I came home after a hot and humid weekend to an “orange” light and a cooling alert when trying to use my Glowforge Plus. After cooling it down for a bit, the orange light is still on and the machine is stuck in focusing. I contacted support, which is moving at a snails pace. They finally tell me it has to sent back and I have to pay $1100 for a replacement. (Machine is just over a year old) It was suggested to me that some moisture/humidity got into the electronics and may be causing the issue so I have been running fans for 48 hours and it’s still not working. It is in my basement and temp is around 74 degrees. I am reading a lot of threads about issues with temperature, but support is telling me that additionally I have an issue with the print head communicating. My small business is losing money by the day so I was wondering if anyone has any other suggestions for anything that might work.
Welcome to the forum.
If your Glowforge was not disconnected while not in use, the weather conditions you describe could have resulted in electronics that got wet. Your efforts to dry everything may be successful eventually. The temperature in your basement is at the upper limit of the Glowforge operating environment, so you may have to cool the area some. As for the printhead communication, clean the contacts and make sure the white cable is securely clicked in.
Do you mean disconnected from the exhaust hose? The basement was air conditioned the entire time, but the hose was connected to the outside. Nothing is visibly wet and I have fans still running in the unit facing right and left. Should I be concentrating on a specific area?
Depending on your vent, the outside air can come back into the machine when it is not in use. Glowforge support (article linked above) recommends that the hose be disconnected when not in use.
Anytime moisture and electronics mix, there is a problem. Since your machine was giving the yellow light, that is usually the white cable/printhead connection, but there are plenty of other connections that may be problematic. If you search the forum for “condensation” you can read what others have posted about their experience with this problem.
Those are the required conditions to get the inside of the machine wet: warm humid air from outside comes into contact with the cool air conditioned indoor air, and condenses inside your machine. I forgot to close my blast gate once (to separate the indoor/outdoor air) and my Glowforge was dripping wet inside the next day.
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