Display issue...

[jess_her]

hello do you have 3v on both pins 6 and 7 of the Pic to ground?
also I'm I seeing right  in one of your pictures every even channel is on?

[combustionmark]

OK 2 questions, haven't seen them asked.

1 when you turn on the express, do the 16 channel leds do their cycle test?
2 have you hooked this express up to dmx and tried controlling channels 1-16?

The express may be OK just not showing a readout. Bad display chip?

[RJ]

He has swapped the chip so that is out. The issue is likely a soldering issue if you moved the board and it changed how it acts. Turn you iron up 15 deg more and clean the board with regular household alcohol and a brush to get the flux off of it. then touch up the all the joints by reflowing them. I bet this will fix it.

RJ

[shgshgshgshg]

CombustionMark:
1. no, when I turn the express on the leds do not do a cycle test,
2. No I haven't but at this point I'm pretty confident it's some form of soldering problem.
Also I have tested 2 different display drivers so I don't think that's the problem.

RJ, my soldering iron does not have an adjustable temp, but I will whip it down with alcohol and see what happens.
Also is there any particular place that I should start to touch up the joints or do I just need to go in and resolder everything?
Thanks

[RJ]

He doesn't mean when you power it up. He is saying that but it does not self test unless you tell it to. Can you get it to self test by booting it up then after you wait 45 seconds push the mode button twice and then the select button.

RJ

[shgshgshgshg]

I just finished touching up some solders and cleaning the boas with some alcohol an it seems to e working. : D I'm going to run it through a test next to be sure.
Thanks everyone I'd be lost without such great help.
~Stephen G.

[urthegman]

You know it has a test function built in, right? Just press mode twice until the display says tst and then press select and it will cycle through the channels and they will all blink simultaneously.

[tlh]

Glad you got it working! 
tlh/Terry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rm357]

I'm glad you got it working.

Looking at the picture, I would recommend that you invest in a bigger soldering iron.

The solder should wick through the via and solder the component on the front side of the board while you are soldering the back. Most of the components that I can see have very little if any solder on the front (top) of the board. This is typical if the iron is not getting the junction hot enough to heat the via and component lead all the way through the board. It could also be caused by using too little solder or not enough flux. Using rosin core solder, the flux is not normally a problem...

RM

[combustionmark]

Congratulations! you now get to look foreward to many more. They should a lot easier now that you have your first one down.

[Dennis Cherry]

I just finished touching up some solders and cleaning the boas with some alcohol an it seems to e working. : D I'm going to run it through a test next to be sure.
Thanks everyone I'd be lost without such great help.
~Stephen G.

You are not that far from me. I live in Cleveland Tennessee.

If you want to have a Mini sometime and go over anything, let me know. Also have a Pickit 2 for programming.

[combustionmark]

I am about another hour away in Vonore TN.

[shgshgshgshg]

Hmmm thanks for the info RM397, in an attempt to save money I'm using solder leftover solder that my grandfather had. I have no idea how old the solder is but it seemed to work fine so I wasn't concerned (at the time).
My soldering gun isn't too fancy either, I might upgrade before I build any more of these...