Troubleshooting a Serial LED board that is not working

LED Display Specifications: Chain Zone (Two lines, RS485 Serial Connection, Tricolour)

Supply Voltage: 100-240 VAC

Current Requirements: 0.5 A

On the Plantnode Configuration Interface

1. Check PN version is >= 11.5.11

Content Tree Serial Ports

Check that COM4 has:

2. Output: Check Plantnode Output is configured to LED Display

3. Scroll Text: Check Plantnode Scroll Text box is Enabled

4. LED Display Type: Check Plantnode LED Display is configured to Chain Zone

5. LED Board Type: Check Plantnode LED Board Type is set to 16X128

6. Lines: Check Plantnode Lines is set for 2

This step verifies that the correct LED board type and COM port are configured

Content Tree Tools

7. Host: Check Plantnode is configured to point to the correct Chainzone IP address

To be used for your LED display

8. Port: Check that the Plantnode is configured to use 9520 This is the Chain Zone LED port

9. Scroll Text: Make sure that the small box is checked

10. LED Display Type: Check Plantnode is configured to use “Chain Zone” for “LED Display Type”

11. LED Board Type: Check Plantnode is configured to use 16X128

12. Lines: Check Plantnode is configured to use 2 lines for the LED display

13. Click OK

If you have a problem with a Plantnode after upgrading it from 11.6.XX to 11.7.6 where the logs were saying

“Invalid Chain Zone Board Size” and configuration interface shows that 16X128 has been selected, however, the

configuration is actually misleading because checking the current Configuration file says Size = 0

Change the Flash configuration to use 16x128, click OK, and save and reboot.

The size should be 1 in the new Update 11.7.6 if it’s set to 0 just apply the above information and you should be

fine.

Content Tree LED Display

14. Check that the Serial Port listed under “LED Display” has variables in it. Also ensure that these variables

are initialized before testing (They don’t say “Not Initialized”)

Check Plantnode has some variables configured for each line of the LED Board

Setting IPs on LED Boards

1. Insert Sigma 3000 disk in your CD drive, Copy the CD contents to your computer and install the Sigma

3000 software

2. Open the “Sigma 3000 folder and double click on “Setup.exe” (this will install the Sigma 3000 program)

3. Power up the LED board first, it will briefly display its IP address, for ex. (192.168.0.100) plug the

Ethernet cable from LED to your laptop

4. Run the “Sigma Play” program. Log in with User Name: admin Password: admin

5. Now you have to change the network connection IP of your computer’s Ethernet connection to

communicate with the LED Board (try IP: 192.168.0.99 and subnet mask: 255.255.255.0) then you will be

able to connect. (see Image1.1)

6. In the Sigma Play program, click on “File” – “Communication Setting” and make sure the IP in the

program is 192.168.0.100 and Port 9520 (see Image 1.2). Click “OK” and program will go through a

connection process.

Image 1.1

Image 1.2

7. Click on the “System Set” button on the left side of the screen and click “Read”, this will give you access

to the Setup page. (See Image 1.3)

Image 1.3

Read

NET

Send

8. Click the “Net” icon (Image 1.3) This will open the “Net Configure” (Image 1.4) where you change the

IP, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway of the LED Board. Change the “Name” to what machine the LED

Board will be displaying data for.

Image 1.4

9. Click “OK” and then “Send” (image 1.3) The Sigma Play program will now send these changes to the

LED Board. The LED board will beep and display the new IP and run a “Welcome” message.

Note: the Subnet Mask and Default gateway have to be set the same as the PN to send the messages

10. You will now be unable to communicate with the LED Board. To reconnect with the LED Board you must

change the IP of your computer’s Ethernet Connection to an IP with the first 3 sets of numbers the same as

the LED Boards new IP and the last set of numbers should be different, then follow the above steps again.

(see Image 1.5)

Send

Image 1.5

11. Now the LED Board is ready and will display the messages from the PN

Here a few more things to check if Chain Zone LED Board is not working

1. Check Plantnode can ping the LED Board's IP address reliably 2. Check Plantnode has some variables configured for each line of the LED Board 3. Check Sigma3000 software can connect to the LED Board by following the steps above 4. Check Sigma3000 software shows In Mode = Jump Out, Out Mode = Jump Out for its Default Display Settings

Image 1.6

Font Setup

I/O Mode

5. Check Sigma3000 Software if you delete E:\T\AA, then it should come back if you wait a few seconds and do a refresh (this means the Plantnode is successfully communicating with the LED board)

6. Check Sigma3000 software File Manage shows file "AA" in E:\T\ (see Image 1.7)

Image 1.7

7. Check Sigma3000 software shows Current Play list is "AA" (see Image 1.8)

Image 1.8

8. Check Plantnode logs for Ethernet LED errors

Tools > Logs

1. Select Logs from the Tools menu and then Activate “Verbose Debug Log” by selecting the checkbox

2. Close the log menu and re-open after a minute or so and you will notice a new file in the list of logs called

LEDBoardEngingeLog1.txt

3. Open this log file and verify that the Plantnode is sending the correct messages and colours to the LED

display

This step verifies that the Plantnode Engine is correctly sending messages to the LED display

On the LED board and Plantnode hardware

LED Display Hardware

15. Power up the LED display and verify that it displays the generic start-up messages, This step verifies that

the power supply and LED are functioning correctly

Plantnode Hardware

16. Check that the LED Ethernet cable is connected to the Network

17. Check that the LED Ethernet cable is connected to the LED and the green and amber light are working

18. Check that the COM4 TX light on the front face of the Plantnode between the Plantnode logo and the

Ethernet ports

Note: If the LED is connected to the network check Plantnode’s Output is configured to “None” (see Image 1.0) Check the

cable integrity connection to the LED and Network, make sure it’s Properly connected, and the lights are working

where the cable is connected, this mean’s that the LED is transmitting and receiving data, (see Image 1.1)

Image 1.0

Image 1.1

19. Chain Zone LED Board can Display many different languages, such as Chinese, Russian see below

Connect ChainZone via COM4

1. You should have Phoenix DB shell

2. Connecting the Chainzone boards via RS-485, The NEMA enclosure boards and the Non-NEMA in

current stock have cable with bare wire ends labeled RS- and RS+. Connect the RS- to pin 1 and the RS+

to pin 2 on a Phoenix DB shell, (See the image 1.1 below)

Image 1.1 Image 1.2

Image 1.3

1. Connecting via COM4 you get a few benefits, no waiting for IT to give you an IP address and CAT 5 to

string. Nor do you have to use the Sigma Play software to do configuration work.

2. The downside is the cable is only 30 feet and it is unshielded 22 gauge wire. If they asked for a longer

length to be provided, so 50 or 100 feet? And the possibility of daisy chaining as well as it is RS-

485. There is time we would need Ethernet due to LED placement and run lengths, but RS-485 is much

simpler to config and easier connection for the customer.

3. You can also use the LAN port on the PN as it is 192.168.0.10 and the Chainzone is 192.168.0.100, the

customer can just run CAT 5 and you use a cross over converter.

4. CAT5 is usually good to 300 feet. However, you still might need to use the Sigma Play for some setup

work and this means you would have to onsite as it would not be on the customer LAN.

DB9 pin 1 goes to RJ pin 4 DB9 pin 2 goes to RJ pin 1

OR

Plantnode RS485 (COM3/COM4) DB9 Pin1 = Data-

Plantnode RS485 (COM3/COM4) DB9 Pin2 = Data+

Use this in the above image connection

Some of the IP66 boards have bare wires at one end and should be labeled RS+ (Blue & Black wires together)

and RS- (Yellow & Red wires together)

Some of the regular ChainZone boards have bare wires at one end and RS+ (Red wire) and RS- (Black wire).