S6 HU having difficulties talking to the cards

[Obejohnknobe]

Greetings everyone!!!

Am on the last part of checking all of my display out by making sure the cards are re-programmed to the correct ID due to using them for Halloween.  Am experiencing a problem  in connecting to my Pixie cards thru HU.  Was able to connect to my Residential 16 channel in 3 attempts.  Connected cables from computer to residential 16, opened CP then selected HU.  1st attempt to find the card, the light on card still blinked, 2nd attempt the card, light was solid but the program did not see any card.  3rd attempt card solid light and residential controller came up and was able to go thru each light with no issues. 

Next was a pixie 8 and tried several attempts with the 3rd attempt the light went solid but HU could not find the card.  Think I tried at least 5 to 10 times with the same result.  Tried closing program, reopening, making sure all connections were good, switching cables and other parts and each time I tried something different, same result.  Tried a couple of other cards (Pixie 4, 8, and 16) and still the same result where the card light would go steady after the 2nd or 3rd attempt but the HU would not read the card.  My guess is I am the one causing the issue but cannot figure out the why.

Lastly, no network cables are connected at all just the USB to High Speed USB485 to cat 5 to connector.  No open programs other than CP and HU.

Any help to include Christmas Dad jokes will be appreciated.

Thank you all!!

John

[TheDucks]

Damaged jacks?  Were your tests 1 controller at a time?

Lousy CAT5.  (I bought some mini CAT5 on Amazon a few years back, It isn't true CAT5. the wire says EIA 568 and the blue and brown pairs had half the twists as the others which are standard Ethernet. We use the Blue )

CAT5 running alongside power cords for more than a few feet.

FWIW HU runs at a slow speed, non enhanced. If that is flaky, your show has a poor chance.

BTW Are your residential controllers G3 version (green LED)? If not, you need a second network as those only run up to 115K NON-ENHANCED

[Obejohnknobe]

I have 1 out 12 cards that the cat 5 jack was damaged from a wire trip hazard (I tripped over the cat 5 cable).  The card is replaced so I can re-solder it this next year. 

All of my tests are 1 card at a time with all network cables disconnected.

Changed USB to mini USB and the USB 485 as well as cat 5 cables to the card.  I always have at least 2 of everything as backups are needed every now and then to include Pixie cards.

Always run cat 5 by themselves and limit exposure if any power cables are near them. 

Did not have any problems after the 3rd attempt on the G3 version of the residential controller in testing the lights and it is on the slower setting (500K) when running the lights on network 1.  Have 4 networks and run the others faster.

One thing I did not do that seem to work over the summer when programming and testing the cards, Connected cable, opened CP then HU, then did refresh after window popped up asking to stop the CP.  After programming, closed the HU, closed CP and then disconnect the cable to the card.  Then reconnect the cable to another card, then opened CP then HU.  I did not do that sequence today.  I closed HU but did not close CP before disconnecting and reconnecting to another  card.  Thinking that might be the cause of the card and software not talking.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

John

[TheDucks]

Nope :(  You did all the stuff I thought of.

Since you have G3 residential, those play with smaller Pixies.

Wait... What firmware for each. S6 wants a certain level (But that should not affect HU and you did individually so it is not interactions)

[Obejohnknobe]

The only Pixels I have on the residential is Pixie 4 for Tune to sign and Pixie 4 and 8 for tube lighting and Pixie 4 and 8 for flood lights.  All can be run on the slowest setting.  When running the sequence last year with these on network 1, there were no issues noticed.

You are correct, HU is not affected when it comes to individual cards.  HU should communicate with the card.  Just do not know why HU does not communicate between the card and software for now.  Unless the sequence of connect the card, open CP then HU to communicate, Program then reverse order to disconnect is the sequence I should be following and is the issue........

John

[TheDucks]

There may be an overlapping Id on the network?   Remember HEX.  *This is why I assign Pixie ID's on Natural boundaries. x0, x8  (leave a gap if Pixie4 as a card swap and it grew 4 more without changin the existing)

Slowest speed? The Tune to sign is mostly static? Each node is 3 channels of data.

[Obejohnknobe]

Agreed about the Hex but the overlapping hex would be an issue in the network.  The main problem is HU is not talking to a single card separate from all others.  I just received a brand new Pixie 8 from LOR and my HU cannot talk to it.  Nothing else is tied to it other than a power supply.  It does not matter if all the BCD switches are all off or the designated hex id is loaded in.  I am just trying to get the HU to talk to the card.  Today, going to try the method of connect cable to card, open CP then HU and refresh to see if it communicates.  Yesterday, I had CP open and connected to the card then opened HU.  I have notice it takes time to for everything to start up and it does not like to have the cable disconnected while HU open.

Will get back to you to see if this works.

John

[TheDucks]

Make sure that JP5 is not installed.

HU will not find the card if the LED is not solid (The Control panel must be running)

[Orville]

I don't understabd the cable swap being an issue, I have 2 short cat5 test cables, one in my older black USB RS-485B adapter  and 1 in my red HS RS-485 adapter, I unplug the cat5 and swap to the next controller WITHOUT UNLOADING ANYTHING. 

My CP runs the entire time the computer is on, it's NEVER UNLOADED.

  I have HU OPEN, refresh after I connect the cat5 to controller to find it, set it to what I need it for/update firmware, test controller, unplug cat5, unplug power from controller, plug next controller into power, plug in cat5, abd repeat.  Do the same with new controllers I add to my show.

Been doing it this way since I got into this hobby back in December 2009(officially Jan. 2010), now 2023, almost 2024, so 13-1/2+ years and have never had an issue with doing it like this.

If I had to do it like the OP, holy moly, that is just wasting a lot of time having to do all that every time. 

I'd never get all my controllers set-up, re-id'd or updated if I had to do that for each one, especially if I had 20 or 30 controllers I needed to change, update or add to a show. 

No thanks, I'll keep doing it the way I do, as you should NOT need to do this every time!

Edited November 25, 2023 by Orville

[Obejohnknobe]

I get it, During Halloween, there is about 5 cards that have to be ID changed as the display is set up differently than the Christmas display.  I have had cards lose their ID at times even after a firmware update, so going thru them all is overkill but peace of mind.  I only have 14 total cards so it is not too much of an issue.  On top of that, I make sure every pixel string lights with the red, green, blue, and white as there have been some instances where one color will not illuminate.  No, I am not using cheap pixels but it normally happens every time there is a set up with check lights.  Normal problems are cables not on tight, the card connectors are loose, fuse blown ect.  Wear and tear and even had cables go bad.  It happens.

As far as the HU issue, it has been solved......................................................................................................

Drum roll please............................

My laptop is the one I normally use for all outside programming and light testing.   Since it has been off from Late July when it was last used, most of Win 10 needed updates.  I updated everyone of them before I started and even updated to the new S6 update that just recently came out.  The one thing I noticed when trying to get the card to talk to the computer today, the comm port showed Comm 3.  Somehow I ended up with a Comm 4 USB port on the computer (only 3 USB ports unless you want to count the HDMI port).  Under HU , selected autoconfig and it switched from comm 3 to comm 4.  Everything started to talk.  Was able to do my ID switch, Light test and troubleshooting.  Success!!

John