Ren-w problem

[dirknerkle]

*Warning, possible thread hijacking here but since Bob's problem is fixed, hopefully he's ok with it. If not, let me know and I'll take it offline.*

Dirk, interesting. So if I'm only using Ren24SS boards do I need to configure for 8M1 still? How about if I hang a Ren24SS off of a RenW and then hang a few more Ren24SS boards off of the first one, this increasing the number of PIC's in the chain, though not necessarily on one board? If I can "safely" run with 8N1 then I'd prefer to do so since wp switching back and forth between wired and wireless has been a bit of a hassle, primarily because I keep forgetting to swap these settings in Vixen.

Thanks,

-joni-

Direct communication between the PC and the FIRST Ren-W is likely best at 57600, M,8,2. After that, communication in a wireless daisy-chain must be at 57600,N, 8, 1 because Renard strips the parity and space bits out of the data. In fact, this happens with the very first PIC the data gets to -- any data flowing to the next PIC no longer has the parity and extra stop bit. The parity and extra stop bit serve to slow down the Xbee radio just a bit because the XBee's internal CPU/clock runs slightly hot -- a little bit faster than 57600 which is the exact speed the 16F688's are running. The dropped data at the 8th consecutive pic is actually a data overrun problem.

I have confirmed that wireless to two ss24's is okay at 57600, N, 8, 1, but the third SS24 in the chain will encounter the problem at channels 57-64. The problem with daisy-chaining wirelessly is that there's no way to reset the communication protocol to 57600, M, 8, 2 when the data comes out of the SS24 (or any Renard controller for that matter) and goes into the Ren-W. So setting a daisy-chaining XBee to use the M,8,2 parameter will cause communication problems between the SS24 and the Ren-W resulting in garbage data for the rest of the daisy-chain.

The solution is not to try to daisy-chain to a one or a set of controllers having more than 56 contiguous channels. In that case, using 57600, N,8,1 is perfectly fine. Daisy-chaining from an SS24 to another SS24 is fine; daisy-chaining from one SS24 to TWO more ss24's in a row is fine. But daisy-chaining to 3 SS24s in a row will not.

Confused? Just think about it a bit... it will come to you...

[bobkeyes]

Hey guys. First, another big thanks for the help. We tried our setup over distance today. We got about 850 feet, through some pine trees, and that was with the transmitter laying in the grass in my front yard and holding the ren64 about waist high. In reality the xmit will be about 10 feet up, so we are expecting no problems.

A little about the logic of the E1.31. It communicates with the computer over ethernet. There are NO comport problems. You can start/stop, start/stop in any configuration you want and you never get the dreaded comport failure message. My unit has 4 separate channels or universes. So I can run one sequence on #1 wire, or transmitter, and another on each of the other 3 at the same time. Of course, if using wireless the addressing would have to change on the XBees.

I have used it for 2 years not and wouldn't think of going any other way. Had way too many comport problems when using serial. And, one that happens I could find any way out of it except to reboot. PITA in the middle of a show.

By the way, we are only using 32 channels for the neighborhood show so we shouldn't have a problem. My display, which will be wired, is 270 channels. Wish us luck.

[dirknerkle]

Glad to hear the good news, Bob!

Quick question: is that E1.31 unit a j1sys board or someone else's? I'm just curious right now but I may want to pick one up and do some experimentation.

[bobkeyes]

It is a J1Sys board. Here is a link to the latest one, I think. http://www.j1sys.com/ecg-dr4/ .

[klyneshouse]

Glad to hear the good news, Bob!

The solution is not to try to daisy-chain to a one or a set of controllers having more than 56 contiguous channels. In that case, using 57600, N,8,1 is perfectly fine. Daisy-chaining from an SS24 to another SS24 is fine; daisy-chaining from one SS24 to TWO more ss24's in a row is fine. But daisy-chaining to 3 SS24s in a row will not.


Quick question: is that E1.31 unit a j1sys board or someone else's? I'm just curious right now but I may want to pick one up and do some experimentation.

I just experienced Bob's dilemma with a RPM e131 to DMX bridge (set to renard output) and a fleet of 8-M-2 xbees. It just dont work at 8-M-2 but seems ok at 8-N-1 with the typical 8th pic limitations.
Dirk did your elves perhaps have a chance to look into this ?

Is it still the consensus, if one must use the bridge and xbees, that the xbees be converted back to 8-N-1 and the universes must contain no more than 56 ch ?
Or,,,,, any receiving chain, has no more than 7 pics in line ? for instance a universe of 96 ch (4 separate receiving 24SS) would be perfectly acceptable ?

[dirknerkle]

Dirk did your elves perhaps have a chance to look into this ?

LOL... The issue is one of timing, and it's never, never going to go away. The PICs in the controllers are running at precisely 57600 baud. The Xbee's are running ever so slightly faster.... the 8-M-2 setting causes the XBees to take just a slight bit more time to process the data and what comes out is something that's more compatible with more PICs than the 8-N-1 setting, which essentially causes a data overrun on the PICs, which shows up at the 8th pic in the line.

Also, adding E1.31 to the mix introduces issues with which I am not familiar. Sorry I can't offer any help there at all...

[mschell]

Seems like you may be running into the issue of the E1.31-Renard bridge is running at exactly 57600 baud, the XBees want to run a bit faster, but then miss the data since the bridge is being precise on it's timing. The output of the XBees is what's off and changing the parity and adding an extra stop bit handles the slop.

[dlovely]

I have the E1.31 DMX Bridge working with the RenW. Minor glitch in the last test (Fixed the RenW broke all other Renards) but since fixed that this morning. If anyone has the Bridge, A RenW and a Prop programmer send me a PM I need another tester! I have all except the RenW so can't test my latest patch. Once I verify this works I will let everyone know and send RPM the code.