DiyLightAnimation

Hardware => Lynx SSR4 => Topic started by: IndianaChristmas on November 16, 2013,

Title: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: IndianaChristmas on November 16, 2013,
I can't set the starting address.  I used the Lynx Address Utility (RJ) and the Start Pattern (Rrowan).  No luck.
Using DMX dongle.  Jumpers set to Program.
I have tried with and without power attached to the controller. 
What is the sequence one must follow to set the start address for the SSR4?
This seems easy and basic but I can't get it done!
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: IndianaChristmas on November 16, 2013,
I  have followed the instructions in the manual to do this but still no good. :(
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: rrowan on November 16, 2013,
Reflash the pic. I seem to remember that with that pic after a few failed tries it wouldn't work again. Also after you re-flash the pic see it you can control lights with it. Default start channel is 1

Rick R.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: drlucas on November 16, 2013,
Use the option B for programming....power on device in operate mode, then start transmitting, then move jumper over to program, wait 5 seconds, turn off ssr, stop transmitting, put jumper back. see if that helps amongst the reflash of pic.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: animal on November 17, 2013,
That's the way I get it set. Works everytime. ( well maybe not everytime )

                                                                              <la..

   animal
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: IndianaChristmas on November 17, 2013,
That is what I had to do as well.  No issues other than if I didn't do the process exactly as noted.  The pics were good. 
Thanks.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: taybrynn on November 26, 2013,
I keep trying either method, reflashing pic, then trying method B ... nothing seems to work.   Have had it work on dmx channels 1-4 ... but using lynx address utility with dmx dongle (flashed dmx) on COM7 I just can't seem to get any channels to take on a ssr4 using either method.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: urthegman on November 26, 2013,
Couple of questions as I only tried to program the channels on one of mine. Does it matter if the controller is on terminate or not? What are the two pins with "S" next to it? I will see if it works on channels 1-4 in the morning.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: taybrynn on November 26, 2013,
Good question, I was wondering if the terminate mattered or not.  I have tried it both ways without success.

This reminds me a bit of the holidaycoro programmer, at least in the early days ... program would crash and it seemed like it you tried to program a start channel enough times ... it would eventually work.  I'm sure thats been improved these days.

I've the jumper set as follows:

C+S
XX

Operate+++Program
            XX - for operation
              XX - when programming start channel
S
++
  (not jumpered, i.e. jumper on one pin only)

Term
++
XX - was going to terminate since would be last device in DMX signal chain

There seems to be a somewhat confusing collection of information about the SSR4.

[ EXCERPTs FROM DMX USB DONGLE WIKI MANUAL BELOW ]

The SSR4 controller first needs to be programmed for its starting channel. This is the channel that #1 output cable will be addressed by in the DMX data. If you want this controller to handle channels 80 – 83 (4 channels) you would assign it the starting channel of 80.

Note2: Dongle DMX & Pixelnet Firmware - Require different software in order to set the start address
   [ I TAKE THIS TO MEAN THE SOFTWARE DOES WORK USING A PIXELNET FLASHED USB DONGLE ]
Note2: DMX Firmware you can use RJ's Lynx Address Program or DMX Deck
   [ I TAKE THIS TO MEAN THE DMX FLASHED USB DONGLE WOULD WORK WITH THE LYNX ADDRESS PROGRAM ]
Note2: Pixelnet Firmware you can use Start Channel or xLights or your Sequence software with Pixelnet
   [ NOT SURE WHAT THIS MEANS AT ALL OR HOW XLIGHTS WOULD BE USED TO PROGRAM THE START CH# ]

[PROGRAMMING START CH# - METHOD A]
Step 1 - Turn off power to controller and move jumper to program mode Leave Power OFF until Step 3
Step 2 - Use appropriate software (see Note2 above) and select address you need. Click on Program button
Step 3 - Turn on controller and count to 5
Step 4 - Turn off controller and move jumper back to operation mode Leave Power OFF until Step 6
Step 5 - Click Stop on the Lynx Address Program
Step 6 - Turn on controller and use your selected program to see if controller is now on the correct start address.
Either exit selected Program or go back to step 1 to program another controller

[PROGRAMMING START CH# - METHOD B]
OPTIONAL Way if the above doesn't work - From RJ
Step 1 - Power up Controller.
Step 2 - Using selected program start to send the address you want.
Step 3 - With power ON carefully move the jumper to Program.
Step 4 - Count to 3 seconds.
Step 5 - Turn OFF the controller.
Step 6 - Put the jumper back to operate and power up controller to try/test.

[ JUMPER INFO FROM MANUAL BELOW -- SEEMS PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD ]

The SSR4 jumpers are setup like this:

The C/S (Controller / SSR ); for Controller set it to C and for SSR set it to S.

The (S) jumper is needed to be on for SSR operation and off for Controller operation.

The Operate/Program jumper is the same as on my other systems. You set it to operate to use it and program to program it.

The Term jumper is to terminate the DMX line if this is the last device on the line.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: urthegman on November 26, 2013,
Thanks for putting all the info in one place, I also tried reflashing the pic and was having difficulty until I realized on the Jsys icsp adapter 20a board that the pic didn't belong in the uppermost slot, for an 18 pin pic it was supposed to go in the second from the top. It is clearly labeled on the adapter, just a duh moment for me. I will be working on this in the morning and I will let you know if and how I get it programmed. I have 9 of them and only tried one, so I am bound to get lucky sooner or later!!! Thanks once again.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: urthegman on November 26, 2013,
Hey, I just wanted to add, when I reflashed the pic, I got an EEPROM message on Pickit3 instead of the normal "Done" message. Is that what I am supposed to see?
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: taybrynn on November 26, 2013,
I have been using the pickit 2 and haven't had any eprom errors.  I did read somewhere that if you try enough times (to program the start channel) that sometimes you have to reflash the PIC.  Well I did verify that was sometimes the case, as one of the times I went to reflash the PIC it has a different checksum in it.  THe other time, it had the same checksum still.

I've wondered if the programmer is going through some kind of loop and if you enter or leave too early, that maybe it doesn't work?  So maybe there is some element of getting lucky with it.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: tbone321 on November 26, 2013,
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There seems to be a somewhat confusing collection of information about the SSR4.

[ EXCERPTs FROM DMX USB DONGLE WIKI MANUAL BELOW ]

The SSR4 controller first needs to be programmed for its starting channel. This is the channel that #1 output cable will be addressed by in the DMX data. If you want this controller to handle channels 80 – 83 (4 channels) you would assign it the starting channel of 80.

Note2: Dongle DMX & Pixelnet Firmware - Require different software in order to set the start address
   [ I TAKE THIS TO MEAN THE SOFTWARE DOES WORK USING A PIXELNET FLASHED USB DONGLE ]

The software is not the problem.  It doesn't know or care what protocol the dongle is outputting but the SSR4 does.  The assumption was that if you are using PixelNet,that you would be connecting the SSR4 to the DMX output of a smart hub but that has been proven to have issues.


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Note2: DMX Firmware you can use RJ's Lynx Address Program or DMX Deck
   [ I TAKE THIS TO MEAN THE DMX FLASHED USB DONGLE WOULD WORK WITH THE LYNX ADDRESS PROGRAM ]


That would be correct and was the way it was done prior to PixelNets existence.

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Note2: Pixelnet Firmware you can use Start Channel or xLights or your Sequence software with Pixelnet
   [ NOT SURE WHAT THIS MEANS AT ALL OR HOW XLIGHTS WOULD BE USED TO PROGRAM THE START CH# ]


Setting the start channel is simply a matter of setting the dimming level of channel 1 and 2 to the start channel that you want the device to have.  You use channel 1 for starting addresses between 1 and 255 with channel 2 set to zero and if you need to go higher, you set channel 1 t 255 and set channel 2 to a value that when added to channel 1 equal the start channel desired.  Setting these 2 channels and sending the output to the controller while in program mode sets the start address.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: urthegman on November 27, 2013,
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I have been using the pickit 2 and haven't had any eprom errors.  I did read somewhere that if you try enough times (to program the start channel) that sometimes you have to reflash the PIC.  Well I did verify that was sometimes the case, as one of the times I went to reflash the PIC it has a different checksum in it.  THe other time, it had the same checksum still.

I've wondered if the programmer is going through some kind of loop and if you enter or leave too early, that maybe it doesn't work?  So maybe there is some element of getting lucky with it.
So the EEPROM message is an error message???
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: tbone321 on November 27, 2013,
It sounds like one.  What is the exact message?
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: taybrynn on November 27, 2013,
Thanks for the great info!  Has anyone had better luck using dmx deck vs the dmx channel assignment software ... Or is the ssr4 just more difficult in general?   I probably tried 20-30 times on two different ssr4s
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: tbone321 on November 27, 2013,
The SSR4 can be more difficult that the others to set the start address.  THere were a few in the past that resorted to manually editing the hex file with the desired starting address prior to flashing the PIC.  Are you sure that the utility is outputting your start channel?
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: arw01 on November 27, 2013,
Oh do tell, I would like to do that so that the first time I program the pics it's done.

Been a long time since I used a hex editor, can we edit right from the programmer software.

If this is too technical for the forums, pm me please.  My ISCP20a should arrive saturday so I can bring up that part of the show.

Alan
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: tbone321 on November 27, 2013,
I haven't done it and don't know where in the file the start address is located.  I will say that this is NOT what RJ wants people to be doing to his firmware.  The whole idea behind DLA is to keep it simple which is why RJ keeps a lot of the tech talk out of the forum. 
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: urthegman on November 27, 2013,
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It sounds like one.  What is the exact message?
When I flash the pic it says: see screenshot:
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: tbone321 on November 27, 2013,
That is not an error. 
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: urthegman on November 27, 2013,
I didn't think so, especially since I just spent over 9 hours getting 4 out of 8 to accept the starting channels that I needed for them. I think the trick was to get them working on their default settings first and THEN changing the channel settings. I also found the "B" method worked better for me. Thank you everyone for all of your help!!!  ;D
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: urthegman on November 28, 2013,
Touched some solder points up and now I am up to 5 out of 8!!! ;D ;D ;D I LOVE having at LEAST one backup!!!
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: tbone321 on November 28, 2013,
Your iron is too cold.  Crank it up a little and you will see most of those bad connections disappear.
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: taybrynn on November 28, 2013,
That's a lot of hours to get 4 addresses set but you have my sympathies
Title: Re: The next of my ssr4 issues
Post by: urthegman on November 28, 2013,
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That's a lot of hours to get 4 addresses set but you have my sympathies
It was a rainy New York day, so no set up time missed!!!