16pc issue

[johnny christmas]

evana just brought me my two that came with his and i got one together really easy (20 minutes)...ONLY thing i dont like is theres NO unit ID dial...you have to force it through HWU...im glad i only have two of the PCs and not 10+ like some people here bought during the sale...only way i can see setting IDs through HWU is to hook up ONE controller AT A TIME so you KNOW you have each controller right then plug in the next one and so on and so forth til youre done...hope theres no power outage during show time for the obvious reasons...otherwise...easy assembly and happy with it


any chance of ADDING a unit ID dial on the PCs in the future?

also
what about water proofing...

access for cat 6 cable.or cat5e in and out of the box...doing it yourself...ie drilling holes...will it void the warranty?

sharp metal inside and along circut board. can cause chaffing of power wires

[basis21b]

johnny christmas wrote:

evana just brought me my two that came with his and i got one together really easy (20 minutes)...ONLY thing i dont like is theres NO unit ID dial...you have to force it through HWU...im glad i only have two of the PCs and not 10+ like some people here bought during the sale...only way i can see setting IDs through HWU is to hook up ONE controller AT A TIME so you KNOW you have each controller right then plug in the next one and so on and so forth til youre done...hope theres no power outage during show time for the obvious reasons...otherwise...easy assembly and happy with it


any chance of ADDING a unit ID dial on the PCs in the future?

also
what about water proofing...

access for cat 6 cable.or cat5e in and out of the box...doing it yourself...ie drilling holes...will it void the warranty?

sharp metal inside and along circut board. can cause chaffing of power wires

I don't understand your "obvious reason" comment. Are you saying you are concerned that the unit will lose the id while the power is off? If so, you can calm your fears. Once they are set, you are done.
I set the unit id in two separate devices in July of 2007. They worked flawlessly for my 2007 display season without additional attention.

Tom B (The other one)

[cmoore60]

The PC series board were make to be a little scaled down from the regular series. I strongly doubt you will see unit ID dial on this series. The ID should not be lost if the board looses power. My understanding is the UNIT ID is stored in the processor some where and is not NORMALLY lost with power removed.

There have been instances of units loosing their ID, but very few. Usually it is a spike or something that will cause the loss.

Try it. Set your unit then unplug the board. Then go back the next day. It should still have the same ID as it had.

Chuck

[evan.a]

I think what johnny is asking is about his pc losing power, not the unit. he's asking if he loses power or his pc or is turned off by mistake. during a show, would he have to reconfigure each unit. he has 3- 1602w and this year added 2- ctb16. I have the same thing as johnny christmas, so I raised questions like him.

Don mention he puts a plastic bag or tarp over his unit to help protect agaist moisture...sealtight is a weather stripping. can this be used along the inside of the box?and will it close after installing it?

access for patch cord was another question. how to bring a cable in and out of the ctb16 box. the only way I see if you go thru the middle hole with power. its agaist eia/tia standures. unless I drill a hole thru the side or back. which bring us back to water tight and moisture question. ya silicone could fill the hole, but than remove the patch cords and silicone again for next year?...

chaffing is when you have electrical cable touching or rubbing along metal parts. or opening and closing the front door. inside the ctb16 and after inspecting. the two metal railings along the heat sink was very sharp... filing could be done if the unit is put upside down so no metal shaving falls on the circuit board or an 8" piece of rubber trim or plastic trim can and should be use.
Dan pm me with an address and I send you a piece

I do agree the unit is very easy to build and happy with what I got. just trying to help give input on how to build a better mouse trap.

[Don]

It's late, so I'm not going to break out the camera tonight. However, I simply ran my CAT5 through the left side hole, and up the side between the metal wire relief and the plastic side. I had no issues with communications cables going bad.

Careful inspection of my PC boards this year showed no damage to any power cables.

Power to your computer does not affect the PC boards memory. I killed power to my boards and PC many times throughout the season and never had to reset the ID of my PC boards. They are very stable units.

[Denny]

I second what everyone else has said, no problem on the unit IDs. You go into the Hardware Utility to check each board's functions after you complete the kit, so it is no big problem setting the unit ID at that time. After it's set, you don't have to worry about it if you turn off the computer or turn off the power to the units. The only suggestion I would make is that you write the unit ID down somewhere on the board or in the controller case. I do this with my 1602 boards too; my vision isn't what it used to be and it's much easier to see the ID in big letters rather than looking at those little dials. I have six of each type board and have never had a problem with either type. Actually, I am a little more concerned about the 1602 dials and dust getting into the contacts. We have a lot of very fine, powdery, blowing dust here that gets into everything. So far though, no problem. I use my PCs with the regular heatsinks mainly to control LEDs and the 1602s with the heavy duty heatsinks for the incandescent lighting. Since I am slowly going to all LEDs, I probably won't get anymore of the 1602s.

[johnny christmas]

so if im reading this correctly, when im done with both controllers assembly and i go to test them out, when i set the unit ID in HWU and set them for 4 and 5, do my test and pack them away, when i hook them up for the season they will still be seen as 4 and 5 without me having to force the ID again? if thats the case then cool, no worries

as for drilling out a hole in the bottom of the case between power input and cables 9-16 and another hole in the strain relief for the comm wires to run through, will that void the warranty?

water proofing i can use weather strips around the top and sides so thats all good, and the sharp metal i can cover...my main thing was the unit ID and voiding the warrany if i drill those two holes...unit ID has been answered (i think...again if i read it correctly) so im down to the warranty question


thanks

[cmoore60]

Yes you have read what we have said correctly!

[LightORamaDan]

As has been mentioned, one of the reasons that the price is lower on the PC series is that it is a simpler design with less parts. Thus there are no Unit ID switches. Once the Unit ID is set, it stays set until you change it. You can pack things away for 20 years and when you get it out it will still have the same Unit ID set. Make sure to mark the boxes so you know what their unit ID is.

As far as drilling holes, you can do so on the bottom of the box, it will not void the warranty. When ever you install any controller, make sure to secure the communications cables close to the controller with cable ties (or comparable) in such a way that if you trip over the cable it does not pull the cable out of the box. I also keep a little slack tucked away near the controller so if I do snag the wire, the slack absorbs the movement.

Dan

[johnny christmas]

ok, thanks for everything...ill be testing them in a little while

[johnny christmas]

both controllers assembled, IDs set and tested...100%


thanks everyone!

[daniel]

Just to chime in. My ctb-08 (Non-d, kinda like the pc series) has kept its id since mid- 2005! Never had to reset, or mess with the ID.



--Daniel L

[mmaness]

Since I'm building the PC kit, it's no big deal. The address is set when I test it, and then I place a label on the inside of the box with it's address (for future reference), as well as on the outside (for ease in setup). At the same time, I put labels around the channel power wires, so I know which plug goes to which channel. Makes it easy to handle.

I actually prefer setting the address this way, instead of messing with the little dials. I don't have to squint, drag out a magnifying glass, or perform some voodoo ritual to set the address. Just address it one time during testing and I'm done.

Your mileage may vary, see dealer for details.

[taybrynn]

My $.02 -- I don't see a big need for it personally. It is just a one time setting and most folks report is as being plenty easy to do.

[hobbes]

I don't have any controllers that use the rotary switches but I would be surprised if you could use the hardware utility to set their address. That would lead to alot of confusion as to what address was being used (rotary switch or EEPROM in the controller).

I like the fact that the switches have been removed and replaced with the EEPROM. The rotary switches being mechanical devices could fail over time. With their removal it would free up between 6-8 pins on the microcontroller that may be used for other things. Also from what I have seen in the catalogs, the rotary switches can be pricey. The cheapest I have seen for rotary hexadecimal switches was about $3 per switch. Just my 2 cents.

tom.

[LightORamaDan]

hobbes wrote:

[snip] I like the fact that the switches have been removed and replaced with the EEPROM. The rotary switches being mechanical devices could fail over time. With their removal it would free up between 6-8 pins on the microcontroller that may be used for other things. Also from what I have seen in the catalogs, the rotary switches can be pricey. The cheapest I have seen for rotary hexadecimal switches was about $3 per switch. Just my 2 cents.

tom.

There are advantages/disadvantages to the switches. They are expensive but they are easier/quicker for people to use. In a standalone mode where people do not really do not use a PC at all (pre-sequenced) the switches are handy.

As far as changing the address of a deluxe unit with switches. You can temporally change the address by sending it a command from the hardware utility BUT the next the unit powers on it will read the switches and revert to the original value. (no sure if that should be considered a feature or a oversight) One of the reasons it works that way is that the switches are optional on the CTB16D. You can build one without the switches and when there are no switches the eeprom is used.

Only a few pins are involved with the switches so you do not free up as much as you would think. There is a parallel/serial chip used to read the switches.