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Controller Connectivity Problem


thewolfman27

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Hello all. I currently have 4 controllers. The problem I'm having is that my computer will only recognize 2 of them at a time. It doesn't matter what order I hook them up, it will only see 2. I tried them all individually and they all come up fine, but when I try 3 or 4, the program only recognizes 2. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Normally if they all work individually and they all have their own ID # then the the problem is usually the CAT 5 cable. Add the controllers one at a time until one isn't recognized then check the cable between the last recognized controller and the one not recognized. Also check the RJ45 connector, look at the pins inside the connectors.

Edited by Mr. P
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27 minutes ago, MAGI47 said:

What level is your software?

S4 Basic will only control up to 2 controllers.

Good point, if he started with a starter package last year and added more controllers this year without upgrading the license they will have that problem.

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, so I finally got around to testing the cables. I purchased the cat5 tester and all of my cables tested good, but the problem persists. Now when I use the hardware tool, It's only finding 1 unit even though 2 of the 4 units have solid green lights. When I wiggle the cables, I can get solid green on all 4 for a few seconds, then 2 of the units start blinking again. This is very frustrating since they worked perfectly last year.

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Another weird thing that happens is that when I hook up either the third or fourth controller, it seems to put the second controller out of sync. Kinda like its missing some of the signals to turn on or off, like it's lagging. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

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  • 3 weeks later...

OK. So I finally took my units down from Halloween and was able to test them. 2 of the 4 were recognized by the hardware software. It's not recognizing 2 of them at all. It looks like it is the ports on the controller where you plug the Cat5 in. How do you fix the prongs inside without causing further damage? Any advice?

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If you can't find a bad pin, if you can determine which connector on which controller is bad, they are not all that hard to replace.  The other option is to make that controller the last one in the string.  The last controller only needs one connector.  Use the controller with the bad port as the last controller and plug the cable into the other connector.  That may mean you need to run more cable, but that can be faster that obtaining and replacing a bad connector because Cat-5 cable is available darn near everywhere.

 

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I have worked with telecom infrastructure since the mid 1990s, and have seen some RJ45 jacks get displaced contacts. If you look into the jack, you'll see a row of 8 (often gold plated) contacts. I've seen situations where one of those contacts is not straight and sometimes crosses over the other contacts. This causes a bad connection. I was usually able to fix the jack using a spudger (you could use a straightened paper clip) to poke the crooked contact back into place. I've googled and searched images, but I can't find an image of what I mean. I have included one that kind of shows the contacts. Just look for a crooked one, and you may have an easy fix.

 RJ4544.png

HTH.

D.T.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks guys. I finally got 3 of the controllers to at least connect, Now, the 3rd controller has horrible lag! I just can't win!!!! Any suggestions?? I also contacted Light O Rama support a few times and they never get back to me. Is that normal?

Edited by thewolfman27
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I had a similar problem one year and it turned out to be the cat5 cable running to that controller.  It tested out fine but changing the cable out solved the problem.

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Browse this thread quickly...did you confirm that 4 ids are unique.  If so, I would concentrate on the cat5 cables.  Maybe get several news ones, put the old one aside and do you testing with the new ones. Not supprising that a cable, could have sporatic performance because of the connector.

 

If by cance it's a cat5 port on the controllers, could bypass it using cat5 spittlers instead of daisy chaning all 4 together. Take more cat5 length but goal is to getting them working. 

 

Good Luck

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  • 1 month later...
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