LE Testing - Misc Flashing Channels

[zman]

I am in the process of testing the 6 LE's I will be using this year.

I am testing them using an LE Dongle with the DMX Deck (I don't want to load Vixen)

The first LE tested fine (all 16 channels). LE # 2 is having some weird flashing of channels.

If I turn channel 2 on, channel 1 flashes periodically between 1-4 time, then after a while it will do the same again. This is happening all the way down the line. If I go to ch3 then ch2 flashes, if I go to ch4, ch3 flashes etc....

So it is always the previous channel.

I am not sure if this is the LE or possibly the DMX Deck? I am now off to testing LE #3.

[rrowan]

Hi Zman,

First thing to do when troubleshooting is:

Re-exam the board with a magnifying glass and check for bad solder joints and solder bridges.
Double - triple check every part to be sure its in fully (no bent pins) or in backwards, in the correct spot

If any solder joint looks odd(dull), reheat it

Rick R.

[lineman]

Does all the LE's go thru the test function ok , I have had some issues with the DMX deck also and to fix it I just rebooted the DMX deck and all was fine

[zman]

It does go through test just fine. I have 5 LE's done, #6 is on the bench now to test. All the rest have worked fine. I did re-boot the DMX Deck when I started having that issue, attempting to see if it was that.

After #6 gets tested, I will then go back to the problem LE and look at it in detail as Rick stated. This will more likely be fine tooth comb #4 on that review as I go over these pretty closely when I assembled them, but, as we all know, things can get missed.

If there are any other ideas to hone down the search, send it along. Thanks!

[zman]

Argh   #6 has one bad triac, stuck on! Spare, do I have a spare somewhere around here? Taking a break then checking 2.

[Greg]

My bet is on the PIC. I'd try re-flashing the PIC and if that doesn't fix the weirdness.  If not, then switch PICs with one that is acting right and see if the weirdness follows the PIC.

I once had a PIC that would program and verify successfully, but did random stuff. Turned out to be an intermittent bad internal connection in the PIC and Microchip replaced it at no cost.

Keep us posted.

Greg

[zman]

Greg, it was the PIC. Nice call thanks! I attempted to re-flash it and it is still doing the same. Swapped out PICs with one of the other working LE's and BOOM, worked like a champ!

That helped and saved time. Looks like a call to Microchip is in order tomorrow to get a replacement.

I still have a bad triac in one LE, and need to order some spares to keep on hand anyway, but at least 5 of 6 are operational now.

Question on the triac. I assume that from left to right (matching the channel output on the connector), the triacs are in that order. Channel 7 is bad, so so 7 over is the bad triac.

[RJ]

Yes the seventh from the left is channel seven.

RJ

[magic8192]

I had something very similar to what you are describing.
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I re-soldered everything and it started working correctly.

[i1uhrace]

So far I have found one of mine having this random channel flashing as well.
Guess I'll switch it out tonight and see if it fixes the problem.
Should I buy a few extra PICs to keep as back up during the show season?

[zman]

For me, this was a PIC problem.

Ian, I now have a few extras if you need one on the short term let me know.

Mark

[Jeffl]

Was the PIC actually bad or just needed to be flashed?