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During the assembly of my printer, I accidentally shorted the RAMPS 1.4 board, looking for a replacement I found the RAMPS 1.6 which would eliminate the need for a MOSFET power module.

My question is, could I simply replace the RAMPS 1.4 for the 1.6 or should I make any other modification?

My printer is a Prusa i3 Graber Clone running Marlin

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RAMPS 1.6 is very similar to RAMPS 1.4. Most, if not all, of the changes are hardware improvements, without making the core functionality different. Looking at the incremental changes between versions:

To quote from RepRapWiki: RAMPS 1.5

The RAMPS 1.5 is a variation of the popular RAMPS boards that, like all other RAMPS boards, is plugged into an Arduino Mega for operation. The layout of the RAMPS 1.5 is virtually identical to that of the RAMPS 1.4. The only real difference between the two are the MOSFETs and the fuses.

To quote from RepRapWiki: RAMPS 1.6

The RAMPS 1.6 is the second RAMPS iteration released by BIQU/BIGTREETECH. It replaces the original green power connector with a pair of screw terminals, adds a larger heatsink over the MOSFETS, and has a larger bed MOSFET. It maintains the surface-mounted fuses and flush MOSFETS of the RAMPS 1.5.

Also, the positions of the D1 and D2 diodes have been swapped from the positions in RAMPS 1.4, the D1 diode is now the diode closest to fuse F2. The same is true for RAMPS 1.5, also manufactured by BIQU/BIGTREETECH.

So, in short, yes, the RAMPS 1.6 should be a direct plug in replacement for the RAMPS 1.4.

That said, you may be able to salvage your RAMPS 1.4, if you can locate the part that has given up the "magic smoke". It could just be a blown capacitor, or diode. There have been a number of questions relating to that, so it might be worth searching for answers here, on SE.3DP1.

It is probably also worth reading RAMPS 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6?

Additional links

An interesting video, where a variety of RAMPS 1.4 boards are compared, is the first of a series, RAMPS series 1 of 5 - Intro and board comparisons - although beware the loud music...

There is also a RAMPS 1.6 Plus, and a RAMPS 1.4.2 which might be worth considering. I wrote up about these, briefly, (disclosure) in my personal blog, a couple of years ago: 3D Printer control boards.

Footnote

1 Such as How drastic is reversing the polarity of the power supply to a RAMPS board?, which might be relevant in your case.

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    $\begingroup$ Great! Thanks for the answer, I did thought about repairing the board, but decided to stick to a plug and play solution this time. $\endgroup$
    – Andrés
    Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 14:46
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    $\begingroup$ You should also consider just buying a proper board instead of another outdated RAMPS. The price difference is almost negligible these days. $\endgroup$
    – towe
    Commented Aug 26, 2019 at 9:04

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