Pixie 8 Controller (part of PluginShow TreeKit) Not recognized by HU

[jstomasi]

I am experiencing an issue with my Pixie 8 controller as past of the Plugin Show Tree I purchased last year.  I am using high speed dongle and am unable to get Pixie controller to recognize using HU (Hardware Utility)  I checked the power supply and it is on and sending power out to the board.  No lights are blinking on the board at all,  I am pretty sure it has a network light like all the other LOR controllers telling you it is connected to the network.

 

I tried unplugging the power from the board and reconnecting, as I have see this correct issues in the past, but this action did not work.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Edited September 29, 2017 by jstomasi

[k6ccc]

This is weird.  After adding the quote below, I can't see the left edge of the entry, so this may be coming out strange.  If so, I'm sorry, I could not see it.

According to the Pixie8 manual there is a status LED just a little to the right and below the center of the board.  The status should be as follows:

Quote

Status LED



Blinks twice per second

if the controller has

booted correctly but is not connected to an

active network



Solid on if the controller sees a network

director – either a P

C or Show Director



Blinks one long on and a

short off repeatedly

if in the bootloader. This means that the

firmware is not loaded or corrupted. See the

Updating the Pixie Firmware

section to load

firmware



Flashing rapidly indicates resetting because

you are holding the reset button during

power up

 

A quick confirmation of communications would be to disconnect the RS-485 cable and confirm if the status of the status light changes.

 

Edited September 29, 2017 by k6ccc
Corrected a couple typos that I had not been able to see.

[Mr. P]

If I am not mistaken S4 didn't recognize Pixie devices until 4.3.18 so you may need to upgrade from your current 4.3.14 that I see in your profile.

Now when I say recognized I mean in the HU, has nothing to do with it having power or anything.

I would recommend you upgrade to 4.3.24 as your license should already cover that.

Edited September 29, 2017 by Mr. P

[jstomasi]

5 hours ago, Mr. P said:

If I am not mistaken S4 didn't recognize Pixie devices until 4.3.18 so you may need to upgrade from your current 4.3.14 that I see in your profile.

Now when I say recognized I mean in the HU, has nothing to do with it having power or anything.

I would recommend you upgrade to 4.3.24 as your license should already cover that.

 

5 hours ago, k6ccc said:

This is weird.  After adding the quote below, I can't see the left edge of the entry, so this may be coming out strange.  If so, I'm sorry, I could not see it.

According to the Pixie8 manual there is a status LED just a little to the right and below the center of the board.  The status should be as follows:

 

A quick confirmation of communications would be to disconnect the RS-485 cable and confirm if the status of the status light changes.

 

Ok so I am running latest production release 4.3.24 and have had no issues connecting to other controllers. There are no blinking lights on controller. And yes it is plugged in. 

I checked output from the powersupply to the board and it seems like the power supply is foobar.  I should be seeing 5v but it is not registering. 

I ha e a feeing I am going to be asking for an RMA on Monday 

unless someone else has a thought 

 

 

[jstomasi]

Note. This ran just fine last year. Was taken down and out in a sterility container for the off season. 

[default]

Just a guess,

Did you try the reset button, holding it down while booting the Pixie? as explained in the Pixie Manual page 24

http://www1.lightorama.com/PDF/Pixie_Man_Web.pdf

Is this a kit? or did you supply the power supply and case?

If you have to deal with LOR, they will treat you right. I had a Pixie16 that had a similar problems, LOR made it right very quickly. No need to wait till monday for a helpdesk request, if you do it now, it'll be one of the first they deal with monday am.

Alan...

[TheDucks]

14 hours ago, jstomasi said:

 

Ok so I am running latest production release 4.3.24 and have had no issues connecting to other controllers. There are no blinking lights on controller. And yes it is plugged in. 

I checked output from the powersupply to the board and it seems like the power supply is foobar.  I should be seeing 5v but it is not registering. 

I ha e a feeing I am going to be asking for an RMA on Monday 

unless someone else has a thought 

 

 

Pixies need 12 V on the Aux jack if you are running 5V LEDS on the output

[dibblejr]

Yes, the Pixie8 does have status lights.

If I understand this correctly this was preassembled or did you assemble it?

Are you checking PS first disconnected from the pixie or at least at the power out from the ps to pixie8 side.

Are you sure your receptacle is working properly/ not tripped

Did you use the tree last year?

JR

[jstomasi]

On 9/30/2017 at 10:00 PM, dibblejr said:

Yes, the Pixie8 does have status lights.

If I understand this correctly this was preassembled or did you assemble it?

Are you checking PS first disconnected from the pixie or at least at the power out from the ps to pixie8 side.

Are you sure your receptacle is working properly/ not tripped

Did you use the tree last year?

JR

Weird... I replied but it did not get posted or something.

So to answer questions:

Yes it is preassembled kitr

Yes I was checking PS with card unplugged

Yes receptacle has juice and is not tripped.

No light is displaying on pixie 8 controller, but power supply is on as I can feel it is a little warm.

No volts displaying on multimeter

I have opened a ticket with LOR and it seems they agree it is power supply.  It is currently with engineering now.  I will post once I have resolution.

 

JT

[jstomasi]

UPDATE: LOR Support was awesome as always.  They agree with my diagnosis of a foobar power supply.  Replacement controller was shipped out and should be received today.

Thanks again to LOR Support for your expedient response.

JT

[jstomasi]

UPDATE 2: Replacement controller received and the controller box is smaller.  Old one sent back already.  

Thanks again to LOR customer support for the super quick turnaround.

Regards,

JT

[default]

Glad this is resolved. It is very nice to know LOR will make it right. Thanks for posing the updates, this helps to assure others LOR backs their products. My experiences with the help desk have always been great.

Alan...