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Thread: Color Extender Issues

  1. #21

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    Well, I got the color extender back, repaired all thanks to Erv. I also got a new one, which I had other plans for. I was so excited that I came home from work and wired up the repaired one to my PC right away. Same issues as the first time I wired up the board previously. Other LED's on when they were set to 0 in the cofig file, channel 2 LED wouldn't come on when set to 700 and others set to 0, etc. Realizing that it probably wouldn't be any different, I wired up the new one just to make sure. Same thing. It seems as though the PC is acting up now.

    When channel 1 is set to 700 and all other channels set to 0, the channel 1 pads (on the PC) have 8v across them, even when no LED is connected. I attempted to diagnose the flexiblend signals by using a common cathode RGB led and found:
    Channel 1: blue, 2.86v
    Channel 2: green, 1.71v
    Channel 3: red, 1.20v

    So, I'm dead in the water again. I'm getting very frustrated. I'm starting to consider whether or not this hobby is for me. I've put so much money into this saber and I can't seem to get anywhere. Now I'll probably have to sink another $130 to get another PC, or wait another month and hope Erv will fix it for me. Sorry for the rant.

    Any ideas, anyone?

  2. #22

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    How EXACTLY are you wiring up the CEX. good high quality pics between the CEX and the PC would be VERY helpful. It sounds like you're not grounding this properly.
    TCSS MODERATOR
    All n00bs READ these first (PLEASE)!!!:
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    "Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before... you want blindingly bright, super loud, running 1138 blinkies off of the cheapest sound card you can find AND you want all of it to run on a battery the size of a dime, and run for a very, VERY long time. That one cracks me up every time..."
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  3. #23

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    Well, I've taken it apart, but this should give you the gist of it.

    The red JST comes from the recharge port. This connector splits to go to the PC and the CEX.
    IMG_20140922_220622280_zpsoexomzyv.jpg

    The connector gets soldered to the CEX on the + and - pads (1 and 3).
    IMG_20140922_220723278_zpscka1w8ym.jpg

    Keep in mind, the channel 1 LED pads had 8v across them with no LED hooked up and without the color extender being attached, so it would seem that this is not the cause, right?

  4. #24

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    Well, It is suppose to be wired to the (+) and (-) on the board, not vampired off of the leads to the board. That could be part of your problem. What I would do, if I were you, is lose the QD on the power pads, wire up a JST for the recharge port on top, and put the wired for the CEX on the underside of the board. Then see what happens.
    TCSS MODERATOR
    All n00bs READ these first (PLEASE)!!!:
    1. Forum Guidelines
    2. FJK’s “Down and Dirty” guide to Ohm’s Law

    "Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before... you want blindingly bright, super loud, running 1138 blinkies off of the cheapest sound card you can find AND you want all of it to run on a battery the size of a dime, and run for a very, VERY long time. That one cracks me up every time..."
    My email: fjk_tcss@yahoo.com

  5. #25

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    having the battery voltage on the CEx output with no led attached is *normal*. Same on the onboard driver of the PC or CF (no load = no regulation).
    FJK remarks makes a point for small glitches that can be observed at boot on the CEx channel, if the ground isn't taken on the main neg pad of the PC/CF, but for a test like above, sourcing the power from the recharge port is just fine. Both CEx have been tested positively using a tri-cree and worked as expected.
    Props Electronics
    http://www.plecterlabs.com

  6. #26

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    Well, I tried FJK's suggestion and I'm still getting the same thing. I'm going to try to document this as best I can so anything wrong may be apparent.

    Here's some pics of my test setup.
    IMG_20140923_175106306_zpskua69ard.jpg
    IMG_20140923_175118012_zpsdqbiurbv.jpg
    IMG_20140923_175127580_zps5q2tzw6f.jpg
    IMG_20140923_175215290_zpssybxihlm.jpg
    IMG_20140923_175246571_zpsiemq6b4z.jpg

  7. #27

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    Here are my bank config files and override. Its wired GBR. I'll detail the voltages I found for each LED on each bank.
    Override:
    override.jpg

    Bank 1:
    Bank 1 Config.jpg
    G: 2.90v
    B: 0.69v
    R: 1.48v

    Bank 2:
    Bank 2 Config.jpg
    G: 0v
    B: 0v
    R: 0v

    Bank 3:
    Bank 3 Config.jpg
    G: 0.03v
    B: 2.51v
    R: 2.15v

    If any other information would help, let me know.
    Thanks.

  8. #28

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    are your still doing this with an RGB accent connected to the flexiblend signals ? do you use resistors ? Are those voltages from the FoC1-2 and main PWM pads ?
    Props Electronics
    http://www.plecterlabs.com

  9. #29

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    No, these voltages were read at the L+ and L- pads of each channel. I did not have any accent LED for the above testing.

  10. #30

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    Does anybody have any suggestions? If not, I'm probably just going to get another PC and try that. Definitely not my first choice. Those things aren't cheap, but I don't seem to have any other options at this point.

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