1050 Pro Mark 7 bullet sense issue

[nuclearheli]

Developed a strange issue with my reloading press and Mark 7. I have the 1050 pro and many sensors. Just a week ago I turned on my press and noticed the bullet sense laser was not on, and the bullet sense doesn't operate any longer. Took many hours of tracing only to learn that I believe I have two problems, one on the main board, and the other inside the laser sensor controller. The laser has three wires, Black - ground, Red - 5 volt power, and White, signal. At first I though I found the problem because the plug at the controller side had a good ground, leakage voltage on the white, and no voltage on the red. So I will need to return the controller to Mark 7 for repair because something went wrong taking out the 5 volts needed to drive the laser sensor. Just to make sure I had the right diagnosis I connected the laser to a 5 volt DC power supply and the laser came on (5 volts to red, ground to black). Believing that the laser was fine I then proceeded to check the signal (white lead) which measured at 5 volts when the laser was unobstructed, bullet sensed, and should have changed state to zero when the laser was obstructed. Nothing changed, the signal is not switching from the laser head. My conclusion is that my laser controller board is also fried. I believe something took out the regulated 5volt supply on the main board, and also took out my controller board. The laser part is not a problem, these boards are very common controllers and available for a few dollars, and should be quite simple to replace the board inside the laser.

 

My question is has anyone encountered this problem and does anyone know the correct pinouts for the 4 pin connectors for the sensors on the 1050 pro? If anyone has a 1050 pro,  If you look at the connector straight on, starting on the upper left pin, take a voltage measurement with a DVM by grounding to the motor casing, any screw, and testing each lead clockwise from top left to bottom left. The ground wire is on the bottom left so nothing should be measured there. The bottom right should be 5 vdc, the red lead on the bullet sense. I don't think there should be any voltages on the top two pins with the signal wire being on the top right, and actually no wire connecting to the top left.

 

Better yet if anyone has found any pinouts or schematics for these units please share. I will be sending the controller box cover back with the controller for repair because I believe the power supply is fried, but I would like to know if I am correct about the laser controller board, which does nothing regardless of the laser blocked or not.

 

[N7VY]

What has Mark7 customer service said? 

[nuclearheli]

8 hours ago, N7VY said:

What has Mark7 customer service said? 

Send it back.

[N7VY]

Any chance it’s still under warranty? Hope so

[nuclearheli]

Lots of strange stuff going on with this press. My buddy has a 650 with the auto drive and his bullet sense stopped working. He sent his unit into the factory and they claim they tested it and it's fine. Cost him $75 to tell them it's fine. But his bullet sensor doesn't work.

 

Fast forward to my problem. I purchased a new controller because the 5 volt feed off of the red wire on the bullet sensor was not there. They sent me the new controller and everything with my sensor worked fine. I now have the 5 volts on the red wire, as your looking at the plug, bottom right. Bottom left is black, ground, upper left is white, signal.  So I am back in business. They told me that it wasn't even worth sending my unit in because I have one of the very first serial number and the internals of the controller are all different. 

 

Fast forward to my buddy again, he is frustrated. So he brings his controller and bullet sense to my house to test it out. My bullet sense is working fine now, laser turns on when fired up. I plug his bullet sense into my unit and everything works fine. His sensor is good. We plug my sensor into his controller and nothing, no laser. We plug his sensor into his board and nothing, no laser light. There is 5 volts on the red wire but as soon as the laser is connected the line goes dead. 

 

Mark 7 say's that's impossible they plugged his controller into a new system with a bullet sense and everything works fine. So we sent them a video of what we found. Their response is "We don't know, that is strange", and they sent my friend another bullet sensor insisting that that is the problem. In the mean time I am fiddling around and realize that the upper right pin, which is unused, has 5 volts on it also. So I switch the red wire from bottom right to top right and everything works normally. So my buddy's board is the problem.

 

Couple of days later the new sensor arrives and as my buddy suggested, they changed the wiring and construction of the sensor. Now the red wire from the factory is in the upper right pin of the connector. And that pin works fine. 

 

Bottom line is my friend is reloading now because we switched the wire on his sensor. He also ordered a new controller board to have a fully functional system. Question is why did Mark-7 change the pinout of the connector. 

 

There is some strange stuff going on but at least we have two working reloaders now. A few hundred dollars light between us, but they are working. Funny thing is if I had thought to switch my red wire to the upper right pin I could have saved myself $275. 

Edited April 27, 2022 by nuclearheli