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. 3. 4. 5. 6. Output: Check Plantnode Output is configured to LED Display Scroll Text: Check Plantnode Scroll Text box is Enabled LED Display Type: Check Plantnode LED Display is configured to Chain Zone LED Board Type: Check Plantnode LED Board Type is set to 16X128 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. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Host: Check Plantnode is configured to point to the correct Chainzone IP address To be used for your LED display Port: Check that the Plantnode is configured to use 9520 This is the Chain Zone LED port Scroll Text: Make sure that the small box is checked LED Display Type: Check Plantnode is configured to use Chain Zone for LED Display Type LED Board Type: Check Plantnode is configured to use 16X128 Lines: Check Plantnode is configured to use 2 lines for the LED display 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 its 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 dont say Not Initialized)

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

Setting IPs on LED Boards

1. 2. 3.

Insert Sigma 3000 disk in your CD drive, Copy the CD contents to your computer and install the Sigma 3000 software Open the Sigma 3000 folder and double click on Setup.exe (this will install the Sigma 3000 program) 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 Run the Sigma Play program. Log in with User Name: admin Password: admin Now you have to change the network connection IP of your computers 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) 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.

4. 5.

6.

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) Read Send NET

Image 1.3

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.

Send

Image 1.4 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 computers 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)

9.

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

I/O Mode Font Setup

Image 1.6

5. 6.

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) 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. 17. 18. Check that the LED Ethernet cable is connected to the Network Check that the LED Ethernet cable is connected to the LED and the green and amber light are working 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 Plantnodes Output is configured to None (see Image 1.0) Check the cable integrity connection to the LED and Network, make sure its Properly connected, and the lights are working where the cable is connected, this means that the LED is transmitting and receiving data, (see Image 1.1)

Image 1.0

Image 1.1

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

Connect ChainZone via COM4

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 RS485. 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 = DataPlantnode 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).