dout weriedness

[em978]

I have been having this issue with my digital outs form my new midibox over the last few months, and I have just about lost it, no matter what I do I can't get them to function. When I start up the box sometimes they will stay on constantly other times they will flicker at start up like a working box does but, still don't work.

note:The digital outs are the new ones from avishowtech and i have the mois 1.9 installed.

I have tested the core with my other midibox and it works fine with the older dout cards.

So I'm assuming that it's the dout cards because of this... expect for some reason the box was resting itself when midi note 18 was turned on??

I have pulled out the shift register chips and put them in my other box.. they work fine.

I have tested the resistor network and all the points are working.

Could someone give me advise on what else I should check?

thanks

;)

evanMorris

ps

here is a video of the kind of stuff that i am doing with midibox spec....

http://www.lostscience.org/buttons/highfi.mov

[Wilba]

I saw that video a while ago and wondered why you had never posted here... not even some photos of your finished MIDIbox, which looks really cool from the video.

As for your DOUT problem, start with checking the wiring between Core and DOUT module... test a pin on the PIC is actually wired to pin(s) on the shift registers.

Then maybe try this? http://www.ucapps.de/mios/srio_interconnection_test_v1.zip

expect for some reason the box was resting itself when midi note 18 was turned on??

But this sounds like the shift registers are actually working, and when MIDI note 18 is turned on, the shift register output pin that should go on is actually shorting to ground. Hmm...

Try unplugging all the resistor networks and testing if the shift register outputs go high/low as expected by your firmware (using a multimeter). See if the resetting problem still happens with the resistor networks unplugged. Also, test each DOUT module individually.

I suppose it's unlikely you've put the resistor networks or the shift registers in the "wrong way"  ;D  but check that too.

Finally, you might want to check pins 10 and 13 on each shift register, check they are connected to +5v and ground respectively. If you've soldered a PCB from SmashTV, it's probably not a PCB fault, maybe just a bad soldering joint?

[em978]

can you put the resistor network in the wrong way?

I have them the same way that is in this picture. I assumed that the connection would be the same as a normal resistor in concept.

http://www.avishowtech.com/mbhp/mbhp_doutR3.html

I have the networks soldered into the board and when i tried to remove one of them a pretty much crushed all the pins in bad ways.

The fact that have two cards seems to make me believe it is something in the d-out cards..

hmmm... I might just have to buy two more and see what happens.. since the core seems to working fine with my other box well expect for the 18 midinote. The funny thing is that the once a plug in the orginal core back into the older box... it has no problem using note 18... is there a default numbering in the new mois spec that is for resting? Because the orginal core is running the previous version of mois.

thanks

; )

evan Morris

here is the old one

any here are some of the new ones ..

those are rubber buttons in which leds sit

[Wilba]

can you put the resistor network in the wrong way?

Probably not ;)

The fact that have two cards seems to make me believe it is something in the d-out cards..

hmmm... I might just have to buy two more and see what happens.. since the core seems to working fine with my other box well expect for the 18 midinote. The funny thing is that the once a plug in the orginal core back into the older box... it has no problem using note 18... is there a default numbering in the new mois spec that is for resting? Because the orginal core is running the previous version of mois.

thanks

As far as I know, the specs on the DOUT have not changed, "bypass capacitors" have been added to the schematic and newer PCB revisions, but it's still "compatible".

There was a change in the wiring of the Core with MIOS 1.7

http://www.ucapps.de/mios_v1_7_hardware_mods.html

This probably is unrelated, but you did mention different versions of MIOS, just confirming you are aware of it.

It is really strange that one Core resets when it gets note 18, perhaps narrow down why that happens first, i.e. does it happen even when there is no DOUT connected?

[em978]

tried the midinote 18  without the the dout plugged in and the core doesn't reset.. also tried it with the 2 none working douts plugged in and it also didn't reset. 

At this point I'm not sure what is working and what isn't... i'm debating where or not i should start over form the beginning and just buy all new card because, this is just driving me nuts.

[em978]

So what was the problem... Well come to find out that the outer S0 pin doesn't connect to the points on the board .. so one should always make sure that the connect the S0 to the pi row closest to the ics.

evan

[smashtv]

I need either some art skills or a digicam w/decent macro zoom to write up some interconnect docs.....  :-/

The "outer SO pin" is actually where SI for a DIN module would land if you use a 10pin IDC ribbon cable from J8/9.....Serial Input is not needed on the DOUT so that pad is not connected.

Same story on the DIN module, except Serial Out is not needed, so SI is connected and SO is not.

This method of madness keeps the core pin compatible to old revs. and allows for DIL IDC connector use.

So......What if your box needs both, DOUT(s) on J8 and DIN(s) on J9?

Make up a ribbon cable with 3 connectors, one for CORE:J8/9, one for DIN J1, and one for DOUT J1.

Let me know if this answer causes more questions than it answers.  :)

Best

Smash