Troubleshooting questions

[Muskogee Gene]

I am working my way thru the troubleshooting part of the manual.
Step 1 was good but I am confused on Step 2.  In checking the left side of the 15k (formerly 27k) resistor where does the other lead touch?

[JoeFromOzarks]

Referencing the component side of the board, the left side of the 15K goes to pin5 of the H11AA1 and to pin21 of the 18F2455. 

The right side of the 15K goes to +5V rail, the 100uF electrolytic cap and 78S05.  (The right side of the 15k should be the same voltage checked in step 1.)

What troubles are you having?

joe

[Muskogee Gene]

Thanks Joe.  The FS does nothing.  If it has been unplugged for a while, the lights will blink when it is plugged in.  Otherwise, no response.  I also built a dongle and I think it is working, though I don't have a way to really test it other than watching the LEDs blink and change with power level changes in Vixen.

[tbone321]

Did you load the firmware?

[chrisatpsu]

stated in Step 1 of the manual

From this point on the measurements all will be done with the negative probe left on the top location which is ground for the digital circuits.

so for step 2, to measure voltage

keep the negative probe from the meter where it was for step 1

check the positive on the left side of the that resistor on the other side of the board near the fuse (not the big resistors) don't touch the fuse either, as you might get shocked, or fry your meter.

[Muskogee Gene]

Holy Cow!!!  Thanks Chris.  I can't believe I totally missed that.  The bold print must have made me ignore it.

[chrisatpsu]

no problem, but please dont fry yourself in your excitement

[Muskogee Gene]

OK.  Worked thru the troubleshooting and all voltages checked out.   The clock voltage was 2.52 which I found interesting since I was getting 4.96 on the 5v readings. 

TBone:  I sent the PIC to a person on the forum to program.  I since purchased a programmer, put in the PIC and read it successfully getting the correct checksum.  I am assuming that says the programming is valid.  Please correct me if that is not a good way to know.

Hmmm.  So now what?

[chrisatpsu]

what is it doing? (or not doing)

you can also try showing us pictures of the back side of the board, try to take good pictures without any glare on the pcb. a good way to tell if its a good pic, before you upload it, look at the pic on the computer and see if you can see the solder joints really well, that way we can see it too.

[tbone321]

If the programmer is able to read from the pic and the checksum checks out then there is a pretty good chance that the pic is good and functining properly.  Did you attempt to set the start channel?  Until you do, the freestyle will not operate.  If the unit fails to respond to setting the start channel, you could always download the current firmware for the freestyle and reload the pic.  This will eliminate that as a possible cause for it not working.

[D56VillageNut]

From my own first Freestyle build.  

Check the four rows of chips between the RJ-45 jacks.  The dot or notch for pin 1 is on the opposite end for the lower two rows.  I've attached a pic below for reference.

On my first one I had all the notches for these 16 sockets facing to the left when looking at the PCB.  I didn't remove and redo the sockets but I did turn the chips around in the lower two rows and it worked.  Made darn sure the next Freestyle had the sockets installed correctly.  

May not be the issue here but it took several DLA members looking at my posted pics to bring my attention to that little "Oops" on my part.

Just taking a stab at the issue.

Alan T

[Muskogee Gene]

OK.  I think I finally got some decent pictures of the board.  BTW, for those who haven't taken pictures of these things, take them outside on a cloudy day.  Natural light works much better than artificial for cutting the glare.  I was about to throw the whole thing in the trash trying to get a decent picture last night.

[Muskogee Gene]

here is one more picture

[RJ]

I am not positive from the picture but the clock module looks like the dot on it is diaginal from the dot on the pcb? If so the clock is not in correct. I do see what could be a dot in the correct place but it is hard to tell on the pic just check it for me.


Never mind I see you checked the output and got ~ 2.5 volts so it has to be in correct.

I do not see in the post what it is and is not doing? I am aways happy to help you if you want to pm me to setup a time we can meet in Teamspeak to work through it.

RJ

[Muskogee Gene]

Sorry about that.  I thought I had posted the issue but that was in the dongle area. 

I get nothing from the FS.  If the dongle is connected, there is a single flash on the light string connected to the SSR the moment the FS is plugged in.  Otherwise nothing.

I will go buy a headset so we can chat.  I will pm you to setup a time.  Thanks RJ.