Raine Posted November 15 Posted November 15 I am running my show from a laptop, regular network for CTB16's and ELL's. Using 4 ELL's throughout the cul-de-sac for the neighbors' houses. All 4 are set to unit ID01. All updated firmware. These all worked last year with no issues. They work and react correctly in the garage during troubleshooting, but when they are placed outside around the circle, they don't work. Power is good to all ELL's. Any troubleshooting tips that I might not have thought of? Thank You!
dgrant Posted November 15 Posted November 15 Insure their firmware has been updated to the latest. Check the network speed and make sure they don't go above 115k (I think is the max), might be lower.
Steven Posted November 16 Posted November 16 I assume you mean they are all set to channel 01, because ELL's don't have unit numbers. When you say "don't work" do you mean don't respond to events from a sequence, or don't respond to the hardware utility? When you moved from the garage test to the circle, did you also move the unit connected to the laptop? When the laptop runs the hardware utility in it's current location, does it find the ELL? If you remove the cover from the ELL, are the status LEDs lit? How is the ELL connected to your laptop getting its power? If it's using a USB-RS485, how long is the cable?
Raine Posted November 16 Author Posted November 16 13 hours ago, dgrant said: Insure their firmware has been updated to the latest. Check the network speed and make sure they don't go above 115k (I think is the max), might be lower. Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post! I have updated all firmware, and the network speed is set to 57.6k.
Raine Posted November 16 Author Posted November 16 13 hours ago, Steven said: I assume you mean they are all set to channel 01, because ELL's don't have unit numbers. When you say "don't work" do you mean don't respond to events from a sequence, or don't respond to the hardware utility? When you moved from the garage test to the circle, did you also move the unit connected to the laptop? When the laptop runs the hardware utility in it's current location, does it find the ELL? If you remove the cover from the ELL, are the status LEDs lit? How is the ELL connected to your laptop getting its power? If it's using a USB-RS485, how long is the cable? Hello Steven, I appreciate you responding to my post! 3 of the 4 ELL's have the antennae built in, so they dont have unit ID's. The 4th one is a CB04 with an ELL attached to it with a 3ft. cat5 cable. That one is set to Unit ID01. They don't respond to the hardware utility or a sequence when placed out in the yards. They do, however, respond to both when testing in the garage. The transceiver in the garage does not move. My laptop is using the RS485, connected to the first CTB16 (Unit ID 01), then cat5 to the ELL sending the signal. Both of those cat5's are 3ft. All status lights are lit and working, both in the garage AND when plugged in outside. I have also tried to switch all ELL's from frequency 16 to 1. This didn't help.
k6ccc Posted November 16 Posted November 16 I'm not an ELL expert as I don't use them, but I am a radio guy. Since you changed channels from 16 to 1, that largely eliminates some other device using the same (or overlapping) channel causing interference. And since it all works when everything is together in the garage, it means that the radios are all working - at least sort of. My leading contender right now is the ELL that you have in the garage is not transmitting very much power (a failed amplifier stage). First use the Hardware Utility to confirm that it's set to the highest power setting. Since I assume you do not have any equipment to measure the actual transmit power, the next thing to try would be to swap one of the three ELLs in the yard with the one in the garage. As I recall, there are no setting changes required to do that. If that fixes the problem, mark the one that was in the garage as having a bad transmitter. Unless you are using controllers for inputs to trigger activities, none of the yard ELLs need to transmit back to the garage, so having an ELL with a bad transmitter in the yard should not affect the show. Note, that if it turns out that one of the ELLs has a bad transmitter, and you move that to one of the yard positions, you likely will NOT be able to see and configure any of the controllers that are attached to that ELL when testing via the HU. As I said, won't affect the show, but something to stick in the back of your mind. 1
Raine Posted November 23 Author Posted November 23 So an update to my problem. I ordered a new CTB04 ELL as well as 2 new V6 ELL's. So my current setup is V6 ELL transmitter in the garage & 4 CTB04 ELLs outside in the circle. They are all updated to Firmware 2.11 and set to frequency 16. Everything WORKED.....for about 10 minutes. Now there is no signal to anything on an ELL. What could possibly cause everything to just quit working?
TheDucks Posted November 23 Posted November 23 ELL's work on a very common RF frequency range: 902 – 928 MHz. Security sensors, Garage door openers, and oh so many wireless remote controls. You are going to have to find a channel(frequency) that is not being used. What gets me, is it does not self recover from interference. Maybe @K6CCC knows of a scanning ap that can indicate a low traffic channel.
Raine Posted November 23 Author Posted November 23 Is it possible I need an RS485B as opposed to the regular RS485? That has a booster built in, maybe thats the issue?
k6ccc Posted November 23 Posted November 23 The ELL needs power either from a RS-485B or a nearby controller that supplies power to ELLs. Is there a traditional AC controller on that network and if so, how much cable distance from that controller to the ELL?
Raine Posted November 23 Author Posted November 23 yes, the current rs485 goes directly to a CTB16. 3ft cat5 cable.
Raine Posted November 23 Author Posted November 23 What has me completely baffled is that it was all working for a while??
TheDucks Posted November 23 Posted November 23 2 minutes ago, Raine said: yes, the current rs485 goes directly to a CTB16. 3ft cat5 cable. And where does the ELL at that end plug ?
Raine Posted November 23 Author Posted November 23 From Unit ID 01 to the ELL, then to the second CTB16. (Unit ID 02) and so on...
k6ccc Posted November 23 Posted November 23 What's the cable distance from the ELL to the nearest AC controller?
TheDucks Posted November 23 Posted November 23 You could have 3000+' from the adapter to the first controller. It is the distance from the controller suppling the ELL that has to be under 25'
Raine Posted November 23 Author Posted November 23 they are all right next to each other...computer...to 1st controller...to ELL...to 2nd controller..3rd..4th... all less than 3ft apart.
TheDucks Posted November 23 Posted November 23 3 minutes ago, Raine said: From Unit ID 01 to the ELL, then to the second CTB16. (Unit ID 02) and so on... Check both CAT5 cables that they are 1 to 1 (no flipped pairs)wired. with 2 AC controllers, either can supply power. a crossed cable could cause the aux power (3-6) to fight. (this may be why Gen 2 pixies now have a jumper) Also, are all those controllers powered on?
TheDucks Posted November 23 Posted November 23 3 minutes ago, Raine said: they are all right next to each other...computer...to 1st controller...to ELL...to 2nd controller..3rd..4th... all less than 3ft apart. Then put the ELL last. The ID order can be any order
Raine Posted November 23 Author Posted November 23 All Controllers are powered on. I'm not sure I understand 1 to 1 wired?
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