Author Topic: Power Supply questions  (Read 5947 times)

Offline drlucas

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Power Supply questions
« on: September 16, 2014, »
I've just finished my build from the last coop (ya, it was a while ago) and put the jumper on single power supply and connect my PS to the right most posts (with the S marked on the board). Nothing happens on the LEDs. I have the LEDs connected with the flat part of them pointing to where they should be so pretty sure polarity was right there. What could be the source of the issue where no LEDs come on? Not enough power? I am using a 5v power supply I got from Ray  - is that going to be enough to power the board even just for simple testing of a single device?

I also have one small servo and still learning which way they go on the board..if I connect it one way nothing happens on the servo motor which I think is better than when I connect it backwards it turns on for a short burst. Probably something I shouldn't do with motors but there is power at least getting to through some parts of the board.

Want to know the basic troubleshooting on that part. I've flashed the pick E33C or something was the checksum, but didn't see any checksum on the wiki to confirm. Let me know if the power is sufficient and what the checksum might be.

Thanks!
-Ryan Lucas-
- Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Eh?! -

Offline packetbob

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2014, »
The leds don't light excpet for:
green will flash if you have a dmx signal source connected
red will flash if the power source voltage drops (indicating overloading the power supply) below what is aceceptable

The leds don't light when the unit is powered up but no doing anything......

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Offline drlucas

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2014, »
Thanks...i'll go connect a cable and see what I can get working.
-Ryan Lucas-
- Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Eh?! -

Offline packetbob

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2014, »
I have to learn to spell check before I post......
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Offline drlucas

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2014, »
HA!! I won't hold speeling aginst anywon hear :-)

Now....for my update. Nothing. I reflowed all the connections...I can see the green led on the lynx dongle flash when I try to output a test in xlights  so it's outputting DMX, but don't see any indication that the controller is seeing anything. I'll post up some pics of the board so people can tell me if I put it together wrong. I was following the manual in the wiki which I suppose was for an earlier version.

-Ryan Lucas-
- Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Eh?! -

Offline drlucas

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2014, »
Top side
-Ryan Lucas-
- Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Eh?! -

Offline drlucas

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2014, »
Back of board
-Ryan Lucas-
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Offline packetbob

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #7 on: September 16, 2014, »
If the green led lights when you connect a DMX source we can assume that the PIC is operating (so your firmware and basic circuitry is ok) otherwise you wouldn't get that...

The servo should connect with the black lead (gnd) on the outer edge of the board and the white or yellow  (servo signal) towards the inside of the board...

Assuming the board has the default values then DMX channel #1 should be Servo #1

You can also try a LED on the #1 LED header... Anode  towards the edge of the board.. It should be DMX channel #9
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Offline drlucas

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #8 on: September 16, 2014, »
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If the green led lights when you connect a DMX source we can assume that the PIC is operating (so your firmware and basic circuitry is ok) otherwise you wouldn't get that...

let me clarify what I said earlier...the LED is flashing on the lynx dongle....not actually on the servo board. Sorry about the confusion there. I mentioned that because to me that demonstrates that DMX output on the Lynx dongle is happening, but I'm not receiving it on the servo from what I can see.

So...I'm not 100% sold on the circuitry or the firmware on the pic yet. I did flash the pic, but used the ipe on my mac to flash it...having some problems with my pickit3 since using it on the mac...that's the other question I had about trying to confirm the checksum on the firmware.

I will do a bit more troubleshooting with my setup this week (i'll pull my LE out and see if my usb dongle is really working as I think it is as that is a known working device). From there I'll maybe flash a pic with the mac and see if the LE still works after that.
-Ryan Lucas-
- Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Eh?! -

Offline packetbob

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #9 on: September 16, 2014, »
Ahh...
If you are not seeing the green led flash on the BobCat when a DMX signal is connected then I suspect you have a firmware issue...

Good idea to test on the LE...

Note that on my LE I always get a steady green led when a DMX signal is present (I get the same on the Dongle green led) while on the Bobcat the green led just flashes every second or two (again only when a DMX signal is present)..

While I love my Mac I find it much easier to use a cheap old PC laptop for things like PIC programmers and such...

Bob
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Offline drlucas

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #10 on: September 16, 2014, »
I hear you about the mac....I keep running bootcamp, but run out of space and need to re-image everything one day soon....or maybe I grab my kids laptop and use that...but it's win8 and not sure if that adds to more problems with programming. anyways, will go with the testing on the LE.

thanks for the guidance.

-Ryan Lucas-
- Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Eh?! -

Offline packetbob

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #11 on: September 16, 2014, »
FYI..
When I open the Bobcat firmware in my PICKit3 programming app I get a checksum of 420F
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Offline n1ist

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #12 on: September 17, 2014, »
The schematic is in the wiki.

A few quick tests:

Remove the PIC, and power up the board.

-  Measure between pin 20 (positive) and 8 (negative) of the PIC socket; you should get 3.3V.  If not, look at D1 and U2 (the regulator) and for shorts on the 3.3v rail to ground
- Jumper between pin 20 and pin 4 of the PIC socket.  The red LED should turn on.  If not, it's likely backwards
- Jumper between pin 20 and pin 11.  The green LED should turn on.
- Jumper between pin 11 and 4, and connect the dongle.  The green LED should flicker with DMX data.  If not, look at U4, jumper JP1, and the input RJ45 jack

/mike

Offline drlucas

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #13 on: September 17, 2014, »
I have 3.3 between 20 and 8.
I have red LED when I jumper.

Now to see what's happening with my pic programming. I may need a hard reset on my pickit3 - need to figure out that now.

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The schematic is in the wiki.

A few quick tests:

Remove the PIC, and power up the board.

-  Measure between pin 20 (positive) and 8 (negative) of the PIC socket; you should get 3.3V.  If not, look at D1 and U2 (the regulator) and for shorts on the 3.3v rail to ground
- Jumper between pin 20 and pin 4 of the PIC socket.  The red LED should turn on.  If not, it's likely backwards
- Jumper between pin 20 and pin 11.  The green LED should turn on.
- Jumper between pin 11 and 4, and connect the dongle.  The green LED should flicker with DMX data.  If not, look at U4, jumper JP1, and the input RJ45 jack

/mike
« Last Edit: September 17, 2014, by drlucas »
-Ryan Lucas-
- Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Eh?! -

Offline drlucas

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Re: Power Supply questions
« Reply #14 on: September 17, 2014, »
OK - figured out the issue with programmer and now PIC is programmed. I'm having other issues with my lynx dongle but will deal with that another day...for now what is happening is if I go in xlights under the standard test mode and move the background intensity from 0 to 255 the servo moves in one direction...if I reduce from 255 down to 0 it moves in the other direction. SO... I think that is my "hello world" in the world of servos correct?

From here not sure if I move to arduino or stick with xlights. I have two mini projects ...one will be a bucky skeleton and the second is making a moving flood light.

Do you have any advice on where to take things from here? I think I'm on the right track though....and appreciate the help and the troubleshooting tips because it really let me help break down this setup and learn along the way...didn't think I'd have to go to microchip website to figure out how to count to 20 on the pins of the chip (but did it just to be sure the pins wrapped at the bottom of the chip and didn't move from 14 to 15 by going back up to the top of the chip)....anyways learning. slowly.

cheers!
-Ryan Lucas-
- Pickering, Ontario, Canada, Eh?! -