Troubleshooting - Difference between bad data cable and bad LOR controller?

[Douggg]

Troubleshooting - Difference between bad data cable and bad LOR controller?

The lights attached the last LOR box are misfiring. I’m trying to figure out if I have a flakey LOR box or if it’s the data cable.

Can anyone tell me what the symptoms are for a flakey cable connection vs. a flakey controller?

Here’s what’s happening for me. I have an animated display. Same sequence as I had last year. It’s been working fine for a couple of weeks. About a week ago I noticed some (not all) of the channels that should have been on weren’t during the sequence. And it’s always the same channels that are off when they should be on. But then the next time through the sequence it’s perfect. I’m thinking it can be only one of two things, the LOR controller or the data cable, specifically the connector.
I’m thinking it’s probably a bad data cable connection since the lights aren’t on when they should but they are never on when they should be off. (I’m thinking if the LOR box were having problems lights it would be more of a random thing with lights on or off when they shouldn’t be and the timing would be off.

Anyone have any experience with a bad data cable/connection vs. bad LOR controller?

Thanks

[-klb-]

I've experienced intermittent misbehavior before. But it has always been com issues. The bad controllers I've experienced have been bad Triacs, where channels don't go off, or wet controllers with strings stuck on.. In my experience, flakey has always been interference, or bad cables.

[De Trommelslager]

If you suspect the data cable ends aren't making good contact, you might try taking a pencil eraser to the contacts on the connectors and see if the issue resolves itself. If it does, replace the cable (or connector).

[Douggg]

That's what I was thinking too.

At first I was thinking a few of the triacs were overheating, but I have the ones with the heat sinks and my draw is less than an amp. And you are right they normally short when they become flakey.

The more I think about it the more I'm thinking it's a signaling problem. Could be interference but more than likely a dirty connection.

Brings me to another question, how are the LOR signals sent? Wound if it's like X10, where it's sent to an address with an on or off command the rest of the time it's quiet.

I'm thinking LOR must be controlling each channel 100s of time per second since it's able to shimmer/twinkle. If that's the case a dirty connection with all of that data traffic would result flakey signal resulting in a channels not firing.

Thanks for the consult.

[Douggg]

Thanks - Before I began trying different fixes I wanted to hear from others what the symptons of each were for the next time I have a problem.

[-klb-]

Douggg wrote:

Brings me to another question, how are the LOR signals sent? Wound if it's like X10, where it's sent to an address with an on or off command the rest of the time it's quiet.

I'm thinking LOR must be controlling each channel 100s of time per second since it's able to shimmer/twinkle. If that's the case a dirty connection with all of that data traffic would result flakey signal resulting in a channels not firing.

Actually, shimmer, twinkle, and fade are all intelligent commands on the controllers. They get told what to do at the start of the effect, and the microcontroller in the controller takes care of the rest. But still, if you have a bunch of channels flipping state, say changing color on the beat of the music, you do have a bunch of commands going out.

Do understand though, that there is no checksum on the commands. If one or more bits gets flipped, or gets distorted such that several controllers each think it was for them, there is no protection to realize that it is a garbled command. They all just do it..

[LORisAwesome]

FWIW - I had a problem last year with flakiness. I rebooted the computer and all was fine. This year, I am rebooting the computer once a week.

Jerry

[Douggg]

Interesting... sounds like you might have a memory leak or malware which is consuming CPU or memory. For example if you have Firefox browser there's a known memory leak that could cause the flakyness.

For the computer I use I set a start time in the BIOS and crated a chron job (at command) to shut the computer off every night. (I guess that's being green.)

So that wouldn't be the issue for me.

[Douggg]

Thanks.... What you’re saying makes perfect sense. I’ll replace the cable ends today. (It’s the easiest fix too.)

I took a closer look last night and what’s interesting is the missed signals are not random but are very reproducible. I'm thinking a few dropped bits are resulting in dropped signal.

Getting back to how it works, I’m wondering if at each beat in LOR if that sends out one data frame (packet) with all of the box numbers and channels that should turn on and the duration or effect they should remain on.
I think LOR uses RS-485. If so 485 is highly resistant to interference but doesn’t specify the protocol.

I'm wondering if we could get someone from LOR to post a high level of how LOR signals work. I'm thinking it's got to be more or less like X10 on speed. But unlike X10 it appears the off commands aren't sent separately.

[LORisAwesome]

It is a windows 98 SE machine. I use it exclusively for running the light show. It is turned off the rest of the year.

No web browsing, reading e-mail, playing games etc.. on that machine. That doesn't mean that it doesn't have a virus, it is attached to my network and the internet, so it is possible.

The weekly re-boot is just a precaution. Last year the problem occured after three or four weeks without rebooting. So it isn't really much of a problem for me.

I do plan to get a new computer soon so I can convert to S3. I'll take my current XP machine and make it the show machine after I get the new computer.

Jerry

[Douggg]

If the computers on you netowrk a series of broadcast packets would take it down. I have two LOR computers which are identical. They are both behind a firewall from my computer network. (This isolates them from malware and broadcast storms.)
I back-up one computer to the other that way if someting goes wrong with one, I just beging using two. Or I can just pull the hard drive from one and install into number 2.

The BIOSs are the same too. I have it set-up where the BIOS powers on the computer on right before my shows beginn. Then a chron job runs just after the last show and shuts the computer off.

Something you might want to think about when you upgrade.