# 1336 Impact Drive Issues



## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

The last 1336 Impact drive was manufactured in 1998, so you are trying to troubleshoot something at least 20years old. Even A-B had to stop supporting them in 2012 because most of the component parts are not even made by the electronics mfrs.

If unpowered for any length of time over a couple of years, the DC bus caps likely blew the first time you applied power to it, run command or not. If so, the drive transistors are getting close to AC from all the DC bus ripple and will never fire correctly, assuming they too have not blown by now. It might be time to bite the bullet and get a new drive...


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Since this is a drive from the 90's, which was obsoleted by the manufacturer in 2009, you're much further ahead ****canning this thing and getting a modern drive. You didn't mention about having performed a cap reforming procedure on this drive that had been sitting for God knows how long, so you probably smoked it in some way.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

JRaef said:


> The last 1336 Impact drive was manufactured in 1998, so you are trying to troubleshoot something at least 20years old. Even A-B had to stop supporting them in 2012 because most of the component parts are not even made by the electronics mfrs.


I had in my info that the 1336E was obsoleted in 2009, and the last final models, R and T were obsoleted in 2012. I could have bad info.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

OK, you're right. "Obsoleted" in Rockwell speech generally means no longer supported. Production of whole units for regular sales ceases long before that and in the case of the 1336, there were multiple "versions" of the product that extended the lifespan. The 1336E, the "Impact" version, did hang on longer than the original 1336 (later called the "Classic"), then the 1336 Plus and 1336 Plus II went on for a while after that. But it was the 1336 _Classic that _was stopped in 1998, not the Impact.


What happens in Rockwell world however is that once a new version is available, the the older versions will still be available but prices are raised in order to encourage people to stop using them for new projects. So the PowerFlex line was introduced 2000, meaning in most cases, the only time people would pay extra to continue to buy a 1336x would be to match existing equipment. So most 1336 drives that are out there are ones bought before the PowerFlex line was released.



2010 was the announced "last buy" notice from that Rockwell for the last of that line, the 1336 Plus II, meaning they were shuttering the production line. Then 2014 was the announced last buy for parts to make replacement boards etc., because the component mfrs also stopped.


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## gpop (May 14, 2018)

I still have 40 or more of the 1336 plus II drives and due to them running on remote I/O we will run them till they fail. On some occasions we will even change out a main board from a old drive to save changing one in the middle of the night. Why the hell they couldn't make powerflex plug and play rather than having to alter the ladder logic made no sense at all which is why i personally hate powerflex. (well that and they like to fail on first boot because someone at AB didn't consider that jamming the dc cable against the metal frame of the drive was a bad idea)

Anyway back to the OP you can look in the manual and find the proper way to flash the memory on the drive but any drive that blow 110amp fuses i wouldn't trust it enough to power it up while im in the same room let alone stand in front of it and play with the program. Ive seen a lot of 1336 go postal and that plastic cover wont stop jack.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

gpop said:


> I still have 40 or more of the 1336 plus II drives and due to them running on remote I/O we will run them till they fail.


Some reason why you wouldn't use a PowerFlex with a 20-COMM-R card?


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## gpop (May 14, 2018)

MDShunk said:


> Some reason why you wouldn't use a PowerFlex with a 20-COMM-R card?



1336 is a 16bit word. 20 comR is a 32 bit word so you have to fill the first 16 bits (one word) with zeros. It also means that you need to install the drive as a half rack to get enough words (e.g you now need 2 words on a plc5 thats a half rack)

So to simply change a drive you have to reprogram the ladder logic (if you have enough drive you know that they were all 1/4 racks so first you have to make space for a 1/2 rack)

Also another sucky thing is that nothing is simple

Vfd is programmed to ask where to get speed reference. You program it to look at com card.

Com card needs to be programmed to look for speed reference but AB didnt give you the simple option of saying look at yourself....no it has to look at the plc. 

The plc now has to have a bit put in the logic always on to tell the com card to look at the com card for speed reference.

AB gives you a drive with 5000 options yet can not give you a simple option to run a card in 16 bit emulator mode using the same bits as the 1336 that the card was designed to replace.

:vs_mad: 

This is why we went from 130 AB drives to about 45. Once we finish the new plc install that number will drop even further. On a good note we are using Ab plc's.


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## geoffpowell (Mar 12, 2017)

We are phasing out all our 1336 drives as they fail, from 150HP to 500HP, either the retrofit 750 into the existing cabinet or a whole new cabinet. Depending on sizing space and budget at the time of failure. Especially when the corporate bean counters decide they can increase production in the plant and yet cut maintenance budgets by 50%...&#55358;&#56784;


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