Hardware utility

[Wayne K]

I am running 15 lor CTB16 controllers. When I do a refresh in the hardware utility I have 1 or 2 controllers show up as unknown devices. If I close it out and do it again, I will more than likely get a different controller or 2 with the same error. My controllers seem to be working fine. I have version 4.32 and 4.4 firmware and lor 2.9.4 software as I remember. Any ideas as to why these are showing up this way?
Wayne

[james campbell]

are you using all g2 controllers,the s2 software can't recognize gen 3 controllers

nope you are using ctb d boards sorry

[Don]

Though keep in mind that simply because the S2 HWU can't ID the G3 controllers, it doesn't affect the operation of the controllers. It's a simple case of S2 not having the G3 definitions defined (mainly because G3 wasn't around when S2 was released.)

[brianfox]

Wayne,
Sounds like a communication cable issue. Last year, I ran 42 CTB boxes and I got those continually. The worst part is that the show would actually run (sometimes) even though HU couldn't find all of the boxes. Sometimes is the key word - the show would never run right as long as HU indicated there was an underlying problem.
Try a "binary search" to find the bad cable. You have 15 boxes. Remove the cable between box 7&8 and see if it can find your 7 boxes every time. If it can, it means the problem is somewhere between 8 and 15. Keep "halving" the network until you narrow it down. Unfortunately, if channels on Box X are wonky, it could be because of a bad cable between Box Y and Z.

This year, I did away with the big nasty daisy chain and purchased additional RS485 controllers. You could buy 2 more and have 5 boxes on each "network". It's much easier to debug a smaller network than a big one.

Really sorry about the problems you are having.


[EDIT: Another sure-fire symptom that indicates a bad Comm cable (somewhere) is when light(s) come on while you are scanning a network]

[Wayne K]

brianfox
Thanks for the info on splitting up the network. I did not think of that. Currently I do have a split network. I have controllers 1 thru 5 on 1 side of the house and controllers 6 thru 16 (no number 14 at this time) on the other side of the house. I will look after a while and see if it is both or just the bigger network.
My controllers are all G2
Does it make a difference wether you start the daisy chain from the low number end or the high number end or in the middle? Because of my layout I start the daisy chain from number 11-12-16-15-13-10-9-8-7-6 end. I have done it this way because of the sequence of adding controllers to my display

[trini101]

can anyone help me please this is my first time useing lor controller and for some reason am lost. lights and music works on 1 through 8 but 9 through 16 dont work when i plug it in outside. i have a mp3 player. also when i hit stop sequence while testing on desk top inside the lights will light up 9 through 16 but the minute i unplug everything and take it out side only 1 through 8 works help help am getting really upset. c369phi@yahoo.com anthony thanks

[trini101]

also when i start plug in the lights in the channel outside it lights up automaticly is this suppose to happen or those the lights only come on when the mp3 player is hook up to the controller. am just confused as hell c369phi@yahoo.com thanks again anthony