Ether Dongle LED on power up?

[pokey]

I just finished assembly thanks to RJ sending the correct resistors.  Unfortunately, I think I've hosed my build...when I connect the power, get nothing.  I'm assuming the pretty green LED should be lighting up....

Should it?

I'll try to re-do my solders later...

[caretaker]

If you have a volt meter (if not it's a good investment) check the input from the wall wart and the ouput off the regulator. Also double check your LED is in right.

[Night Owl]

What a coincidence.  I was JUST about to post the same question.  Like you, I just finished my build and powered up and nothing.  I wasn't sure if the green LED was supposed to illuminate or not.  I am getting 9.12V off the wall wart when it isn't connected to the circuit and 7.98V when it is. 

5V regulator (7805): 7.98V on pin 1, 0V on pin 2 and 5.00V on pin 3
3.3V regulator (117v33): 0V on pin 1, 3.29V on pin 2 and 5.00V on pin 3

I'm pretty sure I put the LED in right.  When I check voltage across the LED, I get 0 V.

I'm going to check my joints again then start tracing the LED circuit and see where I am losing the voltage.  From what I see, the positive end of the LED is connected to the center pin of the 3.3V regulator through the 510 ohm resistor.  Is this right?

Oh, and I have not tried to program the PIC yet.  That shouldn't affect anything, or should it?

 

[Night Owl]

Ok, I need some help understanding the LED circuit.  I just traced it and it doesn't make sense to me.  Center pin of 3.3V regulator to 2.2K ohm resistor (second resistor in the column of 5 resistors around the middle of the board).  From the resistor to the negative end of the LED.  From the positive end of the LED to the 510 ohm resistor.  From that resistor back to the center pin of the 3.3V regulator.   I traced it with my multimeter and it seems like that is the path.  What am I missing?

[RJ]

It is not a power indicator. It is connected to the ethernet phy chip. It is an indicator for it.
Post good close pics of your pcb and let us see if we can see the issue. 


RJ

[Night Owl]

Oh, so I might not have a problem.  I was under the mistaken assumption that the green LED was a power indicator.  I haven't programed the PIC or tried a test run yet.  Let me try and program the PIC and see what it does.

[RJ]

Ok yes until programmed it will not function. The pic must active the Ethernet for it to light.

Think of it as more of a "Its alive indicator"

RJ

[rrowan]

Ok yes until programmed it will not function. The pic must active the Ethernet for it to light.

Think of it as more of a "Its alive indicator"

RJ

Like Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein?

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Rick R.

[Night Owl]

Ok, now I feel like an idiot.  I believe I am in the "cart before the horse" situation.  Or maybe "eyes bigger than stomach"  Anyhoo, I programed the PIC and according to the programmer, everything was A-OK.  Verified ok also.  Green LED lights when writing or reading the PIC.  So I'm feeling good and the next step would be to run a sequence.  Then I realize that I don't have the active hub built yet. 

The hub isn't built yet because the SS controllers aren't built yet.
The SS controllers aren't built because I don't have any nodes yet.
I don't have nodes because a 3 week trip to Florida ate into my light budget and I figured I would push off moving to SS until next year.

 

Of course, I got so excited about the Ether dongle and reading about the fun you all were having with the new system that I jumped into the co-op TOTALLY forgetting the lack of SS.  (Or maybe I rationalized it away.)  The box with all the neat parts arrived, then the new resistors came, AND I ordered my new toy (PICkit3) and wanted to try it out right away, so I just HAD to build the new dongle, right?

So I build it, apply power, and no green light.  Thinking it was a power indicator, I turn to you all for help and find out that it isn't one and I might be golden.  THEN, and only then, do I realize my folly (as outlined above for your enjoyment.)

Reading the forum, I realize I have an out: I can flash it and change it to a DMX dongle.  Birds are singing, the sun is shining, and all is right again in the world.  I flash the DMX firmware, unplug my old dongle from my wireless transmitter, plug the newly flashed Ether dongle into the transmitter, and was just about to plug the dongle into the ethernet port of my computer when I hear RJ describing how the Ether dongle works as a DMX dongle (I was playing the video file at the time) and he mentions using the combiner backward when using the Ether dongle as a DMX one. 

And guess what I DIDN't get...   

So now I gotta ask, is there a way to test to see if the Ether dongle works with only it and an Express?  I'm guessing I can't see if it works as a Pixelnet dongle (since I don't have any pixels, ugh) but I would like to know that it works at least part way. 

[RJ]

First did your green light come on once programmed?

Just plug the etherdongle into an express. you need the dmx firmware but it should work on the first universe. The other three will not be avliable as the express is only look at and passing along the first universe.

RJ

[chrisatpsu]

if you got a lynx combiner, you can always use one in reverse, if you wanted to test the other dmx universes also.

[pokey]

Hrm.  Ok...my LED does light while programming the PIC.  However, no love once I apply power and try it out.  I see Pixelnet multicast traffic coming out from my laptop to the switch, but nothing happens at the dongle.

I'll try to re-solder some joints - I think I was hungover during most of this build...failing that, I'll post pics.

[chrisatpsu]

when i forst plugged in my etherdongle, the light came on, but i couldn't connect to it, i left it on for about 5 minutes, then i unplugged the etherdongle's power, then plugged it back in. it's been working ever since.

[Night Owl]

Status so far.  Used PICkit 3 to write and verify EtherDongle_DMX.hex to Ether Dongle (ED).  Applied power ED and LED stays off.  Plugged ED into Express V5.0 and Data Link LED in Express comes on. Plugged ED into ethernet port of my computer and green LED stays off.  The amber and green LEDs in the MagJack are dark also.  Started up Vixen and created a profile using the Lynx_EtherDongle.  Note: when I select Lynx_EtherDongle from the Available Plugins list and hit the USE button, it moves over to the Plugins in Use list, in the Port Configurations window,  Serial 1 EtherDongle shows up.
Created a short sequence using 16 channels of random flashing using the ED profile.  Pressed the Play button and got this error message:
Plugin error
A socket operation was attempted to an unreachable host 239.255.0.1:5568
Execution has been stopped.
Both the 3.3V and 5V regulators are getting hot, which I gather from the forum is normal.

Oh crud, I think I might know what the problem might be.  I was looking at all my solder joints but wasn't looking at the SMD joints.  I think I see a bridged connection on the smaller chip.  Maybe two.  On the attached photo, look at the bottom two pins on the right hand side of the smaller SMD chip.  Also on the same corner, the two pins on the bottom side.

Do you think this might be the problem?  And how do you fix this?  All I have is my pencil soldering iron with a chisel tip. 

[chrisatpsu]

your's looks a lot like mine

do have a pic of the underside of the board?