papawchristmas
New member
Does anyone know why in the middle of a sequence I get Generic serial (router-startup) the port com3 does not exist. New to this and looking to have some fun with the lights. I am using mega2560 and 16 mechanical channels.
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- Thread starter papawchristmas
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z0mbie st0mp
New member
I had same issue. Occasional random crashing using a mega with 16 mechanical relays...
BUT, only when I had lights plugged into my controller. If i was running the controller with no lights plugged in, it wouldn't crash.
Never could figure it out, tore my controller apart because I thought I had a short.
Were you running a show file versus just a single song when it happened?
I read if you were running a show and keep getting crashes to leave a song file open during the show, this was somehow working... I never got to test it personally. I tore the controller apart before i read the post.
BUT, only when I had lights plugged into my controller. If i was running the controller with no lights plugged in, it wouldn't crash.
Never could figure it out, tore my controller apart because I thought I had a short.
Were you running a show file versus just a single song when it happened?
I read if you were running a show and keep getting crashes to leave a song file open during the show, this was somehow working... I never got to test it personally. I tore the controller apart before i read the post.
Technician
New member
Most generic serial comm ports (not USB) use 12V for driving the RS-232. When driving mechanical relays, noise bursts from the switched loads can induce noise and spikes upstream. Zero crossing SSR's are much quieter electrically. If you are driving any type of light with a power transformer such as pin lights or low volt halogen fixtures, they really don't like being switched off while current is not zero. This results in lots of arcing and electrical noise.
T.D.Sutton
New member
Just a thought, which may be a "red herring" - do you have "Back EMF" suppression diodes fitted across the relay coils to "gobble up" the voltage spikes generated when relay coils are turned off. These spikes, un-suppressed, could easily create the conditions/effects you are describing, let alone contact arching, which also needs suppressing with a series capacitor/resistor combination wired across each contact.
Terry
Terry
I had the same problem last year and it turned out to be the laptop that I was using to run Vixen. It seems that not all USB ports are created equally! I transfered everything to a spare desktop that I had laying around and everything worked like a champ with no hiccups. Might want to try that if you have a spare machine laying around.