Lost dongle output (solved), Now Vixen won't play (solved)

[RJ]

Ok just a couple of things.

You do not need the jumper set on to program with the pickit. That jumper only controlls programming the setup info from the SSC utility. It does not hurt anything so this is not your issue just do not want to lead people in a wrong direction.

Since you can program the SSC we know the comport / Dongle / hub / SSC / lights are not your issue.

Couple of questions:

You could have stumbled on a bug we hae not seen. But lets try a couple of things first.

Can you check that the com port of the ssc utility and vixen are set the same?
Can you see what your seqence timing is set to, try 50ms as a base test.
Can you check that in vixen in the plug section that is says  channel 1 to xxx. What is this set to.  Try making your seqence 4096 channel for the heck of it.

If none of this is the issue I wonder if your vixen install might be corrupt. We know the hardware is working by your programming.

One other thing for everyone not just you. Those flexible lights creat a lot of watts of heat like all light. Do not have them on very long at all with them wound up on those reels or they may overheat.

I did a dumb thing like that once with some rope light and did not unwind it and was playing with it. It melted together and would not unwind!!!

RJ

[Corey872]

Another video dealing with the SSC channel programming and Vixen set-up.  I didn't specifically say in the video, but you see four strips which flashed white to confirm channel programming.  I showed vixen input to one string which wouldn't light.  All strings are the same way, and I've also tried various ports on the hub.  I can always get the white confirm flashing, but no vixen output.

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[Corey872]

Thanks for the additional help.

Can you check that the com port of the ssc utility and vixen are set the same?
- Yes, they are both using COM7.

Can you see what your seqence timing is set to, try 50ms as a base test.
- Yes, it is set to 50ms and I have 20 boxes per second, so that would also equate to 50ms

Can you check that in vixen in the plug section that is says  channel 1 to xxx. What is this set to.  Try making your seqence 4096 channel for the heck of it.
- Yes the plugin is configured for 1-360 channels, 360 is also displayed in the upper left corner of the main toolbar and 360 is the last channel on the list.  I went to configure the plug-in for 4096 and vixen crashed.  I restarted and set up a totally new sequence, 50ms and 4096 channels.  After reassuring vixen I really wanted 4096 channels, I set up the pixelnet plug-in as before, COM7, 115,200, 8, N, 1.  At this point Vixen says "COM7 can not be found", plays the sequence, but no Tx LED on the dongle.  I shut down/restarted Vixen, reloaded the sequence and it is the same - COM7 not found, no Tx.  If I load one of my 360 channel sequences, it works fine on COM7 and I see the Tx LED flicker on the dongle, though no lights on the string. [EDIT] - After posting, I tried a 2048 channel show, it finds the com port and Tx, but no lights on the string.  Then I tried a 4095 channel show, it found the com port and Tx, but no lights on the string, finally went back and reloaded my 4096 channel show and it found COM7 and Tx, but no lights on the string. 

I guess I should also add, this is Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.  When I set everything up, it automatically loaded the Serial/COM/USB drivers and set that up - though when I check, it says the driver is working fine and the most current one available.

If none of this is the issue I wonder if your vixen install might be corrupt. We know the hardware is working by your programming.
- I suppose that is a possibility.  Each time I start it, I get a note that an update is available, but the wiki said do not upgrade beyond 2.1.1.0.

One other thing for everyone not just you. Those flexible lights creat a lot of watts of heat like all light. Do not have them on very long at all with them wound up on those reels or they may overheat.
- Yes, good point.  I've only been running them for a few seconds in the test/confirm modes.  If (nay, WHEN) I finally get colors, I will try not to get mesmerized and let them run too long.

I did a dumb thing like that once with some rope light and did not unwind it and was playing with it. It melted together and would not unwind!!!
- Ouch - I will heed this warning!

RJ

[RJ]

In vixen before you can set the plugin to 4096 you would have to type 4096 into the channel count at the top and hit enter. Vixen will add the extra channels. You can delete them later.

It is interesting that it doesnot find Com7 I would check the hardware manager to see if the comport is showing up or if its is showing on a different port.

RJ

[Corey872]

Well, I think I found the problem.  I set up Vixen on a separate computer and got the exact same result as I've had all day - which seemed to point back to the hardware.  Looking at the Hub under a magnifying glass, I found the top row of solder joints had been missed at the pixelnet input.      I soldered those pins and found the strings still wouldn't light - so I went back and re-ran the SSC set-up utility.  I got the same white flashing result as always, though the string would then see output from pixelnet and work fine.  So now off to play.

Basic lesson...check it once, twice, then get a second set of eyes, then check it again!

Thanks to everyone for all the troubleshooting help!

[MrChristmas2000]

I did a dumb thing like that once with some rope light and did not unwind it and was playing with it. It melted together and would not unwind!!!

RJ

Now I know that I'm not alone. Having it powered up made outlining the stars much easier but suddenly I smelled something, turned around and behind me it has become the lighted blob.   Boy that is one way to burn money. 
Learned that lesson several years ago.

Tom