DiyLightAnimation

Are you wanting just the blank board or a completely assemble express?

There is another post in the sale/trade section from dilgod stating that he has 4 available for sale.

I may still have either a blank board or full assembly that I would be willing to sell if you still need it.

It's a 600 Watt single rail power supply - I ran the main connector and then ran three of the funky connectors off a single feed.  I'm running 704 pixels (44 on each string) so it should be more than enough juice.  I've got a couple backup PS (500 Watt and 450 Watt) which I could try and see if it's the problem.

When I reflashed, I always reflashed all 16 PICs, then used the SS Utility to re-program.

You say that you have the 3 small power connectors connected to a single feed. These really should each have a separate wire running to the power supply. The purpose of these connections is to add additional 12V wires to divide up the current. If you have them all connected to the same feed, you are only adding one additional wire to the power supply instead of three. Since the main power connector only has two 12V wires in it, all your current is going through 3 wires. Which means you could have as much as 14 amps on each wire.
704 nodes * 0.06 Amps = 42.24 Amps
42.24 / 3 = 14.08 Amps

You may want to remove your main power connector and check for signs of overheating on the 12V connections like a melted connector or burnt pins.

The main power limitation is 4 amps per output. 128 nodes would be approximately 3.8 amps depending on the nodes you purchased. This would be about 62 amps for all 16 channels. With this much current you need to make sure all the power connects are connected. Also make sure that each connection has a separate wire going back to the power supply. Do not use connections that are jumped together on the same wire. You need as many wires as possible going to the power supply to divide the current and prevent melting the wires.

If the outputs are no longer working, start by checking all of the 5 amps fuses to see if any are blown. This would indicate that you exceeded the 4 amp output and your nodes are most likely drawing more than 3.8 amps.

Does the power LED still turn on? This would indicate you are still getting power to the board but not to the outputs. If the LED is not lit, you are probably not getting power to the board. So, there is most likely something wrong with the power supply or the connections. You can also check the traces and components around the power connections to make sure nothing is burnt from pulling to much current.

Version 1 of the Zeus only has one jumper to select the universe. Therefore, all 16 channels will be set to the same universe and you will be limited to 4096 channels. Version 2 of the Zeus has a separate universe jumper for each output. So, you would not have a channel limitation with the version 2 board.

Do you have the "Man" jumper installed? If so, try removing it.

Also make sure both switches are towards the LED.

Make sure that Orange/White is going to pin 1 on the cat5 cable and that Orange is going to pin 2.

The DMX is straight through on the board. So, the old Aether connected to DMX out of the new one should work even if the new Aether doesn't. Since your doesn't, this would indicate that there is an issue with the wiring. Or something on the board is shorting the DMX not allowing it to pass to the second Aether. You can try removing the RS-485 chip to see if that allows the DMX to pass to the next device. Also, check that the Cat5 connections are not shorted to power or ground somewhere.

Rick

In your picture in the first post. One of the white chips is installed backwards.

Do you have any better pictures of the front and back of the board.

Thanks,
Rick

The chips on the hub require 5v or 3.3v power. If you are connecting the hub to a PC power supply through the 24 pin connector, it supplies 5v and 3.3v directly to the board from the power supply. If you use a 12v external supply, you need the regulator and capacitors to provide 5v and 3.3v to the chips.

The 4 port hub does not have any chips and simply passes 12v and data straight to the SSC. So, 5v and 3.3v are not needed.

One Kit #3
One Kit #4

Thanks

You don't want to have more than one power supply connected to the hub.

If you have a PC power supply connected to the 24 pin connector, you do not want to have the optional 12-volt components installed and you do not want a power supply connected to the 12 volt input.

However, you can use the 12 volt input connector as an output to power other items assuming you don't exceed the current limits on the power supply.


It would be possible to power the nodes from a different power supply but you would not be able to connect them through the hub. You would only want the data lines connected to the hub in this case.

Rick