Mutoh Valujet Motherboard Repair?

[Deacon Doom]

My Mutoh Valujet recently went down which indicated I needed a new printhead, motherboard (mobo), print cable or F2 fuses were bad.

After replacing the fuses and print cable (the least expensive things to try), nothing improved so I spent the money to get a new printhead. Once that was put in the error went away. I could get ink to pump through the heads to the waste container but the nozzles would not fire and I could not get any type of ink on vinyl. I replaced all the F2 fuses again with new ones and finally got ink on vinyl.

Now the computer would not communicate to the printer....I had my IT guy come to make sure the problem wasn't on the network/cables/computer end of things. So as a last ditch effort I had a VJ 1204 mobo lying around and put that in and now I'm printing again (for now and only 48"). I want to get my 1304 mobo network port repaired (it was working just fine before the errors) and maybe pick another up a used/new 1304 mobo.

Does anyone know of a source for this or suggestion?

 

[Deacon Doom]

Motherboard Repair

So I guess no one on here has had a motherboard for their printer repaired or this not someone on here that does that type of work. Call for help again.

 

[henryp]

My Mutoh Valujet recently went down which indicated I needed a new printhead, motherboard (mobo), print cable or F2 fuses were bad.

After replacing the fuses and print cable (the least expensive things to try), nothing improved so I spent the money to get a new printhead. Once that was put in the error went away. I could get ink to pump through the heads to the waste container but the nozzles would not fire and I could not get any type of ink on vinyl. I replaced all the F2 fuses again with new ones and finally got ink on vinyl.

Now the computer would not communicate to the printer....I had my IT guy come to make sure the problem wasn't on the network/cables/computer end of things. So as a last ditch effort I had a VJ 1204 mobo lying around and put that in and now I'm printing again (for now and only 48"). I want to get my 1304 mobo network port repaired (it was working just fine before the errors) and maybe pick another up a used/new 1304 mobo.

Does anyone know of a source for this or suggestion?

The VJ-1204, VJ-1304, and VJ-1604 share the same motherboard so all you have to do is install a VJ-1304 firmware on that working VJ-1204 motherboard.

 

[Deacon Doom]

Thank you. Good to know. Now I need to figure out how to install new firmware on the motherboard.

Still looking for a source to repair the original motherboard. If I can get the network port to work I could get a 2nd printer up and running which I really need. So, if anyone has any contacts or does this type of repair it would be a big help.

 

[Solventinkjet]

It depends on the version of the main board. After a certain version Mutoh started to make it so once you upload a specific firmware ie. 1204, 1304, 1604 you cannot change it to anything else. So a 1204 cannot become a 1304 and so on. The older versions are able to be changed over. I'm sorry but I don't know which version this all started at. Thought I would let you know in case you ran into this problem.

 

[jhanson]

Just FYI, that sort of damage suggests that the printer experienced a power surge or something similar. I would suggest either having the printer hooked up to an industrial-quality surge suppressor, or (less expensive) a UPS battery backup unit. Just make sure the UPS has enough juice to support the VJ's heating system, since the 1204 and 1304 have a single line inlet (the 1604 and larger have a separate heater supply, which can bypass the UPS).

The little "surge suppressor" power strips you can find below $30 are basically one-shot units. Once a surge hits them, they won't protect against any further surges, and most won't even indicate when they no longer provide protection.

 

[tsopis]

Thank you. Good to know. Now I need to figure out how to install new firmware on the motherboard.

Still looking for a source to repair the original motherboard. If I can get the network port to work I could get a 2nd printer up and running which I really need. So, if anyone has any contacts or does this type of repair it would be a big help.

Hi Deacon
Did you manage to repair this mainboard? I have the same problem.