16 pc KIT PROBLEMS, LED flashing a zillion miles an hour on reset

[daniel]

Hey LOR guys! I just got my soldering kit together kinda easily, and I am now in the testing phase.


I powered up just the right side to see if the logic works, and the LED flashes like normal. The hardware utility can NOT see the unit or set its id, and when I go to reset the unit, the LED flashes about 5-10 times a second. (Very Fast) So it is not flashing to the standard reset pattern.


Any ideas?



Thanks!



EDIT: Another problem, I "tried" to get the voltage readings from the 18 pin header, but I accedently shorted a couple pins out, and the board LED wont light now. I "think" the pins were 1-2, 11-12 or 13-14. Hope its not ruined....



--Daniel L

[LightORamaDan]

As long as the LED was flashing faster than normal when you were resetting you it is an indication that the reset was working.

Do you remember if the LED stopped blinking when you were trying to work it with the Hardware Utility?

There is the possibility that the card has been damaged when you shorted out the header. If the LED was blinking normal prior and now has stopped blinking.

Because you were getting activity from the LED your +5V was working okay. There was a chance that the +10V was not working and that would cause a problem if you are using a SC485 adapter rather than a serial adapter.

Check to see if you still have +5V and if you do then double check that the Processor is seated properly.



Dan

[daniel]

Thanks for the reply!




I checked the top left and 3rd right pins for 10v, and the meter found nothing.

Just felt the chips, and the 8 pin dip to the left of the jacks was very hot.


I am using the serial adapter, and I just verified the hardware utility works by testing a ctb-16d.

When the LED flashed, the hardware utility made no difference on the status blinks.





So with that chip that hot, could my accidental short have fried it?



Thanks again!




--Daniel L

[LightORamaDan]

Pull the hot chip out and see if you get the blinking LED back. If you do not have 10v then that would explain why there is no connection via the SC485. The 10v powers the sc485.

[daniel]

YES! The 8 pin dip (U1) has been pulled, and the LED is now blinking again.



So, What now? Can I get a replacement chip at RadioShack? Or, should I order one from you?


And I should check q17 for the 10v?

EDIT: just checked, I get 9v if the meter leads are on the two outer pins of q17.




--Daniel L

[LightORamaDan]

As many people who have built LOR kits will tell you, we replace parts delivered damaged or damaged during assembly at no charge. Just send an email to kits@lightorama.com

Check to see if you have 10V. If no 10V then see if the 10V regulator is getting hot.

Dan


Edit: That part is not available at radio shack.

[daniel]

I cant seem to get any voltages on the 18 pins, (I'm assuming the top left pin is the common). But I can get 10v if I put the leads directly on the q17.



Thanks for the help, I will be sending that email soon.



--Daniel L

[LightORamaDan]

daniel wrote:

I cant seem to get any voltages on the 18 pins, (I'm assuming the top left pin is the common). But I can get 10v if I put the leads directly on the q17.



Thanks for the help, I will be sending that email soon.



--Daniel L

With the card orentated with the 18 pin header at the top and the Light-O-Rama logo set correctly: The bottom left pin is ground and the left side the third pin is +10 and the forth pin is +5.

Dan

[daniel]

Okay, I just checked that, and it IS giving me 5 and 10 volts on those pins. So, what does that broken chip do? If we were back before the short, and the LED flashed with the chip in place, could the communication problem be linked to this chip as well?




Thanks again!




--Daniel L

[LightORamaDan]

The bad chip is the communications chip. It was most likely damaged when the pins were shorted but it is possible that it was always bad.

I recommend the following: Double check all the solder joints on the U1 socket, R1 resistor and the micro processor's (U2) socket, the 3 RJ connectors and the 18 pin header. If they all look okay then re-heat (reflow) each of them to make sure that they are good.

Then take the U1 chip out of your good controller. Don't worry, if we wreck that chip we will replace it for free. Just be carefull when you pull the chip that you do not bend the pins too much.

Put the U1 chip from the good controller into the kit and then hook it up to see if you can get communication.

Dan