CTB16PC (Kit) Not working

[monkey141]

Good Evening All,

I just finished soldering and assembling my controller. It's my first kit. I downloaded and reviewed the troubleshooting guide (http://lightorama.com/PDF/Kit_Troubleshooting_Guide.pdf). To preface all of this, the only things I have tried/noticed is that the LED does not come on and I cannot find the controller in the hardware utility.

I started by removing all cords from the board except the power input on the right side of the board (the one I understand to power the on-board electronics). I checked both sides of the fuse and the hot jumper and all have 121.8VAC. I then checked the 18 pin header from bottom left pin to 4th pin down on the left and have 4.98VDC. I then checked left side of D1 and D2 and had 29VAC. The C2 and C3 capacitors are properly oriented. I then unplugged the AC from the controller and removed U2 (microprocessor) and powered the board up with the jumper on the second row of pins on the 18 pin header removed. I then jumped the bottom left pin to the 2nd pin down on the right and the LED came on.

This is where I am stuck. From there the manual doesn't seem (at least that I read and maybe I missed it) to address the fact the LED did light. I am not really sure if this indicates a bad microprocessor or solder joint for it. I did inspect it and it looked okay. The only abnormal test was the voltage between D1 and D2 was 29VAC and the expected was 25VAC.

Any ideas? Or should I be calling Light-o-Rama at this point? If it helps, I could post pictures of the soldered board.

Thanks,

Mike

[Guest guest]

So, many would say, cardinal rule number 1 of kit building is if you have problems, assume you installed something in the wrong place, or backwards. Along with that, bad soldering.

If you've been working all day on it, first thing you may want to do is walk away from it for a few hours. Amazing how, when you do that, you notice the bent pin, or the swapped resistors, or the IC in backwards. A LED in backwards won't flash..but if you can't see it in the HU, and you know your USB/485 box is working, then likely other issues.

Start from scratch...go page by page, verify your work.

Not sure your soldering skills, but if a first timer, look carefully for "forgotten" solders, blobs causing shorts, or just plain bad connections.

I have built 3, they all worked first time, so the bad thing about that is, no troubleshooting experience for various issues. I DID have one processor chip that had an attitude and was determined I would insert it with a bent pin. That happens, you never know what you get.

Others may be able to chime in here with specific things to check, and know the symptoms of what may be a bad U2, but I'd hit the general stuff first.

[monkey141]

Thanks. I have been working on it a while and there are a couple of solder joints I did not like, so I did re-do them and the same results have occurred. This is the first time I have soldered since I graduated high school 12 years ago and even then it was only a four month stint in electronics class, so I would say I am pretty new at soldering, so I have no doubt it could be something I did, I am just not finding it. I think I will take your advice though and walk away for a little bit. I think the wife wants to go out to dinner anyway, so maybe I will go grab something and come back and see what I find different. Thanks for the reply.

Mike

[Guest guest]

A nice glass of cabernet always helps the troubleshooting process...

[bisquit476]

I've had to do this with the blue board kits, power down the board, remove the PIC chip, power up the board for a couple of seconds, power down the board, reinstall the PIC, then repower the board. Like I said, I had to do that with my deluxe kit blue board controller with the ID switches set to 00, don't know if it will work with the PC board, but of course, with it not working, it may be worth a try. Hope that helps,

Bill

[Guest guest]

Re-reading his original post also says the LED is in the right way..didn't catch that the first read.

[sheldonmcdonnell]

I had this happen to me one time. I found that the microprocessor was not pushed in all the way into the socket. Sometimes the smallest things cause the biggest problems.

[cmoore60]

I just checked the assembly manuals for both the PC version and the regular version of the board. The processor chip (U2) is inserted with it's notch towards the right opposite of the other chips. Make sure that you indeed have the processor (U2) installed correctly.

Chuck

[-klb-]

cmoore60 wrote:

I just checked the assembly manuals for both the PC version and the regular version of the board. The processor chip (U2) is inserted with it's notch  towards the right opposite of the other chips. Make sure that you indeed have the processor (U2) installed correctly.

Chuck

X2. Check this.

Also try pulling the other socketed chip, the 8 pin one, and try running without it. It won't be able to be seen in the hardware utility, but if the LED starts blinking correctly, you have a useful data point for further troubleshooting.

[monkey141]

Thank you to everyone for their suggestions. Everything appears to be working now. I did have the PIC in backwards, I had the notch to the left, not the right. Once I did that, all is well now. I really appreciate every ones help! I can rest easy tonight.

Thanks again,

Mike