Author Topic: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?  (Read 4917 times)

Offline Steve Gase

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AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« on: November 03, 2011, »
Powered on new AetherII and it has different behavior from the first -- which is working.

The second goes immediately to white.  It happens whether the cat5 is connected, it happens regardless of position for either of the switches.
I removed the PIC and verified that it was programmed, it was and it had the correct checksum.  For good measure I programmed it again, and verified it.  Still all white.  I tried to be thorough as I soldered each connection, but must have done something wrong.

ANY IDEAS?

Thanks!
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Offline wbuehler

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2011, »
Is there a manual mode that might be shorted on?
I am not sure on the new Aether II but the old had a manual mode so it could be used as a flood light with all white light.

Bill

« Last Edit: November 04, 2011, by wbuehler »

Offline dannyct

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2011, »
I think there was one label marked on the PCB said "MAN".  I'm guessing its for manual mode?  I hope so, since I would like to use it for flood light after the show. 


Offline Steve Gase

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2011, »
There is a "Man" pinout on the board, but it is so far away from the other items I don't see how I'd have bridged it.  I'll take a look tonight. Thanks!
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Offline RJ

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2011, »
Yes that is the manual jumper for a switch like the original.

Hopefully i can start to catch up this weekend with posts and pms so i can help everyone that have questions on the aether II. I have hardly been on and my pms are behind about 5 days I think!


Sent from my Charge by Tapatalk

RJ
Innovation beats imitation - and it's more satisfying

Offline Steve Gase

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2011, »
Update:  more confusion.

Last time I presented my problem, here was the scenario.
..built one aether2 without problems, set the address to 321-324
..tested with vixen, all was well.

Second aether2 and when I connected it, it was all white.  no matter what I did, still white.
..pulled it out of the case, examined all solder points, no noticible change
..applied heat to all exposed solder connections, no noticible change
..pull off the wires to from the pcb heading to the led
..added solder to anything questionable, made sure there were no bridges, used ohm meter to check most connections. all good.
..reattached, and applied power -- and it seemed to now work  (great!)
..no matter what I tried to do, could not set the address.  it was always (0),1,2,3
..reprogrammed the pic (crc was not matching before, but after program it verified), now all I get is white.  I am back to where I started.
..pulled the pic out and programmed in the zif socket... the crc was wrong again, and again I programmed and again it verifies.  but it is still white.

questions: 

why does it go white?  it worked at one point -- except for the addresses, so I know that it can show the colors and can be controlled.

why could I not program it to 325?  I resoldered all of the connections to the PIC socket, and I suspect that as the original white problem.  But I don't think it is the problem now. 

any ideas?

does anyone in the forum take in destressed kits to lend a hand with an attempted repair?
« Last Edit: November 07, 2011, by Steve Gase »
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Offline wbuehler

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2011, »
Will it program to any address?

Bill


Offline Steve Gase

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #7 on: November 07, 2011, »
When power is applied, it is white.
This is irregardless of whether the dongle is connected, or not... whether the program or operate switch is left or right, or DMX terminate is left or right.

It won't do anything but white when the configuration is attempted or vixen is used to manipulate channels.

At one point -- much later in my attempts to get it working -- I left off the PIC not returning it to the socket -- still white.

There is a trend here somewhere. :)
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Offline wbuehler

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2011, »
I wish that I had one, so I could help a bit better.  I know that you have checked several times but can you give the drivers another look?
Would it be possible to post some pics of the PCB front and back?

Bill


Offline rrowan

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2011, »
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When power is applied, it is white.
This is irregardless of whether the dongle is connected, or not... whether the program or operate switch is left or right, or DMX terminate is left or right.

It won't do anything but white when the configuration is attempted or vixen is used to manipulate channels.

At one point -- much later in my attempts to get it working -- I left off the PIC not returning it to the socket -- still white.

There is a trend here somewhere. :)
[/quote

If its all white as soon as you turn it on then I would check the rj-45 jack input and the rs-485 chip. The pic is not seeing data from the dongle and going to landscape mode.

Rick R.
Light Animation Hobby - Having fun and Learning at the same time. (21st member of DLA)
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Warning SOME assembly required

Offline Steve Gase

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #10 on: November 07, 2011, »
Hmmm... doing pics from the front I found something troublesome, hopefully the only cause.  The bad unit has been resoldered a couple times (I swapped resistors when there were no pictures), and later when I was learning about the extra heat needed to get a good connection to the LED pads.  So, it looks uglier than the working unit. 

I just noticed with a blowup of the pics that the little black specs are electronic components. huh.  And comparing to the working unit I see that a black spec is missing.  Comparing the bad and good pics, you might see that the LEDENGIN, INC 'should' have a small black spec.  I think I might have flicked it off when trying to clean up some of the solder spittle and that messy heatsink compound that oozed out.

Now to ask RJ if he has extras... :(

Edit: (attaching the correct -- good2.jpg file)



TURNS OUT THAT I HAD A PIECE OF TISSUE OBSCURING THE CHIP IN THE PHOTO.   I was about to pull the old one off and saw the tissue.  So that is unlikely my problem.  I've exhausted all of the obvious at this point.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2011, by Steve Gase »
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Offline mokeefe

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #11 on: November 07, 2011, »
Isn't that 2 photos of the same unit?

-Mike

Offline Steve Gase

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #12 on: November 07, 2011, »
fixed.  ;)  (...as in, "fixed the attached picture"  the aether2 is still broken :()
« Last Edit: November 10, 2011, by Steve Gase »
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Offline complacent_one

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #13 on: November 07, 2011, »
Pretty sure that based on the layout, those are little Schotky diodes.  You also will want to clean that Conductive transfer compound from the pads prior to soldering them....you may be providing a short to the heatsink.


Offline Steve Gase

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Re: AetherII, all white all the time... ideas?
« Reply #14 on: November 10, 2011, »
RJ hasn't been available to respond to my request for a replacement Aether2 LED Emitter.

I see that mouser has LedEngin products available, but I'm not sure which to order...  anyone have an idea?

Thanks!
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