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NX Controllers & IR

Interesting observation today which I can't say I've seen on NI controllers, maybe they do this too and I've just never noticed. If your trigger a channel on an IR port with out a connected flasher the LED for that port flashes for about 5 seconds and with a flasher connected it acts normal. I wast testing some code and just wanted to observe the front LED on the controller to observe its action but didn't have a flasher connected since I didn't have the device to be controlled on hand and didn't think it mattered. Low and behold I was dumb founded to see the way it acted, trying everything I could think of, TO, CH, SP, changing CTON/CTOF times, etc so I would observe just a single pulse of the LED and nothing worked. Finally I thought maybe it's an error message since there was no connected flasher, no load or voltage returned and sure enough that's what it was. For a while I was feeling pretty dumb, thinking this IR was kicking my a$$ which I guess it was but for different reasons.

Comments

  • That is curious. Here's the notes on those and other diagnostic information... could be useful :) Thanks for the lead.

    From: Page 73 of NX-Series.WebConsole-ProgrammingGuide.pdf

    (and apparently applies to the DGX/DVX series as well).

  • John NagyJohn Nagy Posts: 1,734
    Reformatted for readability:

    Serial, IR, AxLink, and PoE Port Diagnostics
    When a string is sent to a serial port or an IR pulse to an IR port, the X-Series controllers can detect and report if the port being used is in a fault condition. The controllers can also detect certain fault conditions on the AxLink bus.

    The following fault conditions are recognized:
    • The serial cable is not connected
    • The Serial pin is connected to another pin
    • The IR emitter is not connected
    • The IR emitter is wired backwards
    • One or both AxLink bus data pins are shorted to power or ground
    • The maximum power for all PoE ports (72W) has been exceeded or the power supply voltage is outside of the recommended limits
    • The maximum current for a single PoE port has been exceeded or the load has disconnected from an individual port
    On the first attempt to use a port that is in a fault condition, the controller will do the following:
    • Quickly flash the front panel LED of the port being used 10 times
    • Generate an ONERROR data event in NetLinx
    • Report the error to any Duet Module that has claimed the port
    • Report the error to RMS if the controller is connected to an RMS server
    • Set an error flag for that port
    • The status of the error flag can be queried using the GET FAULT NetLinx command, which will result in a DATA EVENT where the return status can be parsed.
    NOTE:
    If the fault condition persists, subsequent attempts to use the same port will only result in the quick flashing of the front panel LED. The ONERROR event and the reporting to a Duet Module or RMS only occur on the first attempt after booting or after the fault status is cleared. This prevents a flood of redundant error messages when a faulted port is used continuously.


    The fault status is cleared on a successful transmission over the port, and also can be cleared manually using the CLEAR FAULT NetLinx command.


    For serial and IR ports, an error condition is only checked at the time the port is used, so unused serial and IR ports will not generate errors. AxLink bus errors are checked at boot time.
  • a_riot42a_riot42 Posts: 1,624
    This caught me off-guard as well. I got a call that when users would hit a number on the keypad for a Comcast STB that five numbers would get sent instead of one. I thought perhaps Comcast changed their firmware but then once a tech got there, he said that the LED was flashing 5 times, even though in notifications, only one IR command was being sent. I can't recall what I did to fix it, but I wonder if it can occur where the IR flasher is connected correctly and it still flashes 5 times thinking its in fault mode. What was odd was that it was only the keypad numbers that did this. Then I looked it up and noticed that the LED will flash if the IR isn't connected. I still don't know why that occurred, even though it's fixed now. No other Comcast users had this issue, so I don't think Comcast changed anything on their end.
    Paul

  • viningvining Posts: 4,368
    a_riot42 wrote: »
    This caught me off-guard as well. I got a call that when users would hit a number on the keypad for a Comcast STB that five numbers would get sent instead of one. I thought perhaps Comcast changed their firmware but then once a tech got there, he said that the LED was flashing 5 times, even though in notifications, only one IR command was being sent. I can't recall what I did to fix it, but I wonder if it can occur where the IR flasher is connected correctly and it still flashes 5 times thinking its in fault mode. What was odd was that it was only the keypad numbers that did this. Then I looked it up and noticed that the LED will flash if the IR isn't connected. I still don't know why that occurred, even though it's fixed now. No other Comcast users had this issue, so I don't think Comcast changed anything on their end.
    Paul

    Maybe it does that too if no IR code is stored in the channel slot being called to transmit. Maybe at one point the IR file was transferred again and that corrected it.
  • Note that this can be disabled with a send_command to the port 'SET FAULT DETECT OFF'
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