Mbbayless Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I have 1X16 Ch, 3xCCB, 4xCCR, 1xCCF. All was working great, i won our community light competition, and then it all just stopped working. i don't know what happened. i thought it might be my old laptop, so i bought a new one. now i am going through each controller. i can't get my computer to recognize the controllers any more. the first controller i have plugged in is the 16 ch. the hardware utility recognizes that i'm in port 3 and when i only have the 16 ch plugged in it will recognize it. then i plug in my first CCB and it stops recognizing that i have anything plugged in. very strange. when i plug the first CCB controller in alone then it says that it can find it, until i go to turn the lights on, at which point it gives me an error in comm port one. i reset the CCB controller in hopes that would fix it, and it doesn't. i have also ordered a new r485 to usb connector, thinking that might be the problem. i'm at a loss. i have thousands invested in this and i can't get it to even recognize the lights are plugged in. please help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebuechner Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Get a CAT5 cable tester start checking cables and taking a close look at the rj-45 plugs on the controllers. Isolate everything if you can and plug it in one item at a time until you find the problem component. Look at the wires closely for a spot that a critter may have chewed on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbbayless Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 Thank you Ebuechner. I sure hope it's not critters. I can isolate my 16ch and the first CCB in series because they are in my garage. So when I test one at a time the hardware utility finds them. When I connect them together, just the two, the hwu can't find either of them any more. I figured it would at least find the first one plugged in regardless, but no. I'm baffled Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebuechner Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 If you have a cable that shorted out it'll shut everything down. Like I said plug in one thing at a time and test. This includes the cables if you can get the first controller to work then you plug in the next cable with nothing on the other end and test and and so on. But really you need to go down to the hardware store and pick up a cable tester this will be your next best friend in this Hobby. Remember to do this as a process of elimination and check after each single move so you can trace it down to what's causing the problem. If you change five things then test now you don't know which one is the problem or the Cure. But I can tell you from personal experience that rabbits absolutely love to chew on cables. (They must smell like carrots) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebuechner Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 (edited) Taking a total stab in the dark. Is your cable going out of the garage being closed on by a door?. If the two items in the garage work on their own and you hook them together and they don't work is the wire connected that leads out of the garage? Just throwing out ideas that might help you. Also when you test remember to test off of each of the two plugs on the controller board. It only takes one of those to short out and shut down everything Edited December 21, 2016 by Ebuechner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownTown Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 If each of those first two controllers work OK independently, maybe you could try plugging in one of them, and then bypassing the next one and connecting the next one downstream (the ones outside). See what happens. Does the rest of the string work, or do you lose everything again? If you lose everything, then try the OTHER controller in the garage, and plug in the line to the outside devices, leaving that first controller out or the string. What happens in this config? Give us more info and we'll help you try to resolve. D.T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbbayless Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 That's what I'll do as soon as I get home from work. Thank you for the help. I will post what happens soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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