My Working Aether

[Freebird]

WOW.!!!  I finally got around to building my aether a few months back.  When I first powered it up,it did not work as advertised.  I researched and read all the topics ( or so I thought) on troubleshooting issues with the aether build.  I put it on the back shelf for awhile and took it to the recent mini-plus in washington hoping to have time to ask one of the senior DIYers to perhaps take a look and see what I did wrong.  Well of course after we left and I got about 10 miles down the road, my wife asked if I was able to ask one of the guys there to help me troubleshoot.    I forgot..  So I brought it to work with me this week and finally was able to have a quiet afternoon to collect a paycheck and work on my aether.  After about 4 hours of touching every solder joint up. Viewing all the troubleshooting videos, programming the pic and reprogramming the pic and reprogramming the pic... ( you get the idea).  I still had a white flash during startup.  Then white flashes during a sequence for about 2 minutes,  then a constant strobe of red ( all 6 leds ) for the remainder of the sequence and non stop when the sequence was ended.  the only way to stop the red flash was either unplug the aether and let it sit for about 15 minutes,  or swap the jumper from oper to prog.  Well I finally dug a little deeper in the forums and came across this thread  (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login) talking about the PIC3 and using the software from microchip and not the MPlab.  Well this was my last straw and I was determined to get online and ask for someone to send it to and look it over and see what I was doing wrong.  Well thanks to Gary, and RJ's conversation on the above thread, I fixed my aether with the proper programming!!!  I am so excited and blind also from running sequences with the aether checking it out.  Good thing I work in a building all alone or someone would have called me crazy for doing the "Crazy Aether Happy Dance".

Freebird

[RJ]

Glad you got it working!

RJ

[Freebird]

Thanks RJ,

  just wanted to say that smd was not scary at all.  I actually looked forwarded to it and it was a lot easier to solder than the thru holes with the copper pcb on the back.  Your videos and the tutorials are so step by step thats its hard to make a mistake.  I look forward to teh Aether 2.  All though would not mind at all attempting another Aether 1.


Freebird.

[RJ]

I'm glad you did Enjoy it as did I but not everyone was quite ready for the SMD train yet.

RJ

[Gary]

Freebird, I'm glad I was able to point you in the right direction. Like you, I found that the SMD part was pretty fairly easy (once I got over the worrying that I'll do something wrong), and the all difficulties I had was with my PICKit 3 to program the board.

I guess changing the Aether's design to through hole will eliminate the problem with PIC programming as I assume that they will come pre-programmed in the co-op like they do for the Express?

[tbone321]

While they probably will, I strongly suggest that everyone who in into the hobby pick up a programmer and that being the Pickit-3.  While the Pickit-2 is still available, it's support from Microteck is coming to an end if not there already.  This would indicate that it will not program any of the newer Pics comming from MicroTeck and for the small price savings, why bother especially with all of the new developments coming from RJ.  I currently have the Pickit-2 and will continue to use it but will also be picking up a Pickit-3 as well for probable need in the future.  

The Pics in the SmartString coop will not come programmed due to the high volume and I would bet that unless this coming Aether coop also has a limit it will also be huge.  Programming Pics takes time and makes the coops more difficult for the coop manager.  As the popularity of the group and Lynks devices grows I would think that the members would want to make coops easier to do for the managers so that there are more of them or the limits on them can be increased, not harder where the number of them is reduced or coop limits that prevent a lot of people from getting in.  

[chrisatpsu]

i'd also extend the tbone's comment with make sure you get a legit pickit 3, you can never be too sure if the clone will support thesame pics, even as new ones come out. plus, even if a new one comes out, i'm sure the pickit3 will support it fairly quickly, as opposed to a clone, might take awhile for the designer to realize it's out there, add the suppport, test it, etc...   

that's even if they bother with the particular clone you're on, or make you buy a new one.

[Gary]

While they probably will, I strongly suggest that everyone who in into the hobby pick up a programmer and that being the Pickit-3.  While the Pickit-2 is still available, it's support from Microteck is coming to an end if not there already.  

Yeah, that was my reasoning for going with the PICkit 3 to program my Aethers... to try to avoid obsolescence as long as possible. Now it's ironic that my Aethers are "obsolete" with the new version coming out soon. 

[tbone321]

Why would they be obsolete?  The new ones should function in pretty much the same way as the old ones.  They are just easier to build.

[Gary]

I put "obsolete" in quotes to be tongue in cheek. New version, old version... they both generate light.

[chrisatpsu]

he might mean obsolete, like the rest of the stuff. you can't get a version 1 board of just about anything anymore, so they're "obsolete"