B&W Screen Problems

[harro]

I have had a number of customers with B&W screens complain about scenes and groups behaving erratically i.e. groups won't turn on or off, or dim, etc. Usually giving the screen a good clean fixes some of the problems. However I have found that recycling the power is the only way to resolve the remaining problems. This is fine for me to do this by removing the screen and unplugging the C-Bus cable, but is not good practise for the customers. Any ideas?

Harro

[ashleigh]

More information would help.

What does behaving erratically mean?

Describing what happens under what circumstances would be most helpful in trying to figure out where to go next.

[Darren]

I have had a number of customers with B&W screens complain about scenes and groups behaving erratically i.e. groups won't turn on or off, or dim, etc.
In the past, this sort of problem has nearly always been caused by C-Bus communication problems. Use the C-Bus Diagnostic Utility to look at the error rate. It will also allow you to see the messages going onto C-Bus to understand what is going on.

Usually giving the screen a good clean fixes some of the problems.
It would surprise me if this really made a difference. The touch film should not be affected much by a small amount of grime.

However I have found that recycling the power is the only way to resolve the remaining problems. This is fine for me to do this by removing the screen and unplugging the C-Bus cable, but is not good practise for the customers.
Wow. If we can "recycle" power, we can solve the world's energy problems ;)

But seriously, cycling the power should only be done as a last resort, and as you say, it is not the sort of thing you want the customer doing.

Any ideas?

We really need a few more details. With this sort of problem, the C-Bus Diagnostic Utility is your best friend. Make the problem occur and have a look at the Diagnostic Utility log for clues about what is going on.

[Mark]

Hi,

However I have found that recycling the power is the only way to resolve the remaining problems. This is fine for me to do this by removing the screen and unplugging the C-Bus cable, but is not good practise for the customers.Harro
If it gets to this point, it might be easier to use to use the "Reset Unit" button in the Diagnostics/Tools page.

Cheers,
M.

[harro]

More information would help.

What does behaving erratically mean?

Describing what happens under what circumstances would be most helpful in trying to figure out where to go next.

OK, suppose you had 2 C-Bus buttons on the screen - when you depress the first button the second button is activated. It seems that the area touched on the screen doesn't relate to the operation (group/scene) that gets called. Recycling power clears the problem.

Harro

[NickD]

Can you archive and send a copy of your project to Technical support, and ask them to forward it to Darren or Nick.

We will see if we can reproduce the problem.

Nick

[CC&C]

I have had a number of customers with B&W screens complain about scenes and groups behaving erratically
Harro

I was going to post shortly about what may be a similar/same problem but I had a couple of things to investigate first before posting. Are these MK I B&W screens that you are referring to? Mine is, and is dated 26/02/02. I've loosely termed my issue as a dimentia problem. It started probably around 9 months -12 months ago and things haven't got any better. I can't say categorically that it is linked to a firware issue but I did updgrade around then from an old (pre-piced) version. I run only 2 scenes in the B&W screen(rest are in DLT's) and about 40 schedules for irrigation.

My scenes have also operated sporidically in terms of that they just stop working. Usually I re-download and they'll work for a few months and stop again. Now I have another iteration of the dementia in that one scene works and the other doesn't.

In the last few months, I've often gone to the screen and it is on the startup screen (I assume that this means it has done some sort of automatic reset). I've also had the screen lock-up on an "Initialisation" screen and the only way to fix it is to "recycle" the power as you have put it (I like that one).

I also have an issue with the time in that I display it on the screen and a couple of weeks ago it showed that it had lost a few hours. Today it's just gone backwards again.

The worst outcome from this "dementia" so far has been when we went away for a couple of weeks and my neighbour had to turn off our sprinklers after they ran for a few days and flooded the backyard. I've just discovered something but this isn't related to the topic at hand so I'll post separately and stick to the topic.

I haven't had time to exhaustively investigate these issues properly yet so I haven't posted previously. My issues may or may not be related, however as an aside, I've just discovered that I have an unterminated cable which, from previous experience, is probably causing the reseting. Regardless though, the reseting issue wasn't occurring when the scenes were were acting sporadically.

Anyway, maybe the scenes sound like there is a common issue.

(Should have said that I have the latest firmware Loaded 3.42.0)

[Darren]

OK, suppose you had 2 C-Bus buttons on the screen - when you depress the first button the second button is activated. It seems that the area touched on the screen doesn't relate to the operation (group/scene) that gets called. Recycling power clears the problem.

Harro

It sounds like you need to calibrate the screen.

[geeland]

Hi all,
I am also experiencing the same problems as harro. I've forwarded my project to tech support and am currently waiting a reply.

Regards,
Grant Franklin