DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx Aether => Topic started by: TMB on December 09, 2013,
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<md..I just put together my first Aether and encountered an issue – just flashes Red then White using the test program. I have tried/flashed two PICs with the same result (red/white only). Here is the extent of my troubleshooting:
- I’m using a 12v AC landscape transformer - direct connect to the Aether (no USB dongle)
- checked the led, all channels work with direct DC voltage to the LED (red, green, blue, white)
- checked the solder traces on the 2941s – all look OK
- checked the solder traces on the Pic socket – all look OK
- tried the regular program with USB Dongle , can set the starting address but only White works in Vixen
If anyone has any thoughts as to what my issue may be I would greatly appreciate it.
===================== SOLVED =======================
Turns out to be "Operator Error†– looks like I swapped the #5 and #1 leads between the led and the board <go figure>. Finally noticed it when I was checking for shorts with the heat sink (thanks for that suggestion!) Working perfect now and was able to set a custom starting address (after a couple of tries).
Thanks for all the suggestions!
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Have you set the start channel yet? You may need to reprogram the PIC.... Checked solder connections....To be clear the Aether is a 4 channel DMX device. Channel 1 = red, channel 2 = green, channel 3 = blue and the last channel = white.
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It looks like somehow you created a common ground path where when you activate any part of the LED unit, you are activating all of them. when you did your "individual LED" test, did you unmount the unit frm the reflector "heatsink" If so, I would attempt a quick test with things in the same situation as it was when you ran your seperate LED test. I would also take a carefull look at how you are mounting the LED unit to make sure that nothing is shorting against the reflector.
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I wonder of you are hitting the white channel in the test sequence. Run a test with just rgb - don't pick more than just 3 channels
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Thanks for the suggestions! I’m still not having success. Here are some additional details:
I cannot get the Blue or Green leds to come on – when I flash AtherII Test, all I get is red >> white >> red >> white, etc. (but blue and green leds work OK if disconnected from the Aether). The red and white leds do not come on at the same time and look like they are working correctly...
When I flash the AetherII program, I can set the start channel (get the white “pop†after flashing red), however in Vixen I only get Red and White to work – but if the start channel is “10â€, white will be on 10 and red will be on a random channel, say channel 17.
I’ve reprogrammed the PIC a couple of times, using two different PICs with the same result
Could a bad 3.3v regulator cause this since I think it drives the PIC??
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It looks like somehow you created a common ground path where when you activate any part of the LED unit, you are activating all of them. when you did your "individual LED" test, did you unmount the unit frm the reflector "heatsink" If so, I would attempt a quick test with things in the same situation as it was when you ran your seperate LED test. I would also take a carefull look at how you are mounting the LED unit to make sure that nothing is shorting against the reflector.
Excess solder touching screws holding led to heatsink got me before...
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Try and get some good pictures of the front and back and post them. Maybe we can help you see.