Rob, so I went downstairs this morning to check on the tank and the screen was black. I was hoping it was asleep or something so I tapped on the screen a few times but no luck. I tried restarting it by unplugging it for a few seconds but it still wouldn't boot. In fact before when I would restart it the relays would click right after plugging it in, this isn't happening now. I took the controller upstairs to the computer and did the serial monitor and it looked fine. It was the same as yesterday in my ATO thread. I plugged a heater into a normal outlet so the temp wouldn't go down too much today. Yesterday morning when I went down and looked at it the screen was all static so I restarted the controller and it was ok. Another issue that may pertain to it is at least 4 or 5 times now in the last few days when I went to restart the controller, it freezes on boot. It will go to the second progress box and just sit there so I have to restart it again and it boots normally. I'm going to be going on a couple of vacations soon and I need to be able to trust this before I leave. Thank you for your help!
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Controller not booting
Controller not booting
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Controller not booting
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07-30-2018, 01:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-30-2018, 02:09 PM by fietsenrex.)
Plug your heater in a extensions cord from an other outlet.
Had an EMI issue with my Iaqua controller caused by my heater.. Iaqua is the “tiny proto” version of the robo-tank IF it solves the issue you could try an inkbird or STC-1000 temp controller. I use a aquamedic twin controller since I don’t trust the relays enough to safely operate my 500w titanium heater and with enough precision
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07-30-2018, 04:14 PM
Hi Aquaalgae, are you using the ethernet cable I sent to connect the display or a longer one?
First I'll explain how the controller currently starts up so you can better understand it. When you first power up the controller and display as one you'll notice the display sits at one red dot for about 18 seconds, this is because the controller first startups and the display waits for a signal to tell display it can now startup. Once you get the 2nd dot on the screen the display received this signal and starts the process. Now once the display finishes if you unplug the display from controller the controller will continue to run, it requires the display only to adjust settings. When you plug the display in with the controller already running you'll notice the display instantly jumps to 2nd red dot and continues from there because the controller is already running. So anytime you unplug just the display and plug it back in and get 2 red dots you know the controller is running fine. Now for when the display stays on 2nd dot is this after only restarting the display or restarting display/controller? It's possible this happens if you plug in display with controller running (will be fixing that) however it shouldn't happen if both are starting as one. For the screen turning to static is it all the same white static pattern or a checkered pattern? The EMI issue fietsenrex mentions is a possibility however it's unlikely. This usually happened on iAqua because the same power supply was used to power everything but in the new power bars it has a separate power supply for the relays and I have some Zener diodes which help a bit as well. It's also less likely because the display has it's own Arduino so if anything should happen it would be on the controller and not display. Did this just start happening once you plugged in the heater? One problem I do have once and a while is SD card related on the display. The display is really picky about SD cards, out of the blue something will happen and cause the screen to go in a checkered static pattern and requires a display reset. Also I have a hard time getting SD cards as large cards run slow so these aren't the best quality cards around. If you have another SD card laying around it might be worth trying it, if you don't you could also try swapping cards from controller and display, if you copy the same contents from each card you won't lose any settings. With this startup process in mind could you be more specific on what you actually restart, I'm unsure if it's just the display or everything.
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07-30-2018, 04:21 PM
Currently the problem is that it won't boot at all. The screen is just blank like it is off. There is a green light from the controller box but the controller isn't switching ports on or off, they're just in the last state that they were in yesterday evening. The Ethernet cable to the display is the one you sent. The display issue happened just one time about two days ago. It was two rows of static with two rows of a solid color.
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07-30-2018, 04:36 PM
If you open the display case can you see lights on the Arduino, also the center bottom of the display you should see a green light? That static is definitely SD card related, you can also try reformatting the card.
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07-30-2018, 04:44 PM
Also can you connect the display to computer and see what info you get from serial monitor? To power the display without controller you have to plug the AC adapter in the display board, you'll see a 3.5mm socket but need to open the case to access it, you can't power the display with the USB as it draws too much current.
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Ok So there was a green light near the bottom of the display but no lights coming from the Arduino when plugged into the controller with the ethernet cable. When I plugged the 12v power into the back of the display again just the green light at the bottom, nothing from the Arduino. When I plug in the micro USB into the computer as well, the Arduino has lights. This is what I get from the serial monitor on the display:
Initializing sd card... SUCCESS - sd card initialized. SUCCESS - Found homeIcon.raw file. eepromValue: 50 The display SD card was read by my computer ok but I reformatted it anyway and reloaded the stuff onto it. I will post here in a minute if that helped. No, the display is still blank and the relays aren't resetting when the controller is plugged in.
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07-30-2018, 05:24 PM
Hmmm, this makes no sense, I don't know what's going on, it almost sounds like the Arduino is damaged which is rare, no matter how you power that display the Arduino lights should come on, the fact they only light up when plugged into USB is strange. Leave the USB plugged in with 12v in display board and then open and close the serial monitor a couple times to see if the splash screen appears. I attached a sketch to load on the controller, this will disable the internet, after uploading you can then immediately upload v4.2 controller sketch. Then see if that fixes the controller starting up without display.
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The splash screen came on as soon as I started the serial monitor. It looks to be stuck on the 1st red box. So the disable_internet sketch goes on the controller, not the display?
It won't let me upload the temp sketch. It keeps saying "No device found on COM7" but that is the only port and its the one for the Arduino Due(Programming Port).
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07-30-2018, 06:43 PM
Ok can you get the splash screen without the USB plugged in and only 12v?
Without controller connected it will always stay at 1st red box. The disable internet sketch is only needed on controller. Unreal, now it sounds like something is wrong with the Arduino programming port, if you definitely have com7 selected for programming port then it's the Arduino but that doesn't make sense because you just had it connected to get that serial monitor info. Oh one thing it could be, the Arduino IDE can be a little quirky, if you had the serial monitor open and then plugged in Arduino it would see arduino but not communicate. You have to always make sure serial monitor is closed before plugging in the USB. Try closing the IDE, unplugged USB, plug back in and open IDE, should work then.
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07-30-2018, 06:47 PM
No only 12v in display and it is blank.
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07-30-2018, 06:54 PM
That's definitely a first, can only be one of two things, either 5v isn't going though the Arduino header pin where it plugs into the board or the Arduino regulator burnt out. I know the display PCB is ok because you get image and that wouldn't be possible with only USB power so we know the PCB is putting out 5v. Also the green LED on PCB is lighting up. Do you have a volt meter to check some voltages?
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07-30-2018, 06:57 PM
Sure, where should I check?
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07-30-2018, 07:02 PM
To start check for +5v on Arduino without USB plugged in. This is where the Arduino gets its power and you shouldn't see it or less than 5v.
EDIT: That's pin 2 and 4 from the right
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I'm only getting 2.79V
Would something being wrong with the display cause the controller to not work correctly? The relays used to flip when I first powered the controller; also the dimming channels aren't working.
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07-30-2018, 07:12 PM
That's the problem, I'm guessing it's a bad connection in that header, if you pull the front of the Arduino, where programming port is, up and then wiggle the back end back and forth while holding the display PCB down it'll slowly lift, don't use a lot of pressure or it'll come off fast, just nudge it slowly. Then check that pin again and you should have 5v. If so plug the Arduino back in but when doing that pull the display PCB up so it doesn't twist on the display. Also while the Arduino is off use some pliers to slightly bend the pin in the middle so it'll make a tighter fit.
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07-30-2018, 07:14 PM
It shouldn't but I'm wondering if connecting to the web was causing it, that's why I was hoping you could load that sketch, were you able to?
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07-30-2018, 07:15 PM
Yes, I got 5.03V. Bend the 5V pin?
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07-30-2018, 07:16 PM
great, yeah bend the 5v pin in the middle just so you know it was bent.
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07-30-2018, 07:22 PM
Those other display issues you were experiencing were probably related to this, that's why I asked about the ethernet cable, I was thinking it was a little low on power with line lose.
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