Having a tough time

[knute73]

I ended up assembling my controllers this year. 1 of four are working. I broke the 8 pin plug on one, one pops the breaker when I plug in both sides, and the last one powered up last night, but tonight, it wont. I have no idea where to start. I really wished I would have bought the controllers assembled. If anyone has any ideas to help me, I would greatly appreciate it!

[bisquit476]

Post some high resolution, clear pictures, front and back, and we'll take a look.

[TJ Hvasta]

knute.. lets start with the easiest ones first..

1) Call/write to LOR and ask for a replacment 8pin plug.. Do you have a de-soldering bulb? Solder Wick? Solder Wick looks like copper braid, sold on a small spool.. place it on the solder pad, heat it with the pencil, the braid should suck up the solder, allowing you to remove the 8pin plug.

2) The Unit that pops the breaker.. does it blow as soon as its plugged in? Which side, banks 1-8 or 9-16? Does it blow the boards fuse or trip the house breaker? Are you absolutely sure you plugged the correct spade lugs onto the correct tabs?

Black -> Hot
White -> Neuterals
Green -> bolted together/grounds?

If it trips the house breaker, it tells me the cord is shorted, or the tabs the cord is plugged into are shorted to ground..
If you can isolate which side blows the breaker (banks 1-8 or 9-16), you will have to take the board out of the case (if it's already in), turn it over and reeeeeally inspect it for solder bridges (solder traces that are shorting out multiple pads) on that side of the board.. at least it'll be isolated to that half.. You will need a magnigying glass and strong, bright light to look over the board.

3) For the one that worked, but wont now.. any blinking LED at all? Once a second? 2-4/sec? Nothing at all? Have you downloaded the Troubleshooting Guide?
http://www.lightorama.com/Documents/Kit_Troubleshooting_Guide.pdf Go to the second page, third bold line down:

Board is powered and not connected to PC but LED does not light at all

Check the voltages at each point.

LOR is reeeeeeally good about standing behind their kits, fixing/replacing them in warranty.. I've found none better!! I probably cant help before Halloween, but if you cant get it fixed, I can probably swap one of my boards for one of yours to fix for Christmas.

[knute73]

Let's see if I can add more information.

1) Call/write to LOR and ask for a replacment 8pin plug.. Do you have a de-soldering bulb? Solder Wick? Solder Wick looks like copper braid, sold on a small spool.. place it on the solder pad, heat it with the pencil, the braid should suck up the solder, allowing you to remove the 8pin plug. I emailed them and am waiting for a reply. I have an have already used my de-soldering iron.

2) The Unit that pops the breaker.. does it blow as soon as its plugged in? Which side, banks 1-8 or 9-16? Does it blow the boards fuse or trip the house breaker? Are you absolutely sure you plugged the correct spade lugs onto the correct tabs?

Black -> Hot
White -> Neuterals
Green -> bolted together/grounds?

If it trips the house breaker, it tells me the cord is shorted, or the tabs the cord is plugged into are shorted to ground..
If you can isolate which side blows the breaker (banks 1-8 or 9-16), you will have to take the board out of the case (if it's already in), turn it over and reeeeeally inspect it for solder bridges (solder traces that are shorting out multiple pads) on that side of the board.. at least it'll be isolated to that half.. You will need a magnigying glass and strong, bright light to look over the board.

I used the correct lugs. I first just plugged in the left side. Nothing happened. Then I plugged in just the right. Then I plugged them both in. It instantly popped the house circuit breaker. I did not try it a second time. I used my magnifying lense to look at the solder joints. I did not see any issues. (not sure I know 100% what a "Bad" joint looks like.

3) For the one that worked, but wont now.. any blinking LED at all? Once a second? 2-4/sec? Nothing at all? Have you downloaded the Troubleshooting Guide?
http://www.lightorama.com/Documents/Kit_Troubleshooting_Guide.pdf Go to the second page, third bold line down:

Board is powered and not connected to PC but LED does not light at all

When I first plugged it in, (Both Sides) the LED blinked. Tonight, nothing. I checked all the lugs. I got 120v on each side at all the neutrals.

When I 1st plugged it in,

LOR is reeeeeeally good about standing behind their kits, fixing/replacing them in warranty.. I've found none better!! I probably cant help before Halloween, but if you cant get it fixed, I can probably swap one of my boards for one of yours to fix for Christmas.

I have always heard of the excellent service at LOR. I have found this year, they are pretty slow to reply. I have emailed three questions to them. Each took to the end of the next day to get a reply. The question I am asking now, is the same I asked last night. They did not get back to me today. That's why I have asked three different forums.

I have no doubts about the quality LOR puts out. I have total faith in them. Wish I could say the same about me.

I will work on getting High Resolution pictures, but it may not be until Sunday.

[knute73]

OK, not sure if it was divine intervention, or just luck, but I tested the lights again tonight. Now they all work. One of them, had both the 8 and 20 pin Dip not tight. The one that popper the breaker worked perfectly tonight. I will still need a replacement 8 pin socket, will contact LOR tomorrow.

So, here is my next question. I don't really want to make up outlets just for testing before I mount them in the box. I used my voltage meter tonight and they seemed to work, except one. I have one channel that does not power like the others. When all the others at 100% give me 122volts, this one gives me 20volts. Any ideas?

I am also interested in testing methods. I have thought of making a board with 16 C-7 lights on it and have clips or spade plugs on the cords. I would really like to know what others are doing.

[TJ Hvasta]

You're talking about a channel triac giving you abt 20v? Check each of it's pads on the underside for cold solder joints.. it'll look dull, cloudy, not shiny, brittle.. hit it with the soldering pencil, heat up each pad so the solder flows smoothly around the pins..

As for making a tester.. I use 8-16 sets of minis or LEDS, still rubberband wrapped, (whatever's laying on the floor),plug them into each channel and running a couple Hardware Utility tests, fade up/down, chase, dim, shimmer, twinkle.. then maybe a sequence or two. Several people have a board with 16 C7/C9's mounted so they can test a little more organized-ly.. but for me thats just being too abmitious

[knute73]

Things have turned out pretty good. LOR is sending me a new 8 pin socket to replace the one I broke. I found a solder bridge, and I hadn't cut the triac pins on the bottom. They were touching the low powered heat sinks. I then just took some more time and hit the solder joints that looked questionable. Retested everything and I now have three of the four controllers up and running. Thank you to LOR and everyone for the help!

[TJ Hvasta]

Glad to help! We've all been newbies too needing some guidance, some of us still need some every now and then.