Epson RC700 — E-Stop / Safeguard Recovery & Dynamic Brake

Epson · intermediate · 25 min

When an Epson RC700 drops to servo-free with dynamic braking, it's an emergency stop, a safeguard input, or one of a defined list of servo faults. Read the EPSON RC+ status code, clear the cause, then cancel the stop.

⚠️ When the E-stop circuit opens, the RC700 cuts power to all motors and stops the robot with dynamic braking. Confirm the cell is clear before you cancel the stop and re-enable servos.

Emergency stop vs. safeguard

The Epson RC700 / RC700-A controller has two distinct safety inputs on the EMERGENCY connector, and they behave differently:

• Emergency Stop: if the normally-closed E-stop circuit is broken, power to all motors is shut off (servo-free status) and the robot is stopped by dynamic braking. You recover by clearing the cause and cancelling the Emergency Stop status.
• Safeguard input: the interlock (e.g. a guard door) connects to the safeguard input. When activated — telling the controller an operator may be inside the safeguard area — the robot stops immediately and enters pause status, plus either operation-prohibited or restricted (low-power) status. It resumes once the safeguard is restored, per your operating mode.

What triggers the dynamic brake

The dynamic-brake circuit activates on an Emergency Stop input or when any of these faults is detected:

• Encoder cable disconnection
• Motor overload
• Irregular motor torque
• Motor speed error
• Servo error (positioning or speed overflow)
• Irregular CPU
• Memory check-sum error
• Overheat inside the Motor Driver Module

So a servo-free stop isn't always an E-stop — it can be any of these. Read the code to know which.

Step-by-step recovery

1. Read the status/error code in EPSON RC+ 7.0 (or on the controller). The RC+ Status Code / Error Code list gives the exact cause and remedy for the code shown — this tells you whether it's E-stop, safeguard, or a specific servo fault.
2. Emergency stop: release any pressed E-stop button (twist to release) and confirm the whole NC E-stop chain is restored, then cancel the Emergency Stop status via the documented reset.
3. Safeguard: close the guard / clear the safeguard area so the safeguard input is restored; the robot leaves pause status per your mode.
4. Servo fault (from the list above): fix the specific cause — reseat/replace a disconnected encoder cable, resolve an overload (payload, speed, binding), or address an overheat (cooling, duty). A memory check-sum or irregular-CPU code points to controller hardware.
5. Re-enable servos (turn motors on) once the cause is cleared and confirm the robot holds power.

Verify

After recovery, confirm the status code clears and the robot stays servo-on. If the dynamic brake trips again immediately, the same fault is still present — re-read the code in EPSON RC+ rather than repeatedly resetting.

Never do this

Don't jumper the E-stop or safeguard inputs to keep running. These interlocks cut motor power on purpose; resolve the real cause and re-enable servos properly.