally, when moving a short distance (i.e. 100mm) I can see the Position (MM) change but Encoder (MM) and Encoder (RAW) remain at 0. After reaching the destination, Position (MM) returns to 0. Encoder is enabled.
Likely that the Z-axis Encoder (or its wiring) is not working. Have you used this troubleshooting page?
Are my encoders working? | FarmBot Genesis Documentation
When I had this the Z encoder at the top of the axis was partially broken
Thanks for the responses. @jsimmonds I haven’t been through this documentation. After reviewing, I’ve tried a few of the steps like reflashing the OS and starting over. But not all of it. I’ll go through the rest of the steps and get back here.
@DanAskham I do suspect it’s a faulty encoder though. It’s been nothing but trouble since I started and I’ve been through (almost) every setting possible. I saw your post while sifting through the forum archives yesterday which lead me to suspect it.
1 Like
The first step I did is test the connections with a multimeter. The wires from farmduino to connection pointon the gantry are working fine. The wires from the connection point directly to the encoder however are all not working it seems. I hope that ends up being the only issue and doesn’t simply expose the next problem. 
1 Like
I replaced the encoder wires for the z-axis. No change in behavior. The z-axis still keeps trying to move when it has hit home when moving down, position returns to 0 after moving is complete. I guess that points to the encoder itself being the problem? Any other suggestions before I order an encoder and cross my fingers?
Update. In the end replacing the encoder + motor was the solution. I had a new issue that I’ll post here in case someone else experiences it.
It finds home on the z-axis without an issue. Find length though was doing something odd. It’ll go down all the way to the soil, then on the return to home it stops halfway and goes back down the soil and stop. These are the logs.
2 Failed to execute command: Firmware error @ “calibrate()”: {:error, nil} (348, 350, -489) 11:35am
1 Retrying movement (348, 350, 0) 11:35am
1 Retrying movement (348, 350, 0) 11:35am
2 Determining length of the Z axis (348, 350, 0) 11:34am
The other issue is after this has all happened, Move to Home on the z-axis travels part way then stops with a timeout error. It takes 3 attempts to get all the way. It started at -489, then stopped at -293 and -98. Those logs are below.
2 Going to home on the Z axis (348, 350, -98) 11:38am
2 Failed to execute command: Firmware error @ “home”: nil (348, 350, -98) 11:38am
1 Movement timed out (348, 350, -98) 11:38am
2 Going to home on the Z axis (348, 350, -293) 11:37am
It turned out that in Settings > Error Handling > Timeout After was set to 15 seconds. That fixed the Move to Home issue as well. Thank you @jsimmonds and @DanAskham for your help!
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.