[Error Code] SC 500 on Ricoh aficio 171

[Robinh]

I continue to have problems with the PCU's on the Ricoh Aficio MP171, 161 and 1515 failing early. It seems like the developing unit is over full of toner and it spills over into the gears that drive the dev unit agitators. The developer then wears out the gears and it locks the machine up causing the main motor code SC 500.

I switched from aftermarket to OEM toner and it seemed to help. But I'm still having these PCUs fail prematurely even with OEM toner. I always initialize the developer when I install the new drums and I made sure that all other settings were still at the factory defaults. I wonder if there is some adjustment to the toner replenishing system I might do to increase the life of the PCU?

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Robin

[lupi]

Re: SC 500 on Ricoh aficio 171

I continue to have problems with the PCU's on the Ricoh Aficio MP171, 161 and 1515 failing early. It seems like the developing unit is over full of toner and it spills over into the gears that drive the dev unit agitators. The developer then wears out the gears and it locks the machine up causing the main motor code SC 500.

I switched from aftermarket to OEM toner and it seemed to help. But I'm still having these PCUs fail prematurely even with OEM toner. I always initialize the developer when I install the new drums and I made sure that all other settings were still at the factory defaults. I wonder if there is some adjustment to the toner replenishing system I might do to increase the life of the PCU?

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Robin

PRE Baka sc500 SC500: Paper Feed, Transport, Duplexing

SC501	B	1st Tray (Tandem Tray) Feed Error
SC502	B	2nd Tray (Universal Cassette) Feed Error
		One of the following occurred at the start of the job: The tray 1 lift sensor does not switch on 10 s after the tray lift motor switches on and starts lifting the bottom plate. The tray lift sensor was on before the pick-up solenoid switched on. When the tray lowered, the tray lift sensor did not go off within 1.5 sec. The paper end sensor of the tandem tray did not detect the lower limit within 10 sec. Note: Another paper tray cannot be used until the problem is resolved.
Remove and reset the paper tray Tray lift motor harness disconnected or broken Paper or other obstacle trapped between tray and motor Pick-up solenoid disconnected or broken Paper or other obstacle blocking operation of pick-up solenoid

[Eric1968]

Re: SC 500 on Ricoh aficio 171

You don't need to initialize the developer on these machines. They do that automatically when the PCU is replaced. If you're doing it a second time, developer can wear out causing toner leaking.

[jonezy999]

Re: SC 500 on Ricoh aficio 171

You don't need to initialize the developer on these machines. They do that automatically when the PCU is replaced. If you're doing it a second time, developer can wear out causing toner leaking.

I have replaced as many of these PCU's as the next tech, so I won't say this is at all common, but I have had 2 of these units fail to automatically initialize the dev. Dead give away if the machine is asking for a new PCU, the message will not disappear, however if the machine has thrown sc500 and replacement PCU was not displayed you must check vsg etc. to be sure.
The reason these 2 unit failed was due to the contacts which open or close (it;s been a while, I can't exactly remember) the circuit when the developer gears first turn, had already shifted to its open/closed state, perhaps during rough transport.

[Robinh]

Re: SC 500 on Ricoh aficio 171

I've opened up several of these failed PCU's. All of them are locked up, you can't turn the gears. The PCU seems to be over full of toner, to the point where it may spill over the back of the lower unit, spilling out into the base of the machine and into the gears. The gears in the PCU are chewed up from the extra work of driving the over full developer and from having developer material spilled into them.

A couple of my machines have over 500K on them. For the first four years of operation they ran flawlessly. The PCU's often went 60-70k before copy quality dropped off and I replaced them. I even ordered a replacement drum from Katun and rebuilt one myself. It ran another full cycle. But recently the PCU's are failing around 20-30k. I found another post that spoke of a field engineering bulletin listing bad lot's of PCU's.

I replied to this post over in the thread titled "Drum type 1515 dying early" here... http://www.copytechnet.com/forums/ri...tml#post246746

I sure am hoping that Ricoh solves this problem fast. I put my customers on Supply and Service agreements so I eat the cost of drums. DOH!

Thanks for any ideas, I appreciate any and all feedback!

Robin

[JustManuals]

Re: SC 500 on Ricoh aficio 171

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