GeekDadKen Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Here's the story: Two devices on the network for our general landscape lighting in the off-holiday period: CMD24D and one of the 50W floods. Doing some yard trimming, the power cable to the flood gets cut, with some sparks. Afterward, the CMD24D appears fried; no blinking light on the board, though if I unplug it for a while and plug it back in, it will flash once and go dark. I have done a couple proper resets using the pin, to no avail. Verified that the AC outlet is live. Have tried connecting boards/devices to the USB485 directly, but while the Comms Listener sees the USB485 (I see "COM3 Opened as part of REG with speed 57.6k"), none of the devices register on the network. Yes, I've rebooted the computer more that once to restart the software, and plugged the USB485 into different USB ports (and plugged other devices into those USB ports to make sure THEY weren't fried). Through what I've tested, all I can think is that somehow a power surge ran up the ethernet cable from the 50W Flood, through the CMD24D (frying it), and up to the USB485, damaging it as well. Is this even remotely possible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Do I have this right? The 50W flood is on the same LOR network as the CMB24 (dumb controller) . You cut the Floods AC cord (ONLY)? I was going to say No, but then I came up with a really off the wall scenario : You cut the Green and white before the black. The black connected to th LIGHT SIDE green for an instant. As I said OFF THE WALL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 The short answer is - it's possible. My first suggestion would be to get a replacement USB to RS485 adapter. Even if you don't need it, having a spare USB to RS-485 adapter is likely the most important spare part to have because without a working adapter, you have no show. The most likely failure is with the RS-485 chip on the the CMB24 and the flood. That's an educated guess BTW. If it is the chip, it can be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeekDadKen Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 14 hours ago, TheDucks said: Do I have this right? The 50W flood is on the same LOR network as the CMB24 (dumb controller) . You cut the Floods AC cord (ONLY)? I was going to say No, but then I came up with a really off the wall scenario : You cut the Green and white before the black. The black connected to th LIGHT SIDE green for an instant. As I said OFF THE WALL Yup, that's pretty much the story. Just feels nuts that the surge from the power cut could jump to the network connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeekDadKen Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 13 hours ago, k6ccc said: The short answer is - it's possible. My first suggestion would be to get a replacement USB to RS485 adapter. Even if you don't need it, having a spare USB to RS-485 adapter is likely the most important spare part to have because without a working adapter, you have no show. The most likely failure is with the RS-485 chip on the the CMB24 and the flood. That's an educated guess BTW. If it is the chip, it can be replaced. Yeah, that's my first step - replace the adapter and see if I can get other devices that weren't connected at the time of "the incident" to connect again. And if the RS-485 chip on the CMB24 can be replaced, that's a much better solution than replacing the board! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 I am not following how the USB485 adapter was damaged, you mentioned these were landscape lights do you leave the controllers connected to a computer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeekDadKen Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 7 minutes ago, Mr. P said: I am not following how the USB485 adapter was damaged, you mentioned these were landscape lights do you leave the controllers connected to a computer? Yup; everything is running off a laptop in the garage that's on 24/7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 1 hour ago, GeekDadKen said: Yup; everything is running off a laptop in the garage that's on 24/7. Since you are using them for landscape lights you know you can use the CMB24D as a stand alone and install a sequence in it and not have to use a computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Mr. P said: Since you are using them for landscape lights you know you can use the CMB24D as a stand alone and install a sequence in it and not have to use a computer. That depends on what you are doing for your landscape lighting. Can't run my landscape lighting as a "standalone" sequence for two reasons. One is that I run interactive sequences, and the second is that over half the channels are E1.31. Edited January 27, 2020 by k6ccc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeekDadKen Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 17 minutes ago, Mr. P said: Since you are using them for landscape lights you know you can use the CMB24D as a stand alone and install a sequence in it and not have to use a computer. I do now! (Learned how to do that with a servodog over the holidays but hadn’t realized it was an option for the CMB as well). Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 46 minutes ago, k6ccc said: That depends on what you are doing for your landscape lighting. Can't run my landscape lighting as a "standalone" sequence for two reasons. One is that I run interactive sequences, and the second is that over half the channels are E1.31. Your situation is probably different then most who run landscape lights. My understanding is that they are using a CMB24D and a floodlight or two so a sequence installed in the CMB24D would be fine. Plug the CMB24D into a timer and program to run when powere on and the computer can go bye bye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 (edited) Also, for those who are looking for a timer who want to be able to program and control things through wifi and your phone these are great: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KB63CYN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Edited January 27, 2020 by Mr. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeekDadKen Posted February 24, 2020 Author Share Posted February 24, 2020 So, a follow up on my progress back from this small disaster. I've replaced the USB485 adapter, and that got the network going again to an undamaged board for pass-through, and to an undamaged flood. But discovered that the ethernet cable that had been the link between the flood that had its power cord cut, and the CMB24D that was damaged was also non-functional anymore (go figure!). Replaced that, and I now have one flood doing a little bit of work again out in the front yard. My next question is that k6ccc suggested the comms chip on the board could be replaced, rather than buying a whole new board. Does that require soldering, or is it something that can be popped off and replaced easily? And if it's straightforward, does LOR sell those chips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 2 hours ago, GeekDadKen said: My next question is that k6ccc suggested the comms chip on the board could be replaced, rather than buying a whole new board. Does that require soldering, or is it something that can be popped off and replaced easily? And if it's straightforward, does LOR sell those chips? Don't hold me to this, but I think it is soldered (never really looked). And yes, LOR can make the chips available from what I've heard... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogan Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 On 2/24/2020 at 5:18 PM, GeekDadKen said: My next question is that k6ccc suggested the comms chip on the board could be replaced, rather than buying a whole new board. Does that require soldering, or is it something that can be popped off and replaced easily? And if it's straightforward, does LOR sell those chips? I'd check to see if you can send it back in to be fixed if you're not comfortable soldering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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