Jeffrey681 Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 Fired up my new build and all seemed fine, LED blinking, connected to my PC and ran the hardware programme and it picked up my board and the LED was on solid, ran the refresh and it identified my board as part of the network, plugged in 16 strings of LEDS to test, nothing, clicked on the console tab and 'all on' all 16 strings lit for about 2 seconds then nothing, also the board LED is out. I checked the 2 fuses no issues, any advice would be most welcome.Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 (edited) Does the board smell like something fried? Can you take a good quality pic of it on both sides so that we can look to see if something is not right? Edited February 16, 2013 by scubado Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey681 Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 Thanks for gett back, I have taken a few pics and trying to up load, no smell at all, everything just went out...I now notice that when I power up the board the strings of Leds flicker ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 (edited) Lets try the easiest thing first. Remove lights, if this is a PC type controller remove the jumper on the header, if one of the pro boards, turn the address switches to "0" on both. Power up for a two count, remove power. Re-install the jumper or move the address switches back to what they where before. Power up board, look at it with the hardware utility. Do you see it? If so, re-install the lights again, one string at a time and test. Can you install all of the strings? If not, then there might be a problem with the last string you installed. Above procedure is known as a board reset. Seems that everyone has to do it at least once in awhile. Had to do mine for the first time last year after 3 good years. Edited February 16, 2013 by Max-Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey681 Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 Thanks for that, it's a little late over here in the UK but will certainly follow your suggestions, will get back to discuss the results, thanks again.Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey681 Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Tried the reset, still dead, I checked both power inputs and they read 230/40v so supply is fine, interestingly checking the power outputs from each channel, 1-8 reads 20/23 volt, 9-16 no voltage readings at all, apologies if this is a stupid question but why am I reading voltage on the 1-8 channels? hopefully this will steer one of you experianced guys in the right direction. I have a few pics but still struggling to post them.Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan C Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Two questions spring to mind: - do you have the voltage selection jumpers in the correct position for 240v? - are you sure you have voltage on both sides of the fuse for channels 9-16, as this is the side that powers the board as well as the lighting channels 9-16. Regards, Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey681 Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 AlanPut the put the multi meter to the fuse and the led started blinking, it was not pushed in properly, thanks, hopefully I can now check the board via the pc and do as advised check one set of lights at a time, thanks again.Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 It's the little things that can drive you nuts! I have inline fuses to my two large flowerbeds. They were acting weird just like I had blown one of the fuses. The beds will still lightup because the two are running in parrallel but will act strange. I checked the fuses, ran power through a spare wire in case I had a break. Turned out it was the fuse holder, the contact pad had broken off as to not make contact with the fuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey681 Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 All checked out 15 of the 16 channels working ok, not sure why channel 12 fails to power up but 15 out of 16 is a good start, any suggestions where I should start to look for the missing channel?. will start to build my second controller this week, slowly its coming together.Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan C Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Firstly, check for poor / missed solder joints round the 12th triac and optocoupler. Secondly, check the 12th optocoopler is the correct way round. After that, you could check that you have a similar number of volts on the 12th output with nothing connected as you do on the other channels. Regards, Alan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey681 Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 AlanAll joints checked and re soldered, octocoupler is the right way round, still no channel 12, voltage check = 16 - 24v 15 - 24v 14 - 24v 13 - 24v 12 - 14v 11 - 24v, ?Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Jeff, so you have put regular Christmas lights on the outputs and from that you discovered that output 12 does not work? Or is this problem based on taking a volt meter and looking at the outputs? Cause you do know that using a high impedance voltmeter might see those kind of voltage just from the bleed through on the triac, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey681 Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Thanks for getting back, I connected 16 strings of LEDS to the channels and ran the software to check the channels, only channel 12 did not light up, checked all solder joints appears no problems, a silly question but how do I identify the Triac that delivers on channel 12 ? I have today sourced replacement triacs from RS componants and will have a go at replacing the Triac, I see the left side of the board and guess thats 1-8, is it just a case of looking at the rightside of the board and counting down from the top? marked 011? hit me softly....Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adendes Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 (edited) gday there i'm having the same problem with channel 2, did doing this work for you?cheersThanks for getting back, I connected 16 strings of LEDS to the channels and ran the software to check the channels, only channel 12 did not light up, checked all solder joints appears no problems, a silly question but how do I identify the Triac that delivers on channel 12 ? I have today sourced replacement triacs from RS componants and will have a go at replacing the Triac, I see the left side of the board and guess thats 1-8, is it just a case of looking at the rightside of the board and counting down from the top? marked 011? hit me softly....Jeff Edited May 12, 2013 by adendes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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