DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Panther DMX Player => Topic started by: TexasStingray on February 27, 2013,
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Everyone, While you may have reported back to me your build status, please post here for everyone how you feel your build went.
Thanks
Scott Wanner
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build went well except for solder bridge i had to remove on sd card board
i did install the red led backwards initially due to no flat side on it
but board was well designed and easily built in about 30 minutes
will be testing over weekend
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Got mine built and running. Build was very easy and straightforward. I would prefer the resistor values on the solder mask if possible, but that is just nit picking. The board works great. I've got a new show downloaded to it and running. I'll post a sample video later.
Nice job Scott.
Ron
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My 10yr old built it, programming it tonight, loading a 92CH star sequence and will test when I get home in the morning. So far, so good....
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I had no problems with the build. Assembly document is very clear but I did notice that there is no Step 2. I put the processor chip in backwards the first time so it took me a minute to make it work. After that I missed the instruction on making the file names 8.3 (alright I am not the good at following directions). After all of those things the device appears to run without problems. I attached two Lynx and ran three 32 channel seqs on it for about 3 hours yesterday. I am running the device on 12v. The heatsink gets a few degrees above ambient temp but that's all. Today I want to try and run a 16ch sequence on Vixen to one Lynx and the same one on the Panther to another and see how they look side by side. I will make a video if possible. I also want to test with MR16's. As soon as I test with the MR16 I will plug it into my car and test it there.
I think this is a real winner. The application for flashy standalone display items is endless.
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Panther report :
I found the build instructions vary simple and straight forward - did not have any problems with the instructions and vary will layout. Only thing that I could think of that in keeping with the non technical persons it might be good to have a note to distinguish the caps ( axial lead and radial lead ) as it is hard to find the value printed.
The layout of the PCB is vary nice and easy to work on - I have opt out of having a case for my unit so in mounting the board I found the SD location in the way and would have been nice to be moved closer to the center - miner problem.
Even though I am not a Vixen software user did not have any problem making a sequence up and using the Panther Converter to make the files needed to run on the SD card. Have had the card running in the Panther for the last day or so with no problems. Will make up several seq and save multiple files and run that next. My setup for testing is kind of straight forward only using a Lynx Express addressed to 1 and I'm only programming 16 channels in Vixen. Will also try and run some none DLA equipment that is DMX control but don't think there should be any problem.
Would like to see the code used in the Arduino would like to have the sketch and library files used to try and program the atmega chip from scratch this is more just for my education then what is needed for DLA project but would be willing to do some programming if needed when this goes into a coop.
All in all found this project vary will thought out and straight forward to get up and running nice job and lots of fun to build.
Ted K
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I put mine in a spare case I had for an MR16 last night. Lots of space and it is what I had on hand.
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I have looked and there is room to put the device inside both the MR16 case or the Lynx case by mounting them on the lid of the case.
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Built my Panther yesterday.
Went smoothly except for 1 issue. I assumed both resistors were the same. After swapping them out it is working great.
Being a novice to soldering DLA products I noticed the 2 C1 & C2 (22 pf) capacitors holes were wider than the capacitors themselves. Not having to bend these outward on other builds the holes lined up I just used a toothpick for a spacer and no bending of the capacitors were necessary. I was a little worried I was going to crack them when bending them out word. I didn't and it worked out in the end.
Unit has been running for 24 hours straight.
I do like the fact you unplug power and plug it back in and it starts up. This will go good with the X10 I run for my house.
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I do like the fact you unplug power and plug it back in and it starts up. This will go good with the X10 I run for my house.
I know this is off topic but nice to know there is someone else that uses X10 out there in the world. I find it real handy around the house and use it to turn on/off all of my static outdoor lights. Cheap and effective. I have a couple of X10 relays that I am planning to use to drive the reset.
Bill
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This has triggered a new topic, How are you using/planning on using the DMX Player. I want to hear more about the X10.
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testing for 4 hours with le seems to work flawlessly
building my seq with lors3 software
also using walwart for etherdongle to power, supplies 8 plus volts as measured with voltmeter
also using 8 gig sandisk card for data
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FYI, Arduino should not be powered with less than 7 volts.
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building my seq with lors3 software
How are you using LOR3 to build your sequences?
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it is real easy since lor saves the seq *.lms to my xlights directory
and i use xlights file convertor to make *.seq file from lms file
then i rename file using all caps and the 8 charter file name
then i copy to sd card
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Cool, I thought I might have to write something to convert lor's.
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hey it would be cool if you did but xlights convertor seems to work
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Had mine built for a few days but only got access today.
No problems except I did cut the long capacitor lead. I had to mount it manually instead of bending it over to pin 22.
I plan to use this primarily to drive the Servo board and maybe an MR-16 or two. The 100msec timing will be no problem.
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Finished by build earlier this week, however it does not appear to be working (no green LED). Connected a rainbow brain and flood to make sure it was not just the LED in backwards or not working and nothing was output.....Gonna check the board for bad solder joints in a bit, but thought I would post in case there are any other thoughts.
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Can you post some pics, also does the red power led come on? Are you sure you installed the 7805 regulator and not the 1117?
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Yup...Power LED comes on, just not the green. Just took some pics and should have them up shortly.
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Here's a pic....I'll see if I can get a better one as well.
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please post a top view picture also.
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Pics of both sides.
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Dan does the green LED blink at all?
Do you have an sd card installed when you power it on?
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If you have a multi-meter here are some voltage points. On the Status LED the voltage may pulse if there is an error, so hold it on there for a couple of seconds and see what happens. If it does pulse or stays at +5 volts then chances are the LED is on backwards.
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Dan does the green LED blink at all?
Do you have an sd card installed when you power it on?
The Green LED does not blink at all....Have done it both with and without an SD card (was working my way down the simple tests and was stumped at the first one).
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If you have a multi-meter here are some voltage points. On the Status LED the voltage may pulse if there is an error, so hold it on there for a couple of seconds and see what happens. If it does pulse or stays at +5 volts then chances are the LED is on backwards.
Great....I'm gong out of town today, but will put my meter on those when I get back...Thanks for the picture.
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What are you using for a power source?
Also check c1 & c2 to make sure that they are ok. It looks like the XTAL between then is not flush against the board, it's not supposed to be just checking.
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What are you using for a power source?
Also check c1 & c2 to make sure that they are ok. It looks like the XTAL between then is not flush against the board, it's not supposed to be just checking.
It's an old LCD display power supply (12V, 4.5A) as I recall. The XTAL is not flush on the board (I followed your note in the build instructions)...That said, I am curious why it can't be flush?
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There are several things that should not be soldered tight/flush against the board. The reason is almost always heating and expansion/contraction. LEDs, Crystals, some diodes - if they are tight against the board, when they contract it will pull on the leads, eventually damaging the internals. Big electrolytic capacitors have the same concern.
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The reason I said not flush is because the metal casing is pretty much all the way around and I was afraid that the solder might run thru and make contact. But like JonB256 please check the LED, Capacitors, etc...
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OK so after finally getting the right power supply - somewhere I thought I saw that the range was 9-12vdc so I used an old 9v one I found laying around (even though I measured somewhere around 15v it said 9v so I tried it and nothing worked and the regulator got VERY hot - but no smoke!!). Decided to use the etherdongle supply rated at 6v(!?!) and things worked great (STILL!). Sort of makes sense that the 6v would work since its a 5v regulator.
Then my show PC keeps dying - I think the power supply is going.
Then I had to get a card reader for my laptop.
The instructions read as if the CONTROL.TXT file is on the SD card by default but after searching the .zip files, I found the show/control/sequence files.
Then -
Got through all of the B1 tests except for test 5. No matter if I replaced the CHASE002 with ABDCEFGH or I added it or I left line 2 blank (which is probably ok),the test would not fail - solid red and green leds.
I have received my programmer and will try the B2 version at some point.
Another thing I need to do is hook up the DMX out. I was just doing the board tests at this point.
-Paul
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If you have a multi-meter here are some voltage points. On the Status LED the voltage may pulse if there is an error, so hold it on there for a couple of seconds and see what happens. If it does pulse or stays at +5 volts then chances are the LED is on backwards.
I have the voltages labeled on the diagram....bad led...tested it both ways and never did anyting...grabbed a spare I had and I now have a blinking green LED....running through the tests now
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TEST1 - Success
TEST2 - FAIL (Green LED stayed on constant...no blinking)
TEST3 - Success
TEST4 - Success
TEST5 - Success (might be worth explicitly noting that it does not repeat that signal...or it did not repeat it with mine)
Successful bench test with rainbow brain and flood.
Curiosity question....is that GREEN LED integral to the circuit such that if you have a bad one the player won't work? It appears that is all I had was a bad LED and replacing it has everything working.
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If the any of the LED's are out the system does not know it out and it should still work, that is unless there is a shot in the LED in which case it could cause a problem. It may just burn out the 330 ohm resistor which I do not think would prevent the system from working. No sure what going on test #2. but glad it working.