Just got a call from my crew. We are running a topcon ps103 with the RC5 and topcon tesla dc. The error he is getting says communication error with rc handle please clean point. At this time we have tried removing the top handle on the robot and cleaning the connections, power on/off, and doing a reset on the dc. any suggestions.
Thanks
profsurveyor, post: 373667, member: 6159 wrote: Just got a call from my crew. We are running a topcon ps103 with the RC5 and topcon tesla dc. The error he is getting says communication error with rc handle please clean point. At this time we have tried removing the top handle on the robot and cleaning the connections, power on/off, and doing a reset on the dc. any suggestions.
Thanks
We were just having this issue last week and removing the handle and cleaning the contacts worked, for a bit. Now we are having the same problem sporadically.
Search the threads since i was just getting advice about this days ago. Someone mentioned a specific electric cleaner that is available at Home Depot.
May want to give that a shot.
Best of luck
If you are still having issues with a DIY contact cleaning I might suggest visiting your dealer and getting it done there. I'm sure it'll take just a few minutes and be reasonable or free depending. Drop me a line if you need help locating a Topcon Dealer to help you out.
pmoran, post: 373690, member: 8922 wrote: If you are still having issues with a DIY contact cleaning I might suggest visiting your dealer and getting it done there. I'm sure it'll take just a few minutes and be reasonable or free depending. Drop me a line if you need help locating a Topcon Dealer to help you out.
Is this a difficult DIY?
What would the dealer do differently?
dmyhill, post: 373692, member: 1137 wrote: Is this a difficult DIY?
What would the dealer do differently?
No- it's not a difficult DIY- usually a well applied pencil eraser will do the trick but be careful not to get too friendly with it. If its still not working properly you may want to see a dealer about it being done by a trained service tech. It's just a suggestion nothing more or less.
This same thing happened to me a couple weeks ago. I charged the RC battery overnight and haven't had the issue since.
I had a problem with the antenna on a RC3 once. The dealer wanted to replace the whole unit but we talked them into just replacing the antenna. The rubber around the flexible part of the antenna had been ripped open exposing a wire for quite a while before it finally failed. But I don't think this is the same problem.
One of the other crew's RC unit jiggled loose, fell on the pavement and shattered in a bunch of pieces. That one did get replaced. I always thought that it was a clunky design and a catastrophe waiting to happen.
I had a similar problem several times over about a five year period. The first time it turned out to be a loose handle. The second time it was fixed by the erasure trick and the third time I decided to be a little bit more thorough and used contact cleaner, a toothbrush and a erasure.
Now we have Trimble's.
Had that problem too. But caused by moisture. It could be either the RC side on the top handle or the total station handle. Keep happening often and sending back till I got my dealer to explain what happen. The gold contacts are dirty or wet causing bad connection. Just need to dry and clean it with a eraser and good to go. Have caused less problems with me now.
Beer Legs, post: 373736, member: 33 wrote: One of the other crew's RC unit jiggled loose, fell on the pavement and shattered in a bunch of pieces. That one did get replaced. I always thought that it was a clunky design and a catastrophe waiting to happen.
I have a Topcon RC-4R unit (I call him R2D2) that I've had to have rebuilt twice. Replacing it would have been something like $6500. I think it's a terrible design to have that thing waving around around at the top of the pole. It's bad enough that it can only mount on top of the $1000 prism.
The first time it fell, it came off it's mount while I was standing above a stone wall, bounced off the stones, then hit the pavement.The repair cost, and the cost of the rental unit I needed to finish the job, exceeded my income from the job it broke on!
I keep thinking that I would like to have Topcon's design engineers follow me around for a day so I could explain just how bad their design is.
One of their software engineers, well, they would never find the body!
There are two cheap flimsy plastic tabs that lock the RC unit to the prism assembly that often break. When they're broken, the RC unit can wiggle loose and fall off quite easily. After having to replace the one unit, we started to use a couple of strips of clear packing or duct tape to keep it attached to the prism assembly. Just keep a roll of tape in the truck. That cheap plastic RC housing just isn't going to survive a fall on a hard surface.
The tabs on mine were fine, until we got it back from a service with them both being broken. The other crew claimed the same thing and that's why it fell off. Hmmm.... part of the reason why we switched to Trimble but that's another thread and story.....
Beer Legs, post: 373785, member: 33 wrote: There are two cheap flimsy plastic tabs that lock the RC unit to the prism assembly that often break. When they're broken, the RC unit can wiggle loose and fall off quite easily. After having to replace the one unit, we started to use a couple of strips of clear packing or duct tape to keep it attached to the prism assembly. Just keep a roll of tape in the truck. That cheap plastic RC housing just isn't going to survive a fall on a hard surface.
The tabs on mine were fine, until we got it back from a service with them both being broken. The other crew claimed the same thing and that's why it fell off. Hmmm.... part of the reason why we switched to Trimble but that's another thread and story.....
The RC5 isn't the same- It screws onto the top of the ATP1 prism with a standard 5/8-11