jozier Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Can someone please help this frustrated Mom? My son, the autistic lighting wonder, taught himself how to use LOR and make sequences. My (late) husband and I bought a starter kit for him, and Dad, who was a computer hardware and software engineer had no problem figuring out the hardware side of it and putting the kit together. We lost Dad to cancer and now my poor son is stuck with me to troubleshoot. I'm pretty computer literate and somewhat handy, but I am just completely baffled and don't know where to look next. We have 3 controllers and a CCR at our house now, and the original controller at his friends, 3 houses down. We were able to link them through the ELLs last year, although it took a while to get all the bugs worked out, once it worked, it worked great. So now, this year, with the identical set-up, location, etc. here's what we have. The HU shows the ELL as active, but it only sees the units at our house, not the one at his friend's house. After checking that the antennas are both pointing up, the cat5 cables aren't too long, the units have line of sight, albeit with the side of a tree in between, (no different than last year), reset to defaults to be sure they were both on the same page (using booster), the first light flashes on the receiving unit and the second line flashes slower, and weaker. Still not working and not showing up on HU. What should I try next? I'm grasping at straws at this point. If I could just buy a new box and ELL's locally, I would probably have done that by now. Any ideas would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapkirk Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Jozier I am sure someone with more experience will be along shortly, but I would move the ELL that is not communicating, closer for troubleshooting at least, maybe try swapping the units around (ELL's), last week I had a ELL fall behind the controller and end up in the wiring bundle underneath, was getting erratic lights on two of our singing trees, moving the ELL up solved the problem. And the ELL's were closer than your 3 houses away, ours are directly across the street. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Try the dumb stuff first. Does the controller down the street have power? Does the ELL down the street have power? What are the status LEDs showing on both the ELL and controller? How about the status LEDs on the ELL at your house? What is the speed and type (enhanced or non-enhanced) of your LOR network? Did ANYTHING change between last year and this year? Have you made sure that all the cables are fully plugged in? How long are the cables between the ELLs and the nearest controller at each end of the ELL link? If you don't have the manuals for the various controllers (particularly the ELLs) so that you know what the status LEDs mean, they can be downloaded at: http://www1.lightorama.com/documentation/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jozier Posted November 30, 2017 Author Share Posted November 30, 2017 (edited) Thank you both for your help. Our lots are 80' wide, with the way the ELL's are situated on both houses, I would say they are around 200' apart. They have good line of sight, except the outer branches of a tree, which we trimmed tonight. The ELL on our end is on the megatree center pole and the one on the other end is attached to the edge of the roof. I switched to LED's on the megatree, that's the only change with where they are located. At one point light 2 on the receiving ELL blinked faintly, right now there is no action on light 2 but some of the yard lights are trying to work. The HU only shows the receivers in our yard when refreshed, we've tried a few different heights, just to be sure the tree wasn't the issue (it's about the same size as last year), Changed both ELL's to default settings, to be sure the setting matched, changed from 57600 to 19200, in case it was a signal strength problem, walked around the yard with sending ELL on a pole to try to find a "sweet spot", switched the two ELL's with eachother, since it was the only thing we weren't sure was the same as last year, switched CAT5 cables on both to be sure they're okay, and to go to the shortest possible cable (7 & 10 feet), changed all rf settings on both units to try and find the problem. When we take the computer to the other house and plug it directly to the controller, it plays sequences fine and we are able to make the adjustments to the ELL with the CAT5 cable, so it seems to be fine. I feel like I'm missing something and I just can't put my finger on it. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Joan also, the first light on the ELL down the street has always blinked, so it has power Edited November 30, 2017 by jozier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pouterson1 Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 Have you changed to another frequency on the ELLs? You might have something using the frequency you had last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtoews Posted November 30, 2017 Share Posted November 30, 2017 Make sure the ELL's are addressed the same and then check your networks perfences.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jozier Posted December 1, 2017 Author Share Posted December 1, 2017 We did try a few different frequencies. debtoews, I'm not sure what network preferences you're referring to. Thanks Joan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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