Help with Lynx Express in Austin?

[dmorey]

The short story is that we have four Lynx Express controllers that aren't working. I know at least part of it is related to not so great soldering. (We have the desoldering thing but haven't started.) We put them together a couple of years ago after mass technical problems with Animated Lighting, but got frustrated and just shelved the whole thing. We have a dongle for it that I believe is operational.

We also have 3 Animated Lighting boxes (and RU485 converter and Monster Brain). They all are half working with various non-working channels. They've been like this for years even after getting shipped back to AL a couple of times, hence our attempt to switch to DIY. We'd love to somehow get all these controllers to work together. I was running Maestro on Animated Lighting, and was in the process of converting files to run Vixen instead.

Anyone local in Austin who'd like to have a peak? I know this is a tall order so thanks for even considering ... I'm in northeast Austin. Willing to drive to Round Rock or San Marcos. Houston might even work since I'm there every couple of months to see family. Was hoping to meet in person as we still feel fairly overwhelmed...

[dmorey]

Here's a discussion link to where we were when we gave up:
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Has some controller pics too. Never got beyond what we discussed on that thread.

[hicksjo]

Sorry, not geographically near you

Hope you get them working, that's a lot invested ... I can understand the frustration

Good luck

[JonB256]

Lone Star Holidays has a pretty active group in Austin. You might join there and ask the same question.

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I'm three hours away and don't get to Austin much since my son graduated from UT

[Steve Gase]

Lone Star Holidays has a pretty active group in Austin. You might join there and ask the same question.

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I'm three hours away and don't get to Austin much since my son graduated from UT

I offered in a PM -- along with the suggestion of our local LSH meet, but wanted to see if others might have some time.  I'm in the middle of a move to a new house, so my time is limited for the next month or so.

[dmorey]

Thanks for the suggestions all. I will check out the Capitol City group. We moved from Florida last year so hadn't really gotten involved here.

[steve_hirst]

If you dont get any offers there I'll look at them but you would have to ship them to me as i'm in Odessa Texas.

[Steve Gase]

If you can make this weekend, we might have critical mass to put on a Sunday meeting.  Bring them with you and I'll bring a working setup that we can use to compare and swap out pieces to localize the source of your problems.  I'll bring a PICkit to do programming, because that has been identified as an important step.

Follow along in the LSH forum and I'll attempt to nail this down.

[TheBanker]

We will see you on Sunday.  I'm looking forward to the challenge of those boards.  If not I have a sledge hammer you can use.  Lol

[Steve Gase]

We will see you on Sunday.  I'm looking forward to the challenge of those boards.  If not I have a sledge hammer you can use.  Lol

will has a desoldering station that might be a great tool to help with this work.

[Steve Gase]

We have more info on Deanna's LEs after a few of us worked together to figure it out -- unsuccessfully.
Any additional ideas will be helpful.

We examined 3 of the 4 units.  There were solder points that we touched up, with no improvement.  There isn't excessive solder, and no bridging (based on close inspection with a visor).

We had 2 working units from other members that we used to compare the 3 non-working units...  after looking at part orientation, soldering, and swapping out all socketed parts -- we came up with nothing.  The parts work fine in other units, and working parts still do nothing to help the bad units.  We reflashed all of the PICs with current firmware.  The PCBs are each v5.

The oddest observation is that the behavior is IDENTICAL across the 3 units in question.  board led activity is the same, self-test behavior is the same, voltages (that we checked) were the same.

What is the problem?  We have no DMX control of the channels.  The led marked "data link" does not light when we have working DMX connected.  We can verify the DMX though the other 2 working kits.

Channels do work through the self-test mechanism.  We can view the board leds for each channel light in progression, and we can watch strings light up in turn.  DMX control is the problem.

Again, we'd swapped out chips to verify them... and swapped them back into the working board to prove that the bad kits are not damaging the replacement chips.

In hindsight, there is one thing we did not check... the regulators.  We did not verify each was in the right spot and not swapped.  The heat sink had been soldered in place, and rather then remove them to do a closer inspection we left them as-is.  Since the self-test worked, and DMX control was the problem we didn't know if regulator swaps might have a role.


We think we can rule out soldering, parts, directionality of chips and capacitors.
Because the problem is IDENTICAL between the 3 units, it seems more likely that there was a bad installation step that was repeated with each unit.

Can anyone offer some ideas?

Thanks!!

[RJ]

From what you say I am thinking the data leds are in backwards shorting out the dmx.


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RJ

[Steve Gase]

From what you say I am thinking the data leds are in backwards shorting out the dmx.


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RJ

Are you suggesting that the "DATA LINK" led is backwards?



To test that theory, Deanna can run a 5V power source over each of the 3 leds sitting next to each other to ensure that each light with that same 5V+/ground order.  right?

And ALSO, Deanna should check to ensure there is no bridge (in case we missed it).


A side question... has anyone ever seen the case where a bridge occurred on the front side of the board, and under the part where visibility is obscured?

[jess_her]

If you applied 5V directly to the LED you'll burn them out. You need a resistor in line with the led.  Another way to check it would be to lift one side of the 1 K resistor (one closest to the Leads) with the lead closeest to the DMX jack. apply voltage to the board (carefull 110V shock warning) if the LED is in right you will have 5V on both sides of the resistor  to ground if in backwards then there will be 0V on both sides of the Resistor.

Yes I have on large part with lots and lots of solder but I really haven't like under a socket.

[TheBanker]

Deanna are you going to try checking the LED?  We will meet again in August if you want to bring them again.