Sovol3D SV06 ACE OTG-USB and OctoPrint / OctoPi

Howdy folks!

I’ve been very happy with my Sovol3D SV06 ACE, but my WiFi network has a ^ symbol which does not seem to appear on the Klipper touchscreen keyboard, so I cannot connect to it via network

Even if I could, however, I’d prefer to run OctoPrint on a separate device, anyway

I’ve read through all the material here: SV06 ACE | Sovol 3D Printer Wiki

I did temporarily connect the printer to my phone hotspot WiFi to update the firmware to v19

And I have both OctoPi on a Raspberry Pi and Octo4a running on an old Android phone, downloaded from here: OctoPrint.org - Download & Setup OctoPrint

pi@octopi:~$ uname -a
Linux octopi 6.1.21-v7l+ #1642 SMP Mon Apr  3 17:22:30 BST 2023 armv7l GNU/Linux

After opening the MCU and connecting a USB-C cable to the OTG port, I can see on the OctoPi that the device is recognised

pi@octopi:~$ dmesg
...
[    2.473990] usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[    2.604998] usb 1-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=2207, idProduct=0006, bcdDevice= 3.10
[    2.605042] usb 1-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[    2.605071] usb 1-1.4: Product: rk3xxx
[    2.605092] usb 1-1.4: Manufacturer: rockchip
[    2.605113] usb 1-1.4: SerialNumber: 76fbd6c251e972ff
[    2.631785] usb 1-1.4: USB disconnect, device number 3
...
pi@octopi:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 2207:0006 Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Company rk3xxx
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431 VIA Labs, Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

But I can only find /dev/tty, /dev/tty[0-63], /dev/AMA0, /dev/ttyprintk, and /dev/bus/usb/001/004 and OctoPrint cannot connect to any of these

Has anyone successfully used the OTG-USB port to make a serial connection to the SV06 ACE? Am I doing something incorrectly or missing a step?

Hello,
If your printer is new, why not open a ticket on info@sovol3d.com with your order number and pics to request a repair or replacement?

Have you tried such a software like Octoapp on Android to manage you klipper ACE like Octoprint ?
I use it with my SV04 and SV06 (Octoprint) and my SV06 ACE (klipper) simultaneously.

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Welcome to the forum and have fun with the SV06 ACE!
OctoPrint is a very good way to integrate and control the printer in a network with a Raspi. At least with a Marlin printer, this is the preferred option for me.
With a Klipper printer, this mini-computer is already built into the device. With the SV06 ACE, it is already on the board of the printer. Klipper connects the printer to the network and controls the printer. Klipper has a user interface for operation. For example, Mainsail or Fluid. OctoPrint is also possible as an option. But not as an additional server, but as part of Klipper. The USB connection on the printer is not a USB connection on the printer board, but on the Klipper computer. The connection to the printer board is hard-wired on the shared board on the SV06 ACE. I cannot say whether there is a ready-made UI with OctoPrint for the Klipper. It would certainly be possible. But Sovol has installed Obico.
Both are very good but not required for printing. Mainsail provides all the necessary elements.

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Thanks!

I can’t actually connect my SV06 ACE to my network (as mentioned earlier), and I have a preference for controlling as much of the software on any network-connected device as possible

If you review the photos of the MCU, it does have a USB-C port labelled “OTG-…”, so it seems like it’s physically possible to do what I’m trying to do: SV06 ACE 3D Printer Mainboard Kit – SOVOL

What you say though is interesting… perhaps I actually should be trying to use the 4-pin “debug” pins on the MCU instead of the USB-C OTG port, because technically I am trying to bypass the Klipper/OctoPrint that is built-in…

Thanks, I just emailed

This isn’t urgent or anything, but it’ll be interesting to see if I’m missing something obvious (probably likely) :slight_smile:

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Have you read this…??

SV06 ACE image flashing tutorial

Thanks

Yeah, I have read that, but I’ve already updated to the v19 firmware, and I have no Windows devices so none of those steps apply here

I’d be very interested in some technical documentation that explains what the “mode” pins do: do they cause the board to be completely useless except when flashing firmware? Do they enable other purposes of the OTG OSB-C port besides enabling firmware to be flashed?

@sovol3d

Capture

I think there is a mistake in thinking here. Don’t try to bypass Klipper! But you can play Oktoklipper as a user interface on Klipper and replace Mainsail with it.

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I might need a bit more explanation about these components: Oktoklipper, Mainsail

Further, I cannot currently, nor do I want to, connect the printer to my network

Will either of these components allow me to connect a separate Raspberry Pi (that has its own network connection) to the printer?

If the OTG USB-C port is truly not a viable solution, another idea I can think of is to broadcast a new WiFi network (probably from the Raspberry Pi) for the printer to connect to

That way, the printer is not connected to the rest of my network, but I can still access OctoPrint that is already running on the printer from the Raspberry Pi

Yes, but when you want to access your printer, you’ll have to think about putting your smartphone on the same network as your Octoprint. Not difficult but boring.

We’re talking past each other. OctoPrint is not suitable for this application. The printer works with Klipper and needs the minicomputer built into the printer. A user interface is installed to operate the Klipper. Here is the mainsail. If you prefer OctoPrint, you can certainly install OctoKlipper as a user interface. But not on a Raspi, but on the Klipper computer. The Raspi is completely superfluous here! Kiauh is already installed on the printer to modify the Klipper.

For future reference – this port seems to be the low-level interface to the rockchip MCU. “OTG” is a weird name for this in general, but especially in this case. As best I can tell it’s only useful for using the rockchip tools to flash. And if the switch is moved to “host” mode, it doesn’t seem to function as a regular USB port.

Yup, but my key constraint here is no networking the printer, so I’m looking for any way to connect and manage that doesn’t rely on the printer’s networking

Yep, great to document there for posterity :slight_smile:

Sovol3D support provided me with this interesting snippet

We have not tested OctoPrint, so we cannot give any suggestions. OTG_USB is used to re-flash and update the image, and can be used as a serial port through the four-pin debug port of DEBUG.

Okay, I’ve enabled uart3 on a Raspberry Pi 4 per rpi.gpio - Where are the uarts on the raspberry pi 4? - Raspberry Pi Stack Exchange and I can confirm that there’s now a /dev/ttyAMA1 available

I tried connecting the RX, TX, and Ground pins for uart3 to the RX, TX and Ground pins on the debug port (4 pins) on the SV06 ACE MCU, and Octoprint isn’t able to connect using /dev/ttyAMA1

I’ve also tried switching the RX/TX so the RX on the Pi is connected to the TX on the MCU, and this also doesn’t work

I’ve do need to double-check that uart3 on the Pi is actually working as expected in isolation, and I’ve not yet confirms that the cables are good, and there’s probably a lower-level tool that I can use (minicom?) to confirm that communication is possible without Octoprint