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View Full Version : Argh 3 phidget boards nicht working with FS2PHIDGET



Paul G
09-10-2008, 02:57 AM
I have version 4.3.7 of fs2p and 2.1.4 of the control software. I have an LED 64, a 0/16/16 and 2 Text LCD 8/8/8.

Start FS2Phidget and only the LED 64 is recognized. Am I missing something? I have 3 boards that aren't being recongized. The 0/16/16 is displaying the mini LEDs on the circuit board. I'm not sure what that's meant to signify other than it's got power.

Any suggestions? Should the boards be automatically recognized or do I have to somehow get it to refresh? I'm going to try plugging them into the computer directly instead of via a powered hub, although this is more through frustration than having some kind of expectation that anything will change.

I've seen other users post this about boards on previous versions, so wondering if this is related or coincidental.

Paul

ozziesim
09-10-2008, 10:52 AM
Hi Paul G,

Ok a few things im going to say may seem obvious, im not too sure how much you know about phidgets so please dont be offended.

Ok the first thing is make sure you have the phidget library installed correctly.

The second thing is have you tried the Phidget Manager to see if the boards are being recognised by your computer. The Phidget manager icon is usually found on the windows toolbar bottom right corner of the screen.

If all boards are connected you should see each one, the serial number and be able to test the boards here also.

If you cant see them here there is a good chance you have either faulty boards, or corrupt phidget library installation. If so try a re install of the phidget library.

I have used several boards through a USB hub without problems.

If all this is working FS2Phidget should detect it. Sometimes you need to do a re install of FS2Phidgets when some files get corrupted as well so you could try this.

Try those and see how you go.

Paul G
09-10-2008, 02:50 PM
Hey OZ,

Thanks for the detailed response. I did subsequently get the computer to recognize the boards by restarting the whole system and plugging in the hubs, then slowly introducing the modules by plugging them into the hubs. It seems once it's seen the hardware it's on first name terms with everything.

Neither of the Text LCDs work correctly although are now recognized. I'm going to investigate further and do some testing. All lights and switches connected to the LCDs has been tested and found to be working correctly. However, the 4 outputs that I am using (these are all the outputs I'm using at this point) are always on for some reason until I activate the Push To Test button in which case they switch off. Hopefully someone will chime in and say "Ah that will be because of - blah...." My assumption is that if they're on when they shouldn't be, then it must mean that there is a short to ground on all outputs.

Here's the other thing though. Because all boards are using the same power source, I didn't put in separate Ground connections from every G terminal on the Text LCD. Instead I put one master one and then linked the 2 Text LCD boards via a G connector. Perhaps this wasn't a bright idea and I'm going to run some tests now to see what's up. One of the Text LCDs is only used for the text feature, so easy to make a simple single connection to the rest of the systems without major rewiring to at least check it's ok.

Thanks for the help and any further suggestions from anybody.

Paul