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BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 12:21 pm
by wattsbrewing
After a recent power outage, the BCS-482 no longer appears to be working. The power light is on and the network cable lights blink on and off, but it stopped controlling things and no longer shows up on the network. Any idea what could be wrong with it? It's protected by a UPS, so I'm not expecting issues there. I tried doing a hard reset--plugged in, hold reset for 10 sec--with no effect, not even a blink on the power indicator. I've also tested the network adapter, and it's working fine. What's next?

Re: BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 4:33 pm
by wattsbrewing
Any thoughts on how to resolve this?

Re: BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 12:57 pm
by oakbarn
I have had to reset with the Reset button more than one time. At first I thought I was not depressing the button, but I made a small wooden tool that cannot miss. Try several Hard Resets with a power cycle in between is what I did. I do have a power button for the 12 vdc +.

Re: BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 2:49 pm
by wattsbrewing
I have a stiff metal wire that fits perfectly and definitely hits the button, so that's not the problem. When you did your resets, did you hold reset for 10 seconds, power off, power on, repeat? Did you see any change in the power light when the reset eventually worked? I would generally expect the light to go off and come back on or something to acknowledge the reset, but I haven't seen that yet.

Thanks for the help!

Re: BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:00 pm
by oakbarn
No light changes. I did have to reset more than once for it to take. The first time I thought I was not pressing the button.. try it several times and it does reset. I have also had it go to all the Outs “on” and not able to connect. I can easily repeat that with a bcs 462 backup. I have had it happen once from just programming the Process Editir once from the Hard reset

Re: BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 9:11 am
by wattsbrewing
Ok, that did it. After several tries it finally reset.

Now, however, it comes back on, works for a 10-30 min, then goes dead. If I cycle the power it will clear all its settings and come back on, but before I can get my configuration re-entered it goes out again. Something is up.

Re: BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 6:29 pm
by oakbarn
Did you try to restore from a 462 Backup? I have found that an issue. They have not issued a warning about that but on the Demo site there is one.


I also saw that the Power light Blinks ( and I mean Blink) one time when you first depress the Reset button.

Re: BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 7:48 am
by oakbarn
Have you tried to to remove all external issues? Pull off all of the wires except for the 12 vdc + and 12 vdc -. You can easily remove 3 of the little black connector on the back of the BCS 482. Just be sure to mark them as where they go back. I have numbered mine 1-4 and placed a small sticker on both the BCS and the Connector. The one with the Power, you will have to remove the wires from the connector except for the Power. Again, know which wires go where. See if you have the problem then. If you do not, reconnect the wires you removed one at a time and Recheck. If all is well Plug in one of the Black Connectors and check. If you add one and it causes the issue, then you know where the issue is. Very time consuming but you can track an issue.

Re: BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 6:49 pm
by wattsbrewing
Yep, I disconnected everything when I was doing my reset and it didn't seem to make a difference, so I plugged them back in. No restores since yes, restoring from the old 462 caused problems and we can't yet backup the 482.

I think I noticed a trend. When I first got it to reset, I went to fix the settings, and it disappeared. Cycled the power and it came back to life, but cleared all my settings. This last time I just setup a very simple program--one step, hold temp so I could keep my brite carbonating--and it worked fine, stayed alive for 2 days. When I then went to build the rest of my processes, it died again (hadn't activated it yet). Something is happening when I build the processes that is triggering it to reset. I'm at the end of my rope, going to call Brewers Hardware and see if they'll replace it. I can't afford to have the brewery shut down during the summer.

Thanks for the help oakbarn!

Re: BCS-482 Unresponsive

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:18 pm
by JonW
Your description of problems here really sounds a lot like what you went through with your 462 previously. Things were working, then mysteriously not working. Do you know how much current you're pulling through the outputs? The 482 obviously can handle much more current than the 462 could, but you're still killing controllers which is not a normal thing. Do you have a wiring diagram of your system and measurements of your loads?