Thanks for the clarification, I was running each sketch independently of each other with the Robo Tank sketches running on the other boards. So running all three test sketches simultaneously I get the following from the serial port on the display:
Initializing sd card...
SUCCESS - sd card initialized.
Wait 5 seconds for test to begin
Serial1 Sent Signal to Power Bar
Does this indicate which board at fault? or is there some way to diagnose where the problem is.
Rob
I have found that turning on and off the different power buttons on the display will update on the web page. Some of the tags on the display did not match what is on the web page so I went into customize outlets and changed the outlet type and it also updated on the web page. There is a corresponding change on the web page with each change I make on the display. I'm thinking the ethernet card and the display are communicating with each other.
So that means the power bar isn't getting anything from the display on serial1, but the display is getting something from the power bar on serial1. Good luck with the soldering. ;)
Rob, I received the replacement boards, it turn out it was the power bar board with the problem. I am up and running. Thanks so much for the awesome help and service. I'm just leaving on a 10 day trip so I will not be able to get things running till I get back. That will be a long 10 days. :-P when I get back I'll swap out the HCF4050 chip with the spare and see if I can get the bad board working. Once again thanks
Received my kit Monday (thanks for the fast shipment). I programmed the Arduinos and hooked it all up. It appears that I am having the a similar problem as Chris.
I have no connection between the boards. I downloaded both sets of the test sketches that you posted above and received the same results as Chris. I saw in another thread about connectivity issues to check the voltages on IC3 on the power bar board. Below is the image showing my results.
Let me know what I can do to help troubleshoot. I'm comfortable soldering if needed. Thanks
Hi Matt, that's surprising, I had your kit running for a day with no issues. Those voltages over 5v are the input pins. The outputs are all reading 5v which means the IC is doing its thing but the voltages coming in probably isn't a signal. The problem is from the display to the power bar. I think its impossible for the display to send over 5v through the patch cable unless it was shorted out or plugged in the dosing pump port. I say that because these voltages come from the same IC on the display board which has 5v going into it so its not possible for it to put out over 5v. Here's some things to try.
Disconnect everything and test the voltages on the RJ45 jack on the display board, leave the arduino on the board with the proper sketch running, you should have 12v on pin 8, and 5v on pin 3 and 5. If you do then plug in your patch cable and test the voltages at the end of the cable. If you don't have the proper voltages check the voltage on the Tx1 and Tx2 pin on the arduino. They should put out 3.3v.
Also the fact you have voltage coming in on the 4 pins isn't possible as the display board only sends voltage down 2 lines. So that would possibly say the patch cable is shorted out.
Ok, I reloaded all of the Robo-Tank sketches, switched patch cables and connected it all up...still same problem. So I connected just the display board and DUE and checked voltages.
That looks good, did you check the voltages at the end of the patch cable? You should have about 11.8v on pin 8, 3.1v on pin 5 and 4.9 on pin 3. These are the voltages going into that IC on the power bar, so somewhere they are going from 3.2v and 5.03v to 7v+. There are no components between the RJ45 port voltages the what goes into the IC. So what you get out the RJ45 on the display board is what should be going into that IC.
If you still have the proper voltages at the end of the patch cable plug it into the connector board and test the voltages on the bottom of the RJ45 jack on the connector board. You should have what you have at the RJ45 on the display board.
Checked voltages at the end of the patch cable (still same as above). Plugged patch cable into connector board and checked voltages (also same as above).
I'm also showing 5v on pin 4 at both ends of the patch cable. Is this correct?
Ok, in an effort to solve this problem I went ahead and reloaded all the sketches...even ran the EEPROM_clear sketch on the Mega.
I reconnected everything and switched to another patch cable. Checked all of the voltages on the patch cable prior to connecting to the Connector board and everything matches the above results.
Went ahead and re-checked the voltages on IC2 on the Power Bar board. Results below:
Any thoughts with the new information? Thanks for the help
You changed something, those voltages look better, however you shouldn't have any voltage on pin 4 unless the boards are connected, if you have nothing connected only voltage on the 3 pins. What kind of patch cable are you using? I've used one that came with a router and it was garbage, you need a real cable. It should be working with those kind of voltages if nothing was ruined.
05-08-2016, 07:36 PM (This post was last modified: 05-08-2016, 08:31 PM by zfreak_1125.)
Ok, went and bought a brand new Belkin Cat6 cable.
-Re-loaded the test sketches.
On the Display serial monitor:
Initializing sd card...
SUCCESS - sd card initialized.
Wait 5 seconds for test to begin
Serial1 Sent Signal to Power Bar
On the Power Bar serial monitor:
Serial1 Received Signal From Display
So it looks like the Power bar is receiving on Serial1, but the display is not receiving the response.
-Swapped in a spare Mega and Due that I have and loaded them both with the test sketches and same results.
-Loaded all of the RT sketches and checked all of the voltages. Still showing the same as above, except only showing about .2v on pin 4 of the ethernet cable (when not connected to the connector board).
In the other thread about connection issues between power bar and display you explained that on IC2, there should be 5v on all of the pins highlighted in red. I'm only showing 3.25v on pin 7 and 0v on pin 15. Could this be my problem?
Hi Matt, sorry looking at everything again it looks like the IC is bad, I was getting confused with the different pictures. It looks like the pin you have 0v is the problem. Here's something to try to get you going.
Solder a jumper wire on the IC like the image shows and add a jumper between pin 55 and 56 just under the IC.
05-08-2016, 09:04 PM (This post was last modified: 05-08-2016, 09:08 PM by zfreak_1125.)
Ok that fixed Serial1...hanging on Serial2 now. Here's the monitor printouts:
Display:
Initializing sd card...
SUCCESS - sd card initialized.
Wait 5 seconds for test to begin
Serial1 Sent Signal to Power Bar
Serial1 Received Signal From Power Bar
Serial1 Working
Serial2 Sent Signal to Power Bar
Oh wow. I don't think its the power bar, now it's the display board. That 3.25v pin on the mega is the output from the display which should technically be 5v and that is the for Tx2 where the test sketch is hanging. Are you comfortable running a soldering iron over IC3 on the display board?
![[Image: IC_Patch.jpg]](https://www.robo-tank.ca/pictures/IC_Patch.jpg)