No communication on test bench

DannyP · Post by **DannyP** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:26 am

I know I am probably the 89th person to have this problem, but here goes:

I did assembly and testing yesterday, all parts from Digi-Key. I only substituted a couple parts for TPS, as they were OOS on some on the list. C13, C14, and the inductor were OOS, so I substituted for identical parts but different numbers. I have been known to make a mistake occasionally, but I have been soldering and experimenting for over 30 years.

All voltages ok, anti-static mat and wrist-strap used for all sensitive parts.

I am using 10 AA nicads, fully charged for power on the bench.

Checked the laptop with hyperterminal, shorted pin 3 and 4 at the far end of my cable with a jumper. Got my echo, no problem. IBM P3, Win 98 SE, conventional serial port on com1, which is why I keep the laptop around. I work for telco, and all the equipment I work with uses DB-9 or DB-25 for comms.

Anyway, nothing coming back from Megajolt at all. I tried Alex's software first, got fed up and am asking here before I go any further. I don't have a scope at home, just a DVM.

So if anyone has a suggestion, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance. BTW, thanks Brent, the board is a thing of beauty, very HQ! BTW, the microcontroller was burned by Brent.

MartinM · Post by **MartinM** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:25 am

As you seem to be experienced I'll keep this short!

- voltage on pin 10 of processor should be 2.5v when measured with a DVM on DC (shows oscillator is working)
- Baud rate on PC should be 4800, 8, N, 1
- Get a copy of Bray's Terminal (http://bray.velenje.cx/avr/terminal/ and the download link is hidden at the bottom) and send the MJLJ either a 'C' or an 'S' (one or the other, nothing else, and no quotes). Should get some hex numbers back - 'C' is all the config info (just under 200 bytes), 'S' is the runtime status (circa 8 bytes)

Report back....

PS I just use a PP9 9v battery on the bench - easier than juggling 10 AA's and works just fine...

DannyP · Post by **DannyP** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:05 pm

Followed all Brent's instructions, etc. configurator comes up. Everything looks normal , but message is "unable to open port com1,unknown serial port" Will try your advice Martin, thank you. Also, on my serial cable, it should be a straight through, correct? Will check the oscillator. I don't have to juggle the batteries, they are soldered together in a pack I have for something else, Hah, hah! Just crimped a couple of spare molex pins on the leads, no worries!

DannyP · Post by **DannyP** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:30 pm

2.91 vdc at pin 10. Got Bray's, and you are right, a bunch of zeros with a couple of characters for "C", and a few zeros and a space and one other character fot "S". So now what?

Output is this for "C":
OOO!""48zeros.(period up high)00LF
sometimes less zeros than 48

For "S":
0<0><0><0>00

MartinM · Post by **MartinM** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:51 pm

I posted a reply between your two last posts, but it seems to have disappeared. Grrrr!

Anyways...
...2.91v is a bit high, but could be due to your meter - what you are measuring is a 16MHz 0V to about 5V sine wave, so making a DC measurement of this is open to offers about what you actually read. But 2.91V is a lot more healthy than 0V or 5V

"unable to open port com1,unknown serial port" is a PC config error rather than a MJLJ problem though.

See if Bray's Terminal sees the comm port. If it does then have you followed the Java install EXACTLY - including moving the Java comms files to the correct places?

Cable is definitely straight through, all pins. The important ones are 2, 3, 5 and maybe 9

MartinM · Post by **MartinM** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 12:53 pm

...make sure the Hex radio button is selected in the Receive box, not the ASCII radio button...

...better now?

DannyP · Post by **DannyP** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:07 pm

Hex is a LOT clearer than ASCII! Got good hex data back for C and S. Voltage at pin 10 now 2.58 to 2.61, more in line I would think. Cable is verified good, and Bray's works fine, so what could I have done wrong? I must admit this computer has always been problematic with communications, at least as it pertains to modems, ethernet adapters and a plug-in wireless "G" card. But I never had issue with a serial connect on com1 before. I did follow Brent's instructions as exactly as I could---The newest version of Java doesn't seem to have the .lib files, so I put them in a folder entitled "trustlib", is that correct?

MartinM · Post by **MartinM** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:15 pm

If Bray's works OK, then the serial port is OK.

It looks highly likely there's an error in following the instructions on http://picasso.org/mjlj/?q=node/6
...but there again, I've no experience of running Java on 98SE. Maybe others have? Do a Search on this forum.

But it doesn't look like a hardware problem at all

PS if you're weird enough, you can actually configure and watch the runtime status of a MJLJ through Bray's terminal alone - Configurators with GUIs are for girls! (No offence, girls!)

DannyP · Post by **DannyP** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:17 pm

MartinM · Post by **MartinM** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:24 pm

(PS - better to add a new post rather than edit a previous one - edits might go un-noticed)

...The newest version of Java doesn't seem to have the .lib files, so I put them in a folder entitled "trustlib", is that correct?...
I'm sure it does have those folders, and "trustlib" is almost certainly the wrong place

My Java is in C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06 - where's yours?

DannyP · Post by **DannyP** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:44 pm

Martin, you are right, it is under program files, I'll redo it. As an aside, Alex's software communicates with the Megajolt now, I was playing around with it and got it to work. Java must have enabled that to work. My files are all in the right place now. Hey, it works, nothing wrong with the machinery, it was just the operator, DUH!

DannyP · Post by **DannyP** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:54 pm

Just got Brent's software to work also. I changed the rev limit and shiftlight stuff, and updated that. Now on to wiring it up, and mounted the crank pulley, sensor, and TPS. Thank you very much for your help Martin, another newbie jumped a hurdle! Instructions must be followed EXACTLY, can't stress that enough!

DannyP · Post by **DannyP** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:55 pm

.....as in still to be done, man I would have been quick to do all that in a few minutes!

MartinM · Post by **MartinM** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:07 pm

Yeah, I had EXACTLY in capital letters in the post that went missing!

If you haven't already seen it, http://picasso.org/mjlj/?q=node/786 might be useful to you....

Good luck for the install

Post by **brentp** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:40 pm

Guys, the Java tuner will be a thing of the past very soon, and we'll have at least a couple of high quality options for the tuning software.

Happy you figured it out so far!

Brent

Autosport Labs

No communication on test bench

No communication on test bench

As you seem to be

Just loaded Brent's software

Oscillator ok?

I posted a reply between

...make sure the Hex radio

Much better, thanks.

If Bray's works OK, then the

Edited much better, thanks above

(PS - better to add a new

OOPS!

All good now

I meant mounting

Yeah, I had EXACTLY in

Guys, the Java tuner will be