Aether Troubles

[lineman]

Ok First Aether all is good , Second not so good. This is whats wrong and what I have tried.

1) On power up Leds are Blue and I have no Manual
2) Installed new firmware ( Pic Verifyed)
3) Useing Confiuation Utilty to set start channel ( while programming leds blink and turn to red)
4) check for solder bridges and touched up solder joints on thru hole components

    What should I do now

[thshadow]

Hmm this sounds very much the same to what I am having an issue with on my Aether -> the firmware update went from steady blues to blink along reds... Do  the RED flashes only happen when the ethernet cable is plugged in? IE if you don't plug in an ethernet cable the Aether behaves with no lights on after start up? If so we may be troubleshooting problems... 

- Mike

[batdive]

Ok First Aether all is good , Second not so good. This is whats wrong and what I have tried.

1) On power up Leds are Blue and I have no Manual
2) Installed new firmware ( Pic Verifyed)
3) Useing Confiuation Utilty to set start channel ( while programming leds blink and turn to red)
4) check for solder bridges and touched up solder joints on thru hole components

    What should I do now

With the newest firmware it will have preset channels 1-4 and have the ability to have the manual switch work.  So I would say start slow down a minute to diagnosis the problem.


Unplug it
have the jumper on operation
Reflash the pic with the newest firmware. (Also if using a PicKit3 use the express utility no MLAB)
After flash, button the case back up for safety =)
Now try the manual switch.

It should turn on all leds so you have white light.


If it does then you can start to the programming a channel side of it, if not what does it do?  You have a red pwr led? when you first plug it in do you have a quick flash of white light?


-JS

[lineman]

If it does then you can start to the programming a channel side of it, if not what does it do?  You have a red pwr led? when you first plug it in do you have a quick flash of white light?

I have reflashed pic and all lights or on when I plug it in but still no manaul and no power LED or data Desoldered leds thinkinking I put them in wrong replaced and still no LEDS

[basis21b]

FWIW, I had issues on power up where the LEDs were red.  I ended up touching up the soldering on the LED's, the U2 chips, one of the surface mount resistors and the PIC.  It appears I didn't use enough "gray goop".  As I looked at the resistor there was a tiny dot of solder on the pad completely opposite where it needed to be to make a good connection.

After the touchup work and new firmware it is working great.

[batdive]

I have reflashed pic and all lights or on when I plug it in but still no manaul and no power LED or data Desoldered leds thinkinking I put them in wrong replaced and still no LEDS

Ok so you get the quick flash of light on power up.. Have you checked your diodes? there has been some confusion with the direction those go.  The line on top (or notch also) goes to the left of the board as you look at it.

Sounds like you will have to post some pics of the front and back for people to look at for possible bridges.

I agree with the other post above about touching up the constant current circuits, but would double check the diodes and constant current chips are the right directions first.

[lineman]

Ok I have touch up the U2 and Resistors now when I power up I get 1 quick white flash if I flip the manaul switch nothin happens but if I powere down and back up the white flash is not as quick. Hopes this makes sense  with man.switch 1 way fast blink the otherway slower blink . Were I had all LEDS staying on now I can,t git them on . I will try to post pics leaving town tommorow sure would like to have this fixed OH WELL . THANKS FOR YALLS HELP

[lineman]

Heres some pics let me know if yall need specific areas

[lineman]

A couple more shoul I move this to trouble shooting

[batdive]

Check the back it looks like you have a bridge from the temp sensor to the rest of the copper back plate.

Also watch out for the crimp connectors, I cant tell from the angles but you might want to wrap those in electrical tape to make sure they dont connect the copper backing also.  Had that happen and not fun.


The pics of the front are to blurry to really make out details, so you would have to retake those pics if you dont mind.

[lineman]

The pics of the front are to blurry to really make out details, so you would have to retake those pics if you dont mind.

Removed Bridge  still no lights I get the quick blink of white flip the toggle switch for man, power up blink is a litle slower. hope these pic are better if not any help in pic taking is welcome

[lineman]

OK heres a little info, If I put jumper to PROG all LEDS light up blue and blink fast and when I try to set AdressUseing configuation all LEDS tun to solid white. Move jumper to Operate and no LEDS come on MAN or using DMX deck . Tried Channel1 nothin tried Channel 101  (Start channel)

[RJ]

Few things we can rule out.

Since your Leds flash white when you plug it in then we know the leds , power supply, Diodes, ect are working or they could not do this.  this sounds like a control issue as in the pic not telling the system to do anything. You do have you wireless/cable jumper on and set to cabled correct?


Can you install the newest firmware that rick put on the wiki again but not mess with it. Just try to use it on channel 1 please.  This then rules out issue with that. It should work after flashing the firmware on channel 1 normally with nothing being done. If not them we troubleshoot. We do not want to use the utility to set anything until we get it working 100% as is.

If it does not work then :

Look over the solder joint on the chips and touch up with iron if needed.

Pin 2,3,4 connect to pin 2 of the driver chip for the color it controls.

So with all power off put you meter to check for connectivity and check the following :

pin 2 on the pic (pin 1 is the bottom left of the pic so this is the next one to the right on the bottom) connects to pin 2 on the Driver chip of the Blue driver chip (the one under the big "B")

pin 3 (Third from the left on Bottom) on the pic connects to pin 2 on the Driver chip of the Red driver chip (the one under the big "R")

pin 4 on (4th from the left on the bottom) the pic connects to pin 2 on the Driver chip of the Green driver chip (the one under the big "G")


RJ

[lineman]

Can you install the newest firmware that rick put on the wiki again but not mess with it. Just try to use it on channel 1 please.  This then rules out issue with that. It should work after flashing the firmware on channel 1 normally with nothing being done. If not them we troubleshoot. RJ , I erased and reinstalled firmware no change , when you say check for connectivity I hope omh out is the same thing , I set my meter to ring and I get nothin from any of the pins you said if the RED,BLUE GREEN Driver chip is the led on the bottom all the way to the right it is the only thing I see that has R<B<G . I ohmed pin 2 to b and pin 3 to R and pin 4 to G and did not get it to ring SORRY IF I SOUND DUMB STILL LEARNING

[RJ]

The driver chips as the 8 pin chips at the bottom of the pcb on the right side.

If you look above those three chips you see a letter for each one.

R for Red, G for Green, B for Blue. This is to help you know which controller section controls which color.

RJ