DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx EtherDongle => Topic started by: lizard050 on November 25, 2014,
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Knowing how busy most are getting set up. Before posting I have spent many hours reading through others post. Many have experienced the same issues as I am and I have attempted to try and repeat their success. No luck however. So now I am finally asking for help at the last minute.
I have 2 lynx dongles that work with the following set up. Pixelnet dongle to active hub from the hub I have dmx out to express, 1 out to ssc v 4, and pixelnet out to a zues 16. 1 pixel string attached to the ssc and 1 to the zues 16. Using this set up I am able to get the expected results from both pixel strings and the express via dmx. Using xlights for testing.
I would rather use Etherdongle however.
I have 2 of those. Both I am having issues with. Both are from the Jan 2012 coop.
#1. ETD gets "operation failed" upon trying to program with pickit 3 and vs 1 software. I have been able to program my zues and ssc's with no issues. I have re soldered a couple of times and looked at the pic with a flash light from behind but haven't been able to get it to program.
#2 ETD seemed to program fine. I have plugged it in directly to both a laptop and desktop. The network on both says unknown network. Using the same setup as above I switch out the lynx dongle with my #2 ETD. The green led on the board come on, along with the green light on the Magic Jack. The yellow light on the Magic jack blinks slowly. I then am changing the set up in xlights to use e131 vs pixel net and attempt to test the lights. The yellow light on the Magic Jack will start blinking very fast but I get no activity on the lights or the express.
I feel I may have read to many posts and tried to many of the solutions found and am just missing something simple in the network set up or the ETD just isn't programed right. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Knowing how busy most are getting set up. Before posting I have spent many hours reading through others post. Many have experienced the same issues as I am and I have attempted to try and repeat their success. No luck however. So now I am finally asking for help at the last minute.
I have 2 lynx dongles that work with the following set up. Pixelnet dongle to active hub from the hub I have dmx out to express, 1 out to ssc v 4, and pixelnet out to a zues 16. 1 pixel string attached to the ssc and 1 to the zues 16. Using this set up I am able to get the expected results from both pixel strings and the express via dmx. Using xlights for testing.
I would rather use Etherdongle however.
I have 2 of those. Both I am having issues with. Both are from the Jan 2012 coop.
#1. ETD gets "operation failed" upon trying to program with pickit 3 and vs 1 software. I have been able to program my zues and ssc's with no issues. I have re soldered a couple of times and looked at the pic with a flash light from behind but haven't been able to get it to program.
#2 ETD seemed to program fine. I have plugged it in directly to both a laptop and desktop. The network on both says unknown network. Using the same setup as above I switch out the lynx dongle with my #2 ETD. The green led on the board come on, along with the green light on the Magic Jack. The yellow light on the Magic jack blinks slowly. I then am changing the set up in xlights to use e131 vs pixel net and attempt to test the lights. The yellow light on the Magic Jack will start blinking very fast but I get no activity on the lights or the express.
I feel I may have read to many posts and tried to many of the solutions found and am just missing something simple in the network set up or the ETD just isn't programed right. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
For issue one, do you have the Ether dongle (wall transformer) plugged in when you try to program? If not try plugging in the wall transformer and programing. There may be an issue with the Ether Dongle but you can try that first.
For issue 2, the Ether Dongle is multicast, it receives multiple addresses on but does not "assign a IP address. IF you plug your computer directly into the Ether dongle you will need to assign a IP address to your comptuer such as 192.168.0.10 or 10.1.10.10 instead of having the computer "automatically obtain" the IP address. Other wise if you have router in your house you can plug your computer into the router and plug the Etherdongle into the router and all should be well. Also make sure you have your configuration set up in xLight correctly.
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ETD #1 I have tried programming with power. Same results.
ETD #2 I have also tried setting the IP address however I'm not sure if I did it correct. I will try again. Here are a few screen shots also.
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network
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applied the IP address I think. Here are some more screen shots. Still no lights. The lights on the ETD seems to suggest something is being transmitted.
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erased ETD programmin and tried xlights again. Flashing yellow light did not change speed. Re flashed ETD with pixelnet software. restarted Xlights and ran. Yellow light on ETD very rapidly flashes. But no lights. Does this mean it prgrammed or not really, Does this mean the network is working or not really. Network map still shows unknown network and not connected.
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Watching the Local area Connection Status screen. When I'm doing nothing it show sending about 30 packets per second. When I run xlights it shows sending 400ish packets per second? Not really sure what this means.
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Are you using a crossover cable when going from your computers to the etds? If not, try that. with the newer computers they need a crossover cable to work.
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Your manual ip address looks strange to me. I see 198.168.0.10
Normal ip should be 192.168.x.x (x depends on your router and of course number of devices on your network)
example: 192.168.1.10
mask 255.255.255.0
dns 192.168.1.1
turn off dhcp
I'll be honest I have never direct connect my ETD with any of my computers. I just connect the ETD to a my router or switch.
In xLights why is your show directory on of the song folder? Its not going to stop anything just seems wrong.
As far as the Local area connection status: Yes normal ping would be around 30 packets since its trying to connect to a network (note: If you are only connecting to the ETD and not a router, it will never find a network. The ETD will not reply back to your computer, its a receiver only and not send or talk back.) btw: Windows Network map will never show a active network when directly connected to the ETD and is useless.
When you say erase ETD programing what exactly are you doing??
One more thing: Is the green led on inside the working ETD?
hope that helps some and is not clear as mud ;)
Rick R.
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The IP address I put in was from caretakkers suggestion. Unless his was just an example I should be looking for a more specific one
I used the pic kit 3 and used the erase function to what I assume is clear the pics programming. Then re flashed it.
Trying a crossover cable also. Thought that was for older computers
Then I'll try to hook up to my home network.. Haven't done that yet due to being at the other end of the house as my show computer will be.
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Crossover cat5 is needed if the port can't do auto crossover. Normally older computers need it and new computer need it depending if the manufacture put in a high end or low end port.
Normally home ip addresses start with 192.168.1.x or 10.0.0.1 but its not written in granite :)
Rick R.
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And the green led on the ETD is on
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gave up on direct connect and tried attaching in one of my at&t cable modem/router Ethernet ports. No lights, nor does the blinking yellow light flash any faster when xlights is run.
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sounds like your router is blocking multicast.
Check your manual or your providers website about turning that setting on.
or internet search (google, bing, etc)
Rick R.
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Interesting thing I found. My 2 computers are connected to the router/internet through some plug link device that plugs into an electrical outlet. When I use xlights on those 2 computer I don't see any increased activity on the ETD. However If I use xlights on my lap top with a wireless connection I get the same extra fast blinking of the yellow ETD light as when I direct plug into a computer.
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lizard050,
I've never had a problem going direct with my ETD. Even with my little netbook 1st gen atom loaded with windows 10 preview. I've been testing with xlights 6000 channels all week. Etd has been found every time. Now I've probably been lucky,and I run my display direct connected from my show computer for 2 years.
Check your xlights set up. Delete any left over settings. Set up e1.31 protocol with 32 universes. Reboot ETD and controllers, and try a test. I don't understand that you have a yellow fast blinking light and no output. It says to me a configure problem in the software. I'm only giving you what works for me. I'm just offering, maybe something you over looked or you could try.
animal
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I've been able to get the fast blinking light both with direct connect and attached to my At&t gateway. Just no light output. I am suspicious that the ETD didn't program correct however. Would I still get the fast blinking light if it was not programmed right? Is there a specific Ip address your setting up in your direct connect? I know its not any of the other hardware because they all work with xlights via a pixelnet dongle.
The ETD should be flashed with pixelnetv2 not the DMx version correct?
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I've been able to get the fast blinking light both with direct connect and attached to my At&t gateway. Just no light output. I am suspicious that the ETD didn't program correct however. Would I still get the fast blinking light if it was not programmed right? Is there a specific Ip address your setting up in your direct connect? I know its not any of the other hardware because they all work with xlights via a pixelnet dongle.
The ETD should be flashed with pixelnetv2 not the DMx version correct?
The MAGjack will flash regardless whether the PIC on the conductor is flashed or not, or at least that is my understanding. This is the link to the file you should be flashing your Etherdongle with: http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5765.0;attach=7980 Also make sure you are only using the PicKit3 utility v1.0 http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/PICkit_3_Programmer_1_0_Setup_A.zip and Updated Device Database File: http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=11463.0;attach=11244PK2DeviceFile.dat (Includes support for PIC32MX795F512L) *You will need to rename the file from .hex to .dat before copying to your PICkit3 installation folder. SPECIAL NOTE: Some users have experienced issues with flashing the EtherDongle PIC using the v3 Beta. If you have flashed the EtherDongle using v3 Beta and it does not appear to work (no PixelNet output), re-flash the PIC using the v1 Stand Alone Utility above. (From the WIKI)
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The magjack is not an intelligent device and if the small pic is not programmed, the yellow light will not flash but this does not mean that there is not an issue with the PIC programming. I would reflash the PIC and see what happens.
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Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I am using a pickit 3 with the version 1 firmware from the wikki. The pickit has been programming everything else fine. I am wondering if I didn't put the devicefile.dat in the right spot. The pickit 3 says it is writing to the pic and seems to verify. After messing with this many time I did try and flash it with mplab.
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Use the IPE program that comes with the mplabx download. It has worked fine for me on everything I have. I always go into advanced settings, power, and turn on the "supply power from the pickit" first.
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I'm restarting trying to trouble shoot these. using the pick kit 3 with the MPLAB ipe program. I tried reprogramming the 2 dongles. one was recognized and 1 was not. As I just need to get 1 working I'll only be seeking help on that one at this time.
It seems to program correctly. If I do a "read" I get the checksum f8cd8eef back.
Assuming the etherdongle did program I then set it up in xlights. I set up xlights using multicast e131. starting universe 1, # of universes 32, one output is checked, channels set to 512.
Etherdongle Green led is lit
When I run xlights in test mode I get the green magic jack light on and the yellow magic jack light will flash. If I speed up the cycle speed in xlighs or use the rgb cycle tab with mixed color the yellow magic jack light will flash much faster. Not sure if this means I am getting data from my lap top or not.
I am directly connecting my lap top to the etherdongle and I am not using a crossover cable. I have tried many of the things discussed through the forum with no success. Both etherdongles are from the January 2012 coop. I believe this was the second etherdongle coop.
I seem to be leaning to a set up issue vs hardware but am not 100% sure since 1 of the dongles will not even program maybe I messed this one up also.
Thanks for any help.