Tips for troubleshooting DC SSR

Further reading, and my hypothesis as to what is going on:

From "Le WIKI":
Non-PWM operation causes a narrow output pulse (30 μS, or so) to turn on the SSRs. This results in the lowest PCB current requirements, because the waveform driving each SSR has a 1:256 duty cycle. The drawbacks of non-PWM operation is that it will not properly control any channel status LEDs (present only on the Renard64 board), and may cause some issues when driving LED strings (e.g. they may possibly not turn on at the upper 25% of the brightness range).
Click to expand...

Can you confirm that your REN64 status LEDs are coming on? This will shoot down my theory right away. If not, then perhaps you need the PWM specific FW version.
 
Hi TP

With the tester you connect pin 1 (and/or pin 3) of the RJ45 to +5V and then ground pin 2,4,6,8 depending on what channel you are trying to turn on

Looking at an RJ45 plug facing away from you with the tab underneath the pin numbering is 12345678

The DC ssr (and the ACSSR) is 'common anode' which means all the opto leds are commoned to +5V (via resisitors) and then the switching is done inverted. Grounding the channel pin turns it on.
 
Wot he said... (I had it wrong... it was too early in the morning... I've updated my description. (sorry about that))
 
Going out on a limb -- I've read the thread and I'm wondering what would happen if you switched the 24V power supply to a different one. The control side seems to work, the SSRDCs worked last year, 7VDC seems very odd, the most likely thing that changed is the power input, since it is very unlikely that the 7805 is bad on both boards and that is really the only common denominator for all outputs on the FET side outside of the input power. Are you getting 5VDC out of the 7805? Humm.. .. . .
 
LabRat said:
Further reading, and my hypothesis as to what is going on:

From "Le WIKI":


Can you confirm that your REN64 status LEDs are coming on? This will shoot down my theory right away. If not, then perhaps you need the PWM specific FW version.
Click to expand...

I don't have the status LEDs installed. I can't remember if I couldn't get the resistors at the time or just needed the board working and couldn't be bothered soldering all those lights! The only LED I have working on the board is the power indicator.
 
Ah hah!! I would guess you have the non-pwm software in the RENS, and thus it is only giving a very brief "turn on" pulse to the optos. Versus the "turn on and stay on for this duration" pulse, that the PWM would be using. If you have a spare 16F688, and can program the PWM code, I *suspect* that the problem will go away.
 
It is using the PWM code, I wouldn't have flashed it with anything else and other SSRs work fine. However, I have been so very wrong so many times before so I will reflash with a fresh copy downloaded from the wiki now. :)

It's been so long since I've had to do this - 1 = PWM and 0 = Non-PWM, is that right? Thanks! Don't worry I found it - that is right.
 
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I wanted to be a stuff up, and to have a simple answer . . . sorry still the same, reflashed the pic and no go. While typing this post I thought I would go grab my Grinch/Ren C just to test. And guess what . . . . . it's fine. DC SSR works fine, lights nice and bright. So it's not a DC SSR problem it's a Ren 64 problem, my memory of it working last year and not now must be that I ran it off the Grinch/Ren C and not the Ren 64.

Thank you so much for your tips and things to check for the DC SSR, I hope someone finds it helpful in the future. I'll have a search around for info on the Ren 64 and start a new thread if I need to troubleshoot it. Thanks again guys, especially Labrat.
 
I hate leaving this unsolved. Any chance of getting a scope on the outputs of your REN64? (or... can you ship me a copy of the HEX file that you programmed? I can put that in a PIC here, and see what the output signal looks like).

As the DCSSRs are working, and the output of a REN is a simple ON/OFF, and your AC SSR's are working... I'm still convinced that it has to be related to how the signal is being strobed versus held high.
 
I know This is a year old but I’m having a vary similar problem 6-7V output with a 12v input The ssr was working for a few days of testing then quit it was running 5050 RGB 300ct LEDs.

I thank what caused the problem was not having a big enough PS for all the LED. And now I cant figure out why it wont work. Its attached to a Ren 64. And i swapped the display with another using the Same 64 port same cable same power supply (The new bigger one). And the test display/ led’s worked fine. The led’s work when directly attached to the power supply.
At first I thought I somehow fried the MOSFETS. I was using only three so I thought if the 4th one works that’s what must of happened the 4th one doesn’t work either. I tried the direct jumpering method with the opto pulled and It didn't work so I’m not sure if I didn’t do it right or if the problem is between the opto and the Mosfets.
 
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