To upgrade the SureServo2 drive’s firmware, you will need the free SureServo2 Pro software which
you can download at AutomationDirect.com. Go ahead and download and install that so the required
USB driver is installed on your computer. Once you have installed the software, when
you plug the USB cable into the computer, it should automatically recognize the SureServo2 Drive.
If you look at the computer’s Device Manager, you should see this “Driver for AC Servo Drive”
and the COM port it’s attached to. There is one catch: The USB cable comes
with an isolator. Make sure you use that. USB has two signal wires and a 5-volt supply.
In addition to providing some EMI protection, the isolator also breaks the 5 volts so the USB
port on your computer doesn’t power the drive. You’ll see why that’s important in a minute.
If you haven’t done so already, apply power to the drive, and launch the SureServo2 Pro software.
You can connect to the drive if you want to, but it isn’t required for doing a firmware update.
I’m going to intentionally leave my drive offline just to show it works.
To update the firmware, click on Burn, Firmware Update Tool. Locate the new firmware file you
downloaded from AutomationDirect.com. It should have this upd extension.
Verify you have the correct COM port, and I like to open the details box so I can see the progress.
Hit the flash button. It goes through a bunch of gyrations for about 15 seconds.
I’ll let that run in real-time so you can get a feel for how long it takes.
When you get the OK dialog, you should see the drive telling you to reboot.
Power the drive down, wait for a few seconds, then power it back up.
If you updated to a new firmware version you will get an Alarm Code of 99 in the display.
My drive was already up to date, so I didn’t get that here. You also need to set parameter 2.008
to a 30 and then a 28 and then power cycle the drive again. That ensures the parameters
were fully updated. Again, I don’t need to do that since my drive is already up to date.
If you forgot to use the USB isolator, the computer will be powering the drive electronics,
so you won’t be able to power cycle – or reboot – the drive.
That’s why it’s important to use the USB isolator.
If you go to parameter 0.00 you should see the new firmware version and parameter 5.000 has
the subversion. Of course, I could also connect to the drive and view the firmware version using
the software either here, or by reading the firmware version parameters 0.000 and 5.000.
That’s all there is to it. BUT, there is one caveat.
Suppose you don’t have access to drive power. Maybe you just pulled
one of the large three-phase drives out of the box
and you don’t have access to 3-phase power or you simply haven’t wired the power yet.
Is there a way to upgrade the drive firmware without applying drive power?
Yep. Remember we said the USB isolator
electrically isolates the PC from the drive? Well, just remove the USB isolator - I’ll remove
power from the drive - and now when you plug the USB cable into the drive, the USB port on your
computer powers the drive’s control electronics. The drive even tells you it is USB-powered.
Follow the exact same procedure as before – I’ll fast forward through that - except this time when
you get the reboot message, just pull the USB cord, and then plug it back in. You can even
check and modify the parameters while powered by USB. Yep, there’s our new firmware version.
Again, notice that the software didn’t actually have to be
connected or “on-line” for this to work. You can actually fully configure and commission
your drive using only USB power. Just remember to unplug the USB cable to power cycle the drive.
That’s all there is to updating the firmware in a SureServo2 drive!
Click here to learn more about the SureServo2 system and where to find more video tutorials
Click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you will be
notified when we publish more videos like this
and click here to learn about AutomationDirect’s free award-winning support options.