DIO32 issue (maybe)

[OurMikeyRocks]

I have a DIO32/DIO8RLY combination to turn motors and transformers on and off. I have a show that begins with a sequence that turns these units on with a few seconds in between so that I don't create a hugh surge.

When I run the show the startup step seems to work just fine, with all of the units turned on in order. When the show switches to one of the normal sequences, usually the first but not always, it seems that the DIO32 is missing commands, which results in some or all of the units being turned off. None of the standard controllers exhibit this behavior.

When I go into the show editor, i have not checked the box to turn all used lights off when a sequencce ends. I also have a track in each sequence that simply has these channels turned on during the entire duration of the sequence. I did it this way so that I could turn one or more of the channels off if I choose to.

At the beginning of the next sequence, the channels will turn back on. This makes it look like the channels are actually being turned off and back on between individual sequences in spite of the setting in the show editor.

I used this same DIO32, computer, and most other equipment without any issues last year. One thing that has changed is my upgrade to S3. However, I did load the upgrade to 3.1.4 over the weekend, but I still see the same behavior.

Anyone seen anything similar?

Mikey

[Steve Constantino]

I had a problem last year and it was with the firmware. You mite want to up date the firmware. Not sure if it will fix your problem. I am using 4 DIO32 this year with S3 and they work grate. Call LOR they mite be able to help.

Steve

Attached files

[coasterbp]

I seem to be having the same issues as well...

I have my DIO32 hooked up to 2 DIOAC16 daughter cards for my arches and 95% of the time, they work great. But then I get some random channels flashing, or stuck on, or not fading and just shutting off completely.

The arches are all incandescent as well...so I'm not sure what is going on there. But if someone has an idea, I'd love to hear it.

I have the latest firmware istalled as well...

-=CoasterBP

[OurMikeyRocks]

Steve, that's a pretty impressive controller you/ve built. It would be interesting to see the switching circuit you have on each channel. Thanks for the response.

coasterBP, it is interesting that someone else has an issue. I am going to upgrade the firmware, if it needs to be upgraded, this Friday and see if that makes a difference. However, my show has run without error the last two nights so it will be tough to say whether or not an upgrade fixed anything - at least for a while. Thanks for the response.

Mikey

[coasterbp]

Just an update as I did have some time to do some troubleshooting yesterday.

I redid EVERYTHING in regards to my DIO32. I reran power and I reran control away from all power and I was still having issues. I was running a simple fade up/fade down that last 2 seconds repeatedly. What would happen is that about every 10 or so fades, ports A & B would just drop out. No fade. Then it would catch back up.

I isolated the DIO on my network because I thought that maybe the LEDS in my display were causing the issues. It wasn't. The only thing I have on my DIO32 are my incan arches. So I finally just took the DIO32 out of my enclosure to have a look at it. Once I turned it over, I found some corrosion on the solder joints at the connection point at the ports. I have no idea how that happened as my enclosures are pretty darn tight. Maybe condensation? And why would it collect only there?

So after a trip to Fry's to get some contact/circuit board cleaner, I cleaned it all up and as much as I watched it last night, it didn't have any issues. So I'm not sure if that's something you want to check out as well.

Good luck!

-=CoasterBP

[OurMikeyRocks]

My first thought when I discovered my problem was that the controller was missing commands to its address. I eliminated cableing because controllers in front of and after the DIO32 were working properly.

Based on this, I rotated the address switches a couple of times to clean the contacts. This seemed to work for that day, but the problem returned the next day.

I'll try your suggestion tomorrow and take the board out of the box and see what the back looks like.

One of the problems with this is that it is so intermittant. Just because it works for two days doesn't mean it is gone.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll let you know what I find.

Mikey

[OurMikeyRocks]

coasterBP

So, I took the card out of the chassis today and inspected it. At first I didn't find anything, but then I noticed two of the contact springs in the RJ-11 connector (I don't use the RJ-11) were very close to each other. Further inspection revealed corrosion between the two contacts. I cleaned the contacts and put the card back.

Like you mentioned, my controller is inside a weather-proof electrical box, under an upside-down plastic box, underneath a sheet of plywood that is the floor for my carousel. I kind of think there wasn't any water that got in there. However, it can ventilate and I don't think there was condensation either. Who knows...

I also changed the show so that it doesn't used compressed sequences.

It started up and ran just fine this evening. We'll see how long this lasts.

I'lll probably let the wizards at LOR inspect the card after the season since I really rely on this particular card. It's the only one I don't have a backup for.

Mikey