jtomason Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 (edited) Pulling everything out for year...8? with LOR. I'm an IT guy, so the cabling doesn't scare me, nor the diagnostics, but I've hit a problem I'm unsure about. 10 controllers total on a USB interface. The first 4 are ID'ed fine, but if I connect the remaining units, things get wonky - not all the units are found, and there are sporadic "glitches" in what the HU is reporting - the firmware version gets high-ASCII characters in it, or the HU reports an "Unknown Unit". It is generally not the same from scan to scan. Obviously this is some kind of interference or issue with the RS-485 signal, but I'm not sure what. The 5th box in the line has yet to be discovered. It's a 50W RGB flood, and when tested by itself, it's good - both connectors work, the light responds to commands. The cabling is tested good (connectivity only so far) from end to end of the entire string. When the flood is put in but the downstream is disconnected, everything seems normal (no glitches) but the flood still doesn't show up. So logically, the suspicion falls on the 4th controller (a Pixie) or the cabling from it to the flood, but I'm having a hard time imagining what the problem could be on a 12' cable run that tests good. Could the Pixie simply be bad and causing these issues by itself? I guess I will bypass it and see, but... Yeah? Joe UPDATE: Bypassed the Pixie and another controller (3rd in the line - short version, quicker and easier to do) and everything else (including the flood) is showing up.. So I will have to dig out a longer cable to hook in the 3rd controller and determine if it's the Pixie or its wiring definitively. If so, It's gotta come down and get disassembled. :( Edited November 29, 2020 by jtomason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 HU frequently misses controllers. If they are connected with solid light, try a sequence. Leave the HU alone and dont worry about it if they work. You are probably better off writing a quick all on sequence to test with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtomason Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 (edited) 1 minute ago, PhilMassey said: HU frequently misses controllers. If they are connected with solid light, try a sequence. Leave the HU alone and dont worry about it if they work. You are probably better off writing a quick all on sequence to test with. Problem is I don't have all the lights up yet - that's being worked on by my slaves apprentices sons. :) Edited November 29, 2020 by jtomason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 1 minute ago, jtomason said: Problem is I don't have all the lights up yet - that's being worked on by my slaves apprentices sons. :) Lights will work, even on the ground. But I have a spare string I keep handy. You only need ONE string attached to see if the controller is responding Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 Still, if the controller lights are all solid your probably good. HU is best left alone once you have your ID's set and they are best done individually. Get the whip out, they need to speed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtomason Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 13 minutes ago, TheDucks said: Lights will work, even on the ground. But I have a spare string I keep handy. You only need ONE string attached to see if the controller is responding True, but when I see RS-485 corruption on the line, I'm usually thinking it's a more serious problem than a controller responding or not. 12 minutes ago, PhilMassey said: Still, if the controller lights are all solid your probably good. HU is best left alone once you have your ID's set and they are best done individually. Get the whip out, they need to speed up. They were all solid, but the floodlight was not responding during a sequence test, which is why I went to the HU in the first place. I bypassed just the Pixie and everything looks good, so it looks like it's gonna come down and get looked at. Hopefully it's just a bad cable termination and easily fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtomason Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 OK, so it did turn out to be one of the cables on the Pixie. I really hated that possibility because you literally have to open the pixie up to remove the cables, so since I had to do it anyway, I made a small modification. I made two 1 foot cables and connected those to the Pixie, and then added waterproof couplers. This way, if a run goes bad, I can take it off without having to take the Pixie apart. What's weird is that the entire run from PC to last controller tested good, and the cable that I suspect was bad tested bad initially but then tested GOOD. Wiggling the wires around didn't seem to change that, but I cut it and reterminated it anyway. Put everything back together and all the controllers are showing up, so I *guess* it's fixed. Of course, the slaves boys are not done on the roof yet.. The two of them are slower than me solo! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 The original CCP controllers are the same way. I think I put waterproof dangles on them after the first year. Have not had to open them up since - yea! I don't know about the Pixie off hand, but on the CCP controllers there is a setting that makes the first connected pixel mirror the status light for the first 15 seconds (or there abouts) after power up. Really handy to be able to see the LOR network status without having to open the box back up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtomason Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 10 minutes ago, k6ccc said: The original CCP controllers are the same way. I think I put waterproof dangles on them after the first year. Have not had to open them up since - yea! I don't know about the Pixie off hand, but on the CCP controllers there is a setting that makes the first connected pixel mirror the status light for the first 15 seconds (or there abouts) after power up. Really handy to be able to see the LOR network status without having to open the box back up! If it does, I've never noticed it. Haven't had a problem with it (or its cabling) since I bought it until now. First time for everything, I suppose. On an unrelated note, I vote that we switch to Daylight Savings Time immediately after I get set up. I need that extra hour. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 The first Pixel status for a Pixie is set in HU. Config: Cosmic Color /Pixie config: Advanced: Tick First Pixel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 20 hours ago, TheDucks said: The first Pixel status for a Pixie is set in HU. Config: Cosmic Color /Pixie config: Advanced: Tick First Pixel I have every one of my RGB Controllers, Pixie2D and CCB100D are all set up that way. They have NEVER, not any of them have turned on the status pixel to show me they are working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 51 minutes ago, Orville said: I have every one of my RGB Controllers, Pixie2D and CCB100D are all set up that way. They have NEVER, not any of them have turned on the status pixel to show me they are working. They only come on when first powered Up and LOR is not running (just tested on a Pixie4d). The first Px flashes until I start SE (no sequence loaded) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted December 2, 2020 Share Posted December 2, 2020 On 11/30/2020 at 4:50 PM, TheDucks said: They only come on when first powered Up and LOR is not running (just tested on a Pixie4d). The first Px flashes until I start SE (no sequence loaded) I unplug the unit{s}, plug them in {not connected to anything, no SD Card in the Director, and they never show me they are working. This has never worked on any of the RGB Controllers I've set it up on. Not one time. And last time I checked, just before I put them outside, every one is configured to turn on that first pixel, but none ever have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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