Dongle Problems II

[Night Owl]

The company verified that the USB module was damaged and will be sending me a new one.  I'll update again when I get it up an running with a new module and a correctly programmed PIC.

[WWNF911]

Thats great news and just the post I was waiting for in this thread. I hope it's all smooth sailing from here. 

Leon

[Night Owl]

Heh, nope.  Still having problems.

So I got the new module.  Connected pins 3, 10, 11, and 12 together and plugged it into the computer.  Recognized it right off and assigned com 5.  Fantastic.  Soldered it up and installed a PIC that Kenneth programmed for me.  Hooked it up to my express and ran the test mode.  Test is successful and at the end, LEDs 2,3, and 4 remain lit.  With LED 3 on, I assume the board is receiving a DMX signal.  So I'm feeling good.

So following the manual, I download and install the Express config utility.  Update the light list.  Change the comport setting to COM5 and press the Update button.

Selected the first light on the list.  Put the board into program mode. (LED display says "PG6" (PRG), press Select once and it now says "PG6."  Pressed the Program button on the config utitilty program and... nothing.

I read the thread about the config program:
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The Express remains in "PG6." mode and does not reboot.  I tried what RJ suggested and changed the StartChannel to 207 and repeated the process.  No LEDs on the board flash during the process.  Well, LED 16 flashes when I press the Select button but nothing afterward. 

After a bit, I stop transmitting, and disconnect the power to the Express then plug it back in.  The board boots, but the start channel is still 001.

I tried different USB cables and the cat 5 cable with no luck.

With all the soldering/desolding involved with replacing the USB module, might I have damaged something else?  I hate to do it, but I'll start from scratch and order all new parts if I have to.

[knguyen916]

curious, what is the date on your express chip? Also was it through a coop or did you order the chip?

If the chip starts with a 9XX date on it then you might need to reprogram the chip for the new firmware. Instead of using hte utility to do the programming couldn't you program the start channel on board? Correct me if im wrong here anyone

[Night Owl]

The chip is a 9XX chip and I got it from the last coop. 

As for the channel change, I was following RJ's suggestion from the other thread.  I'm assuming his reasoning was that if the Express registered the DMX channel change from the configure program, then we know that both the dongle and Express was communicating.

*sigh* it's never easy.  Trying to cover all bases, I checked Mouser to see if they had all the parts for a new dongle.  Yep, many parts are out of stock.   



   

[mschell]

You don't need to run the "LE Config utility" unless you want to update the LNT tables.

You can set the starting address of the LE via the buttons on the LE.

I would worry more about getting the lights to go on/off/dim, rather than worry about the LNT stuff.

See if you can get Vixen or LSP or whatever light control program you are using to send signals to the LE and go from there...

[Night Owl]

Actually, I wanted to start out with the config utility as a test to see if the dongle and the express could talk to one another.  I was pretty confident that the Express was fine since the built in diagnostic passed OK.  But because of problems I had with the USB module, I was concerned that I may have damaged something on the dongle.  I did pull all the chips prior to desoldering, but with my luck so far...

Also, as I am a total noob when it comes to computer controlled lighting, I have zero experience with Vixen.  So by starting with the config utiliity, I can ensure the hardware is working before attempting to learn how to use Vixen.

That being said, I did try and run a quick and dirty sequence and couldn't get the the Express to react.  I followed the nice Youtube videos and just laid down a simple beat track for channel 1.  Of course, I could be doing something wrong. 

Its late for it already, but tomorrow I'm going to fire up my soldering iron and reflow the joints and see if that helps.  It looks good to me, but I'll try anything at this point. 

[Night Owl]

I think I'm running out of ideas.  I heated all the joints and they all look good.  I installed the USB drivers and the config program on a different computer but it is still not working.  From what I am reading on the Express manual, the config program should transmit the data then reset the board.  Although the program says "Transmitting" the Express doesn't react.

I ordered a PICKIT2 programmer and will try and reflash the PIC on the Express with the updated hex file.

If this doesn't work, I'm going to assume that I somehow damaged the Dongle (either the PCB or one of the components) when I desoldered the USB module and will order parts to build a new dongle.

Does anyone have alternative suggestions?  I'm afraid that I might have to put off putting up a display this year if I can't get this solved soon.    

Hm, I got a couple of questions.  I was reading the dongle manual again.  It says not to plug in the dongle until after the drivers are installed.  But the ftdichip.com install manual says to plug it in, then install drivers.  I followed the ftdichip instructions.  Would that cause a problem?  The computer is recognizing that it does have a USB com port so I didn't think it was a big deal.

Second, I was looking at the properties for the USB Serial Port for the dongle.  The port settings is 9600 bits per second, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop bit, and no flow control.   The dongle manual says to start Vixen and set the com speed to 115K.  What are the port settings supposed to be? 

[Greg]

Hm, I got a couple of questions.  I was reading the dongle manual again.  It says not to plug in the dongle until after the drivers are installed.  But the ftdichip.com install manual says to plug it in, then install drivers.  I followed the ftdichip instructions.  Would that cause a problem?  The computer is recognizing that it does have a USB com port so I didn't think it was a big deal.

Second, I was looking at the properties for the USB Serial Port for the dongle.  The port settings is 9600 bits per second, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop bit, and no flow control.   The dongle manual says to start Vixen and set the com speed to 115K.  What are the port settings supposed to be?  

If the computer is recognizing the com port, I think you're okay with the drivers and the usb module.  Port should be 115 Kbps, 8 data bits, no parity, one stop, no flow control.

Greg

[RJ]

I also agree you should be working to get a controller working using vixen and not trying to config the controller as your test.

Get a controller setup stock and hook up the dongle no wireless or anything else just a cable. If you are getting a DMX light during the self test as you say your dongle is putting out something that looks like DMX to it. Use vixen configure the plugin on a blank 512 channel seqence and use the test channel with all channels selected to see if you can control anything. This is the best start to diagnose the problem.

RJ

[Night Owl]

Great Goolgly Moogly!  It works!    Thank you all so much for the help!  Following Mark's advice I had been using Vixen to test the hardware, but nothing was happening.  In the back of my mind I was also concerned that I was using Vixen wrong (incorrect settings, wrong driver, etc) so I was also using the config program to test.  The culprit was the transmission speed.  Set to 115K, all the LEDs started to flash rapidly when the board was in the run mode and the config program was transmitting.  It didn't look right, but after so long of nothing working, random flashing was an improvement.

In Vixen, the Express is accepting simple on/off commands on all 16 channels.  I need to figure out how to do fading, but at this point, I'm overjoyed that I can get that far.

Thank you Leon, Bill, knguyen916, Mark, Greg, and RJ for sticking with me.  I was really beginning to despair that I would get this system working.

Mahalo!
Nathan     

[ThaiWay]

Glad you got 'er going Nathan!

Are you one of those culdesac houses in Hanamaulu?

John

[RJ]

Hey thats what we are here for. I am also glad you got her going. The people that do have an issue at first normally once we get them going it becomes easy for them. Once you get one setup running it gets much easier from there.

RJ

[rrowan]

Hey thats what we are here for. I am also glad you got her going. The people that do have an issue at first normally once we get them going it becomes easy for them. Once you get one setup running it gets much easier from there.

RJ

Congrats Night Owl,

I am a perfect example of what RJ said. I was getting dongle errors at random times when I first started with lynx hardware, until I finally listen to RJ and tried different usb cables until one worked. Since then I have learned a lot and try my best to share and help others. Its a great cycle of learning and sharing.

Cheers

Rick R.

[Night Owl]

Are you one of those culdesac houses in Hanamaulu?

John

I'm not familiar with that area.  Is that on Kauai?  I live in central Oahu.

My PICKit2 just arrived in the mail today.  Heh, now that I have gotten the system working, I'm hesitant to flash the PIC to update the Express.  Maybe I'll hold off until after Christmas.  Or at least until my two kits from the current coop arrive and I verify those work.