Help... whats wrong with my network!

Discussion in 'C-Bus Wired Hardware' started by ICS-GS, Jan 31, 2013.

  1. ICS-GS

    ICS-GS

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2004
    Messages:
    347
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    SE Melbourne
    Hi Bussers,

    A few weeks ago i had a power surge of some description at my place, lost quite a few power supply type devices, including my CTC... got new PS all fired up ok, except no cbus connection....ahhhhh... no logic no schedules... my house is in disarray... to reliant on these things working i guess.

    Decided easiest interim measure was to run PICED and connect to cbus as the pseudo CTC. Also had 1 ELV module die at the same time, but everything else seemed to work at the time... or did it, as the days past the whole network got more screwey by the day things would not turn on... or turn off... lots of flashing LEDs on keypads and errors on network from PICED status bar and log... lots of unit errors, MMI sync and network sync errors...

    Decided there may have been some damage to cabaling, eventhough TK shows most unit voltages ok (albeit down to about 25V in some instances). So i set about looking for caballing related issues (many renos & adjustments made since initial build). Essentially pulled each individual link apart from one another, traced out wiring with F-set, all i managed to find were a few 'rings' (however they had been there for ages) and nothing more. Re-terminated entire network (eliminating the rings) and put the thing back together... fired it up... it was worse then when i started to pull it apart, SENPLL's seemed to have lost programming, some NEO's & DLT's not behaving as programmed... all very wierd....

    Though no problems, just do an 'all to network'... that should fix it... but alas...some units failed to transfer (particularly the ones that were not functioning as expected)... tried again, interestingly enough some units transferred ok (including some that failed the time before), but there were still some that had now failed for a second time, and interestingly some that were ok the first time, but have now failed the second time.

    Some basic symptoms right now is the need to double or triple (or sometimes even more) 'quick press' a key input before the corresponding output is activated, and the same to get them off, SENPLL's triggering on, but not timing off, output GA's not responding to scene commands.

    I have checked clock and burden, tried (albeit only a few) removing various input units that i think are suspect for a day or two to see if anything improves, but nothing really seems to make the situation better.

    And without a complete set of interchangeable components, and the fact that some units do not program (but what i forgot to say above is that some of the units that fail to program actually work perfectly fine). I am now very cautious not to make the situation even worse than it is.

    I have kept a few logs, tried the diagnostic utility, but noting really jumps out at me as blatantly obvious.

    My only other concern is maybe there is a compatibility issue with old firmware units with new TK or something like that.


    any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks

    Grant
     
    ICS-GS, Jan 31, 2013
    #1
  2. ICS-GS

    Mr Mark

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2006
    Messages:
    322
    Likes Received:
    5
    Location:
    FNQ
    Help...

    Hello Grant.

    First thing that springs to mind - are you using a software or hardware burden? Personally, I use hardware burdens every time now after experiencing intermittent weird behaviour.
    Secondly, do you have an oscilloscope you can use for testing? I've found this to be the best investment I made - the time saving when you know what to look for greatly outweigh the initial outlay (in saying that, my last one was around the $300.00 mark delivered to the door).

    Hope this gives you somewhere to start.

    Mark
     
    Mr Mark, Jan 31, 2013
    #2
  3. ICS-GS

    ICS-GS

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2004
    Messages:
    347
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    SE Melbourne
    Hi Mark,

    Thanks for the suggestions - I am currently using a software burden, but with 70 something units it is debatable whether i need one at all (according to TK i don't, but network gets worse right now when its out, also makes it hard to "cut the network in half" while attempting to target specific units or network segments.

    In terms of the oscilloscope, i guess you are referring to checking good clean DC? however i had never tried it when the network was all good, so have no real reference / baseline to compare it to.... may make things difficult.

    Cheers

    Grant
     
    ICS-GS, Jan 31, 2013
    #3
Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments (here). After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.