Renard PWM not trigering Zero cross SSR

[cmurray]

Finally got the oscillators added to my 80 channel renard.

Reprogrammed the PICs using renard-20070711.asm
Set to use 57600 baud and 2 of 10 PICs would be PWM variety.

Everything was checking out great even at 25ms
The PWM chips worked fine with incandescents and LEDs

But only one out of four of my zero cross SSRs(continental 10 amp hockey pucks) would trigger. I guess that one is just a little above spec.
The LED pilot lights flash but the SSR will not trigger, except the one.
Checked with my battery powered channel checker and all are fine.

My guess is that the signal is just a fraction too late, missing the zero cross event.
What can I adjust to get these to work?
The previous standalone version of PWM had to be working. I used it for fourth of July.

Taking no chances with my inflatables or strobes this year.

Joel

[P. Short]

Try changing the #DEFINE CTR_LOCKOUT in line 33 from 15 down to 1 (I don't think that 0 will work). This will allow the output to be asserted later in the cycle.

Otherwise, it may take more work on my part, and be a special for driving zero-cross SSRs.

--

Phil

[cmurray]

Phil

Tried 1 and 0 and even 2.

No response.

It just bugs me tho that one of the four SSRs has to be an overachiever.
It has no problem responding as it should.
the others may only join in during part of a blink sequence.
Nothing repeatable. less than 1 out of 100 times.

JOel

[P. Short]

Is this for a global on/off, or something like that?

--

Phil

[cmurray]

Not necessarily.

I used them for my strobes for the fourth of July.
Not taking any chances with the electronics inside them.
They would turn on and stay on from 5 to 30 seconds.

For Halloween I will use them with my inflatables.
On at the beginning of the show and off at the end.
But I may also use my strobes for Halloween also.
So definitely on and off during the show.

JOel

[P. Short]

OK, I'll have to think about it. I'm not sure how the previous code did anything useful in that regard, there certainly wasn't anything deliberate to support that.

The current code tries to make sure that the signals are off during the zero-crossing period. Xmus was having problems with twinkling if care wasn't taken in this respect, although there may be some way to allow the signal to go into the zero-crossing region if the brightness is set at 100%, and to keep it out other times.

--

Phil

[P. Short]

BTW, were you previously using PWM or non-PWM code to control those SSRs?

--

Phil

[cmurray]

Version 20061228.asm modified for PWM

You have PM.
I sent you the file that I believe I was using.

Will recode a PIC tomorrow and see if it has control.

I used those exact zero-cross SSRs for July fourth with no problems.

JOel

[P. Short]

I've PM'd you a new version of the firmware that should properly control a zero-crossing SSR if assembled in PWM mode. In that case, a value of 255 is used to turn the SSR on (the output to the SSR is asserted all the time, rather than turning off around the zero-crossing), a value of 0 turns it off, and values in between are indeterminate. Behavior with random-phase SSRs is unchanged.

I'll upload this code as a new Beta version after the zero-crossing behavior has been verified.

--

Phil

[cmurray]

postmortem for renard-20070812.asm

:D Renard with incandesecants
:oops: Renard with LEDs(not enough load, will not trigger)
:D Renard PWM with incandesecants
:D Renard PWM with LEDs
:D Renard PWM zero-cross SSR with incandesecants
:oops: Renard PWM zero-cross SSR with LEDs(not enough load, will not trigger)

Looks good to me.

Joel

[P. Short]

Does anything trigger the zero-crossing SSR with LEDs?

--

Phil

[cmurray]

only if you add the 4w night light.

Even with my tester which is sending 9v constant the LEDs will only come on to maybe 25%
The PWM code will light them to even less, say 15%
If I switch on the night light to start them then turn it off the LEDs will stay on until vixen turns them off but will not come back on for the next event.

My strobes on the other hand work fine, probably has to do with the surge while loading the capacitor.

These will not be used for LEDs anyway.
Only items that have transformers, internal electronics or motors.
Presently only 4 items for me, maybe 8 items in the future.

Joel