Zues issue, help appreciated

[tbone321]

The 485 is the 8 pin chip to the left of the input connectors.  If you have the ver2 Zeus, then there will be 4 of them.  The Ver1 only has 1.  As for flashing the chip, I would hold off on that until you check the 485.  If you set this up wrong, there is a chance of damaging the PIC.  Unless you really need to do this now, I would wait until you get your SSC V4's.  They use the same PIC and have an ISCP header.  This will allow you to use it to flash your Zeus PIC's safely. 

[tindivall]

Ok sounds good.... Yeah I don't want to screw it up and I am not the most handy person... learning as I go here

[tindivall]

I appreciate all of those that have taken the time to attempt to help me solve this.. I am hoping tonight to try the switching of the 485 suggested by tbone



If I take the 485 out of the bad Zues and put in the new and it doesn't work, that would in theory mean the 485 is bad... do I then order a new one through mouser?


Another question... if I do have to re-flash the pic, I read the instructions on how to do it with the SSC but I have to ask... What is the PIC? is that the 485(8 pin socket)? or is it each one of the 14 pin sockets? or something totally different I am not seeing.

[tbone321]

The 485 is the communications chip.  If it fails, then the Zeus will be unable to hear any of the commands coming from the ETD.  The PIC's are the 16 larger (14 pin) chips.  If it were just 1 PIC that has seemed to stop responding then I would suggest a reflash as a possible fix but for 32 of them to suddenly fail .....  unless you used the wrong version of the configuration utility then it is unlikely that they will need to be reflashed.  If the 485 turns out not to be the problem, then you can give it a try.

[tindivall]

I hooked up one of the non-working zues and tested again... still nothing

Hooked up the working on.... still working

So took the 485 out of the non-working and put in the working on..... Worked


 I don't know.......    in other news SSC's came in yesterday!

[tbone321]

What version of the Zeus do you have?

[tindivall]

V1

[tbone321]

Ok, here is another thing that you can try.  If you have a functioning Zeus, retest it to confirm that it is working.  If it is, then take the PIC from the output port that you are testing on and move both it and the string that you are testing with to the same port on one of the bad Zeus units and test that Zeus with the same string and setup that you tested the good one with.  If it works, that will confirm that the board and outputs are ok on the bad Zeus and the issue lies with the PICS.  If not, then we need to look further into the board on the bad Zeus.

[tindivall]

Ok TBone here is the update... plugged lights into spot 1 on working zeus and tested... work fine

Plugged lights into spot 1 on non-working zeus ... didn't work (which was expected)

Took the PIC from Working Zeus spot 1 and put in spot 1 on non-working Zeus .... Lights Work .. sort of


In the Smart String utility I can program them and get them to flash white... but after powering off the board, moving the jumper, and then running a test in XLights they don't work again  (where as on the working Zeus the test in XLights works)?

[tbone321]

Ok, the question then is why did you change the configuration and what exactly do you mean when you say sort of works?  The point of this test was to see what happened if you ran the working chip with the working software and working nodes on one of the non working boards.  There should be no need to alter the configuration to perform this test.  Did you try and run the test prior to reconfiguring the PIC and if so, what happened?

[tindivall]

I think you misunderstand

Using the SSC Utility

I ran the lights on port 1 of the working board..... Flashed White
I ran the lights on port 1 of the non working board..... Nothing

I pulled the PIC from port 1 of working board and put in on non working board
I ran the lights on port 1 of the non working board with PIC from working board..... flashed white


based off that information I would assume the issue is the PICs then


However I went a step further of testing and thought I would share that information as it might help lead to a diagnostics:

with Working Board, Port 1, the working PIC ... I can run lights in XLights test and make go red, blue, etc...

With nonworking board, Port 1, the working PIC which now makes the board working and lights flash white.... I run XLights test and nothing happens


Didn't know if that information would be helpful so that is why I shared.

[twooly]

Try moving the pic from the good board to the bad board but don't run the Ssc configuration utility just try with xlights.  The configuration should be set in the pic already from the good board when you ran it there

[tindivall]

Ok... put good PIC in good board... ran SSC (light flashed)... then ran XLights test.... lights RGB cycled



Took good PIC and put in bad board... ran Xlights test... nothing

Powered off bad board, changed program jumper, powered back on and ran SSC... white flashing lights




Also just for giggles I took the Bad PIC and put in the Good Board... nothing

[tbone321]

Ok, there is a problem with the board and it appears to be the same one that Jim is having with one of his.  Did these "defective" boards ever work or were they just built and put away?

[jnealand]

Mine was built and put away.