Renard 24 diagnstics help

[Mudsculpter]

I have used the 815a diagnostic code and the following results appear.

This data occurs when the board is sent signal as the first board in series.

2.............................blinks
5.............................blinks at a different interval than 2
6.............................on
7.............................on
8.............................off

This data occurs when the board is sent signal as the secondary board in series.

2.............................blinks
5.............................blinks at a different interval than 2
6.............................off
7.............................off
8.............................off


I did not augment the code for 57600 baud , I just used as is

I humbly await your most learned directions,my dear sirs ( and possibly ma'ams)

[P. Short]

There is a framing error for the first board (channel 7 'on'). A framing error usually indicates either a baud rate error or the data is inverted (i.e. pins 4,5 in the serial cable are swapped).

You need to get the first board working (and replace the diagnostics with non-diagnostics firmware) before the diagnostics on the second board have meaning wrt communications.

--

Phil

[Mudsculpter]

Board 1 is working and now the diagnostic chip in in the second board.

This data occurs when the board is sent signal as the secondary board in series.

2.............................blinks
5.............................blinks at a different interval than 2
6.............................off
7.............................off
8.............................off

[P. Short]

Data is not getting through to the second board.

So, the usual questions.

1) Does Board 2 work by itself when installed in place of Board 1?

2) Are all three PICs on the first board are installed with non-diagnostics firmware, set to the right baud rate.

3) Is board 1 is connected to board 2 with a straight-thru patch cable?

4) Is the vixen plugin set up for the right number of channels?

--

Phil
--

Phil

[Mudsculpter]

1 no, but using the ren-t (case3) without crossing the resistors between the rs485 chips will result in no data throughput. I am told that when crossing the resisors on the first board is done, the rest of the boards in the series must be uncrossed. That is how the boards are set up in this case.

2 yes,... baud rate of computer serial port at 57600 and vixen plugin set to 57600

3 yes,.. from comm out of first board to comm in on second board straight through and cable has been tested good.

4 yes,... 48 channels

[P. Short]

1) In retrospect, it would have been better to modify the cable than to modify one of the boards. Having identical boards would allow them to be swapped.

2) Double check that all of the PICs in the first board are programmed correctly with the correct (non-diagnostics) firmware, set to the correct baud rate, and that they are all correctly placed in their sockets (no bent pins, pins offset by one, etc). A problem here would interrupt the data flow.

--

Phil

[Mudsculpter]

reflashed all three pics with pwm firmware,...and rechecked other directions in your last post

Something new happened

2.............................blinks
5.............................blinks at a different interval than 2
6.............................on
7.............................on
8.............................off

[P. Short]

That's the framing error again.

--

Phil

[Mudsculpter]

should I make up a cable between the two boards with the 4 and 5 wires swapped?,.... or is there some other tweak. The baud rate still remains constant at 57600.

[P. Short]

Did you swap the resistors on the second board? If so, pins 4/5 should be swapped. If you did not swap the resistors, the cable should be straight-through.

--

Phil

[Mudsculpter]

Its something else,... I have tried it both with a straight through cable and a 4&5 pin swapped cable and I still get the framing error

[P. Short]

It's hard to say what could be the matter...see if Frank pipes up.

The only other thing that comes to mind is to make sure that pins 1,2 (ground) are connected through the board-to-board cable.

--

Phil

[Mudsculpter]

Thanks for taking the time to help.

(echos) FRANK?......

[P. Short]

One thing that I would do in the meantime is to try and see if the second board works by itself (if you haven't done that already). Since you seem to have a cable that has pins 4 and 5 swapped, try using that cable to connect the second board (the one without crossed resistors) to the Ren-T board.

--

Phil

[Mudsculpter]

I will try that.

I did notice something while I was uncrossing the resistors on that board,... Some of the coating on one of the resistors was flaking off,... Is that normal? Is it damaged?

(EDIT)

Tried uncrossed second board as #1 board and came up with framing error with both straight and 4/5 crossed cables.

maybe a component failure?

[P. Short]

Or bad connection in the 4/5 crossed cable? Has it ever worked?

--

Phil

[Mudsculpter]

My cable tester tells shows that all 8 channels are where they should be,...

(EDIT)

Switched out the RS485 chps with known good ones and the issue persists.

Tried running it with crossed and uncrossed resistors, 4/5 crossed and uncrossed cables and the aforementioned rs485 switch-er-roo. no dice....same framing error with good zero cross

[holtm]

I had an issue with one of my PIC chips, the UART wasn't working. It might have been the internal clock (that's what I'm using), but it might have also been the UART. Maybe swap PICs?

[Mudsculpter]

By Jove, I think you got it. Swapped all the pics on the second board and Voila,... a unit that works,...... so far. At least I see some channels from each board blinking

I want to extend my thanks to wjohn, holtm, tconley, Frank, Camron, and mostly Phil,... And thanks to Macrosill for keeping this site maintained to promote a healthy atmosphere for this kind of exchange :mrgreen: Thanky.

[fkostyun]

I have to apologize on not paying a ton of attenion to the forums as of late - as my own show is starting to take off.

Pins 4/5 are reversed from other designs.

I have also run across a PIC that wouldn't work - normally "erasing it" and then reprogramming it will take care of the problem.

[odskaggs2]

I had to flash my pic chips a second time also. Went from nothing working to fully operational.