What the 34316 alarm means

The drive measured wrong motor current for an axis — most often the motor power cable is connected to the wrong drive output after maintenance. This fault ranks high in our ABB IRC5 / OmniCore (RobotWare) service records, and the first site inspection usually finds the source.

Most common causes

  • Motor power cables swapped or misconnected at the drive (A41 outputs X11/X12...)
  • Damaged motor power cable
  • Faulty drive current measurement
Field note: The first cause shows up most on real machines, so verify it before you go further.

Step-by-step field fix

  1. Confirm which axis the FlexPendant names
  2. Trace and correct the motor power cable connections at the drive unit
  3. Inspect cables for damage and insulation faults
  4. Replace the drive unit if the current measurement is faulty
Safety first: For ABB 34316, this alarm family involves the DC bus, which sits at several hundred volts and stays charged for minutes after power-off - touching terminals is a shock hazard. The self-serviceable action is Confirm which axis the FlexPendant names; anything past that falls under the DC bus and power stage and needs a certified engineer. On ABB 34316: checking incoming voltage at the disconnect and looking at breakers and fuses is fine to do yourself; opening the cabinet to touch bus terminals or pulling power modules needs a qualified electrician.

How we diagnose drive alarms on site

ABB 34316 belongs to the drive & power stage family. On ABB 34316 the failing stage is DSQC drive modules (DSQC 600 generation; OmniCore drive units) on the IRC5 / OmniCore - the fault sits on the energy chain: mains input, rectification, DC bus, braking resistor, inverter power devices and the drive board. We start reading ABB 34316 at the FlexPendant event log and system diagnostics, with the cabinet status LEDs.

The chain involved in ABB 34316 runs: three-phase mains -> rectifier -> DC bus (bus capacitors) -> brake chopper / braking resistor -> inverter (IGBT) -> motor.

Motor power cables swapped or misconnected at the drive (A41 outputs X11/X12...) is common on ABB 34316, but look at the duty cycle: Cells with high-inertia loads or frequent start-stop cycles return far more regenerative energy than a plain transfer cell, and the braking resistor lives in a hot cycle that shortens its life. When we suspect this family we ask what changed: if the takt was raised recently or a heavier fixture went on, the alarm cluster usually lines up with that process change. Replacing the resistor alone will not fix it - the chopper rating and resistor wattage have to be re-checked against the new duty.

Field notes on this page cover ABB 34316 (Motor Current Error); written by the Henghuan repair team, updated 2026-10-01.

Real Field Case

Machine: ABB IRB 4600-40/2.05 (2018)

Symptom: An IRB 4600 raised 34316 (motor current error) with abnormal motion on one axis.

What we did: We watched the axis current waveform on a scope and read the load ratio, judging it as increased reducer drag rather than an amplifier fault, then inspected the reducer.

Result: We avoided an unnecessary amplifier swap; after servicing the reducer the current returned to normal in about 4 hours.

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Related Drive & Power Stage alarms

34200 — Communication with All Drive Units Interrupted 34251 — Missing Phase of Input Power 34400 — DC Link Voltage Too High
Same family: this code belongs to the Drive & power stage alarms family - the page collects all Drive & power stage-family codes we have handled, with the common inspection order and spares.
Other brands: we also keep field-fix libraries for Yaskawa · Universal Robots · Kawasaki and more — see the complete alarm code hub.

Frequently asked questions

QWhat does the ABB 34316 alarm mean?

The drive measured wrong motor current for an axis — most often the motor power cable is connected to the wrong drive output after maintenance. This fault ranks high in our ABB IRC5 / OmniCore (RobotWare) service records, and the first site inspection usually finds the source. ABB 34316 sits in the drive & power stage family; on our work orders the highest-frequency trigger for this code is "Motor power cables swapped or misconnected at the drive (A41 outputs X11/X12...)".

QCan I clear a ABB 34316 alarm myself?

Whether ABB 34316 clears on its own depends on the outcome of "Confirm which axis the FlexPendant names". Finish the flow with "Replace the drive unit if the current measurement is faulty" to confirm ABB 34316 - do not skip it. If that step is clean, the second most frequent cause on ABB 34316 is "Damaged motor power cable". If ABB 34316 returns after two clears, or the checks point at Motor power cables swapped or misconnected at the drive (A41 outputs X11/X12...), stop the cell and call a professional robot repair engineer.

QFor drive/power alarms like ABB 34316, what spares do you bring on site?

The commonest causes we see on ABB 34316 are "Motor power cables swapped or misconnected at the drive (A41 outputs X11/X12...), Damaged motor power cable, Faulty drive current measurement", so we stock the van against those. For ABB 34316 specifically, we stock the van along the energy chain: braking resistors, bus capacitors, input fuses, drive-board supply parts and the common power modules for the brand. For ABB 34316, drive alarms usually stop the whole line, so they sit at the front of our dispatch queue. Before we roll, tell us what ABB 34316 shows on the FlexPendant event log and system diagnostics, with the cabinet status LEDs and what the machine was doing - phone or video triage is free.

This page on ABB 34316 is based on the field experience of the Henghuan Robotics repair team. Alarm explanations are our own summary for troubleshooting reference and may differ across controller and software versions — if unsure, verify against ABB documentation or reach out to us. Henghuan is an independent service provider with no affiliation or endorsement by ABB.