Denny Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I have a CTB16K that has worked flawlessly for 6 years. Tonight, I hooked it up for a test run and it has me puzzled. It is the first controller in a chain of five, the controllers following this one work flawlessly. However, all channels (1-8) in the first bank do not come on; channel 13 in the second bank does not work. I am assuming that channel 13 may have a blown triac, but can't figure out what is wrong with the first bank of eight channels. Shouldn't be a blown fuse since I get a steady red led and some channels work in the second bank. If I remember correctly, the power from the first bank controls the logic circuits of the board and the second bank does work properly. Is it possible that the IC controlling the first bank could be bad? Any troubleshooting suggestions would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I don't have the manual, but if memory serves, I think that the power for the board actually comes from the second bank. I'd check the fuse on the first bank as a starting point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denny Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 I did pull the fuse on the first bank and the board did not get any power at all. Will have to find my spare fuses and change it out though just to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denny Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 Don't know what the exact problem was, but a board reset seems to have resolved all issues. Will run a short sequence this evening to make sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayburn Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I had a similar problem. Found that the IC wasn't fully seated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) The brains (PIC) is usually fairly stable. Much more so than any windows based OS. But even a PIC can get scrambled. I have seen this for myself. Doing the reset seems to clear things up. This is not a fix for all problems. But as you have seen. It is a cheap and quick fix if that is the problem. Swapping fuses is the second quick fix. The swapping is not the fix in of its self. But a quick trouble shooting technique. Good to see that the reset was the fix for your problem. And as Rayburn noted. A seating or re-seating of a socketed chip can clear up lots of problems. Seen this at work on old N.C. controllers. Seem that every spring and fall brought on lots of problems that were solved by re-seating the chips in the sockets. Edited October 31, 2014 by Max-Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denny Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Since all my display is led and draws very little amperage, I run all my controllers with a single pigtail for power to the first bank, the second bank is powered through jumpers. Since I had power to bank 2 and a steady red led, I figured the fuse was good. I did check the fuse with an ohm meter just to make sure though. I had forgotten about trying the reset until the support desk suggested it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts