My Dongle Locks up Vixen

[Rainlover]

I just finished my v1.0 dongle, programmed the pic and loaded the drivers. When I plug it in, windows sees it and sets it up as a usb serial port on com4. In Vixen, I set up my profile plugin with the Entec DMX USB pro, changed to com4, set the rate at 115200. When I open a sequence and click on Test Channels, Vixen locks up. If I pull the cable from the dongle, Vixen unlocks and gives me an error.
I notice that when I barely touch the usb cable, windows loses the connection to the dongle. I have tried 3 different cables.
I am lost.

John

[rrowan]

Which version of Vixen are you using?

IF my memory still works, the later versions had a problem with test channel

I am using ver 2.1.30

Rick R.

[Rainlover]

Rick,
I am using v2.1.4.0
If the pic was not programmed correctly, would it cause this problem?

John

[RJ]

Normally this means the Pic is not running or is not doing its job. Many reasons why that might be. Check the .1uf cap at the bottom of the PIC chip for dc voltage with the usb plugged in. Should see 5v. Is this what you get?

If so flash the pic again and make sure you have the the correct firmware from the wiki. Then post back.

RJ

[basis21b]

I had a similar problem and reprogramming the PIC corrected it.

[Rainlover]

RJ,
I am not an electrictian and there is not a Holiday Inn Express nearby, so I need to ask a simple question.
Where can I grab a ground on this dongle to check voltage?
I flashed the pic again just for grins (see below) and I still have no joy. I don't have a hex editor to compare the hex file to what it shows in the pickit software.
My brain is on solder fumes.

John

[RJ]

Sorry, thats what I meant by check the voltage on the Cap. It is Ground on one side and Power on the other so put the leads on each other side to check it.

RJ

[memphislights]

just throwing this out there...

You don't have the DMX option under Add-ins checked do you?

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[Rainlover]

I don't have voltage to either one of the caps so I obviously have screwed something up in my assembly.
I checked the addins and DMX was not checked.
When I get home from work, I will check all of my solder joints again and make sure I have all of the pieces in the correct spots.

John

[Rainlover]

Well.......
I desoldered all of the pins in the USB connector and any other joints that didn't look good. I resoldered all of the joints, plugged in the usb cable and got 5 volts at the cap. I started Vixen and was able to set up a profile and when I clicked on Test Channels, the channel box came up!! I am guessing that it is working.
Now I need to put together an LE and see if I can get some DMX to the LE.
Stay tuned.

John

[RJ]

 

RJ

[Rainlover]

Phase 2
I completed my first LE! The startup message played, but when I did the tst, #3 led did not light up.
I hooked up my dongle and tested the channels and all of them work except #3. I have followed the traces and have continuity to everything I can see. I have voltage to the triac.
Any ideas where to start looking?

John

[vairmoose]

It sounds like it  could be a dead led..   

A bit of a nuisance to replace.

Larry

[KeithTarpley]

Greetings,,,

If neither the #3 led lights, nor the output from the triac works, then check that the pic doesn't have a pin out of the socket.  Also, check the pic socket has good solder connections.

Keith

[rrowan]

Maybe LED #3 was put in backwards

Rick R.

(I have done that before )