Olsen 595 + Ren-C woes

[Scoobrs]

Hello all,

Posted this on DIYC but thought there could be a slim chance someone might be able to assist here!

I recently acquired a pre-built 2nd hand olsen 595 controller with a ren-c to give me dimming capabilities, Also received a "zc transformer" which has a data in to accept an ethernet cable and 2 outs both with ethernet cable also.


1st problem I had was that when I had it all connected up I wasn't getting power to the boards, no leds would light up. I realised that I needed to get the 5v out of my transformer so I used a multi meter to find 5v out of the ethernet port on and wired it up to give power to the board, Which solved that problem and I got leds on etc.


2nd problem now is that I cant get the pc to communicate with the boards, The cable for the data in side to my zc transformer has 2 serial plugs on the end, I have tried both of them either out port on the transformer to the boards but alas I cannot get anything to work..... The olsen board has the 64 leds on it for each channel and sometimes when I turn the transformer on random ones lightup then stay on, until I turn it off and turn it back on again others have also lit up and stayed on, but mostly when I turn it on I get 2 leds lighting up, 1 on the renc board and 1 on the olsen...

So I guess my question is, how do I get this all to work?? I'm using vixen and have set the port output to the reccomended settings and set the pc to the same, I have tried 2 computers as well but I end up with the same result.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Regards,
Eric.

 

[JPB]

Eric,

I have a REN-C/Grinch combo so I might be able to help a bit.

First up, I don't know if you will get enough current out an the ethernet port when you want to turn all your SSRs on. I would open up the PC and tap 5volts off one of the hard drive power plugs.

Looking at the top photo, is each transformer generating ZC or are they doing something else? I also can't make out the function of 2C1 and 2C2. If these are where you can plug two 595's in you need to run the incoming serial data into the first 595 and then back out and into the second

Sitting at idle the Power led on the REN-C should be on steady and the Heartbeat should be flashing about once per second showing that you have ZC.

When the REN-C is receiving data from your show computer the RX led will come on.

How are things looking so far?

If you are not getting the ZC led flashing have a read of the build notes for the REN-C in the DIYC wiki as there are a couple of varients for suppling the ZC. A close up photo of the REN-C will allow us see the components on the board and work out how it is expecting to receive it.

Jon

 

[TimW]

Hi Eric
Before Jon's post I was thinking not many folks around here know about these here devices, because:

1) they don't use surface mount
2) you have to build them (not buy them from china )
3) they are designed for dimming AC not DC... yes... incandescent lights... in the olden days kids!

I think Jon's advice is on the right track (particularly becasue he has this hardware and I don't!)
First question... I assume you are connecting the computer to data in on the zero cross transformer box and connecting from output 2C2 ?
If you are powering the 595 and the renc from the zero cross box somehow I'd not do that! It looks like the zero cross transformers are only providing a full wave rectified voltage (for the zero cross... probably via a couple of diodes hidden under that red heatshrink). You might read a DC voltage on your voltmeter but because it hasn't been filtered (I cant see any filtering capacitors) I reckon it will make the leds go on but not much else!
Looking at the controller photo I reckon the powere was originally supplied through the big loose white wires to the right (or possible the DC power socket to the left (!) . Can you supply them with a decent 5v dc supply? (once you confirm that's what they connect to?)
Have a good look around the DIYC wiki for Olsen (Grinch) 595 and 'REN-T' (sort of does what your zerocross does) information and renard cabling. it will show you all the pins that need to be connected and you can start checking for where the signal goes.
Can you post some close up pictures of the wiring between the jacks in the zero cross box? I'm not 100% sure which wire goes where....
Tim

 

[Superman]

Thanks for your reply Tim. He sorted it out in chat today. He was able to get 99% of the problem fixed.

 

[TimW]

Excellent.

 

[Scoobrs]

Thank you for the excellent detailed posts guys but as superman said the problem has been sorted, Power supply was the problem, looks like it was 5v but not dc doh! I found a 5v power supply and as soon as I hooked that up I got the heartbeat going! I do have an issue with 1 bank of leds not lighting on the board being channels 25-32. Also a couple of single ones do not light being 18,41 and 46 but I think that may be due to led failure or bad solder joint. Smartalec in the chat last night trialled a couple of things with me being swapping the uln? I think and the 595 chip to the bank previous to it. They worked on that bank but still no light up on the bank 25-32. My power supply has been shipped so I guess I can just hook some lights to those channels when it arrives to see if the leds are bung or those channels actually don't work at all!


Regards,
Eric.