HX-1 Controller Setup and

repairs Daniel Near 8/15/2014

Parent 1 to Parent 2

interconnect (Feeds both

data and temperature)

Compact Flash. Must

be an approved

version, substitutes

may not work correctly

Rabbit In-Circuit

Program port

Rabbit MCU

RCM2000 TTL Light

Sensor input

JP1 Sign Width

configuration jumper

RS485 input

RS232 input

Temp probe

Power LED

JP5, JP8

Comms

Configuration

Jumpers

+5v Input

GND Input

Atmel In-Circuit

Program header

Input/Output

CPLD chip

Scanning

CPLD chip

Scan control

output port

Not Used

COMM stat

lights. Blinks

during comms

Test and repair procedure:

Verify CPU Logic power supply is set between 5.15 and 5.25vdc AT the- CPU connectors

If repairing LED display, verify that both VCC and GND wires go DIRECT to the power supply. If the CPU

power wires feed to or from the Scan cards, remove the jumper cable between the CPU and scan card

and run a wire direct to PS1. The CPU VCC wire should be in-line to the fuse above the CPU, and the

scan cards VCC and Ground should be connected directly to PS1, bypassing the fuse.

Verify JP1 set to correct board width (R = remove, I = install)

Here are some common width settings for JP1:

Width/JP1 pos W0 W1 W2 W3 W4 W5

64 R R R I R R

80 R I R I R R

96 R R I I R R

128 R R R R I R

144 R I R R I R

160 R R I R I R

Check the Communications settings jumpers:

JP5 JP8

Verify JP8 jumper is set to 4W (It should never be set to 2W)

JP8

�4W Install for 4 wire

2W Install for 2 wire �

Verify JP5 is set to the correct communications type. Remove any cables connected to the unused port

(IE If using RS485, be sure to disconnect any cable from RS232 and vice-versa)

�485 install for RS485

232 Install for RS232 �

Open Hyperterminal and connect to the COM port at baud rate 19200 bps.

Hold down the spacebar, then press and release the Reset button on the CPU. The loader menu should

appear. Release the spacebar.

Hit “Enter” a few times. The response should be “>”

Press “P” and hit Enter. Document current settings. (Connection Type, Node ID, Baud Rate, Size)

Press “F” and hit Enter. This restores factory default settings.

Adjust Connection type (“C C” for Cable, “C M” for Modem) and hit Enter

Adjust sign size if needed “S WW HH”, where WW = pixels wide divided by 8 and HH = pixels high

divided by 8 (IE a 32x128 sign will use “S 16 4”)

Hit Enter

Press “G” and hit Enter

Close Hyperterminal

Load Complay and test communications. Baud Rate should be 115200 bps.

Use Plugins -> Display File Manager, Go to Connection, Connect. Select the display and click OK. Right

click in the bottom window, clear playlist. Right click again and Send new Playorder. Right-click in upper

window, choose Clear Directory. Wait 10 seconds, right-click again, Refresh. No files should remain, or

only playlist.ini should be visible. If other files present, remove CF Card and format it to FAT or FAT16 in

a Windows PC, then reinstall.

Use Get Info, verify the firmware version. It should be 1.46A. Older versions should get upgraded when

possible, using Plugins -> Reset/Clear Memory and Load Firmware.

If sign won’t respond, use RFU (Rabbit Field Utility) to load 1.46A firmware. Test again using

HyperTerminal instructions above. If RFU can’t detect Rabbit MCU, replace with a new MCU.

If sign gives “Memory Full” error, Remove and format CF Card. If issue persists, replace CF Card with

known-good unit.

If CF Card is a “Sandisk” Brand and 512MB in size, check the back/side for a serial number. Serial should

be something like “AX080902755B MADE IN CHINA” and imprinted in white ink on the side. A handful

of counterfeit cards made it through production and into the field before the problem was detected.

Most have failed and been replaced, but they still trickle in for repair occasionally. If the serial number

is missing, replace the CF Card as it is likely a counterfeit card and will cause issues randomly. Below is

an example of a true Sandisk 512MB card

Note the colors are slightly off, fonts used are slightly thinner/different in shape, and case/metal

boundary is different as well

If CPU is unresponsive or has no display, replace and reprogram U5 and U6 using AtmelISPv7 and

ATDH1150USB ISP cable. See addendum near the end of this manual

If you get odd failures during communications, check second side of display to verify that it is set up as

ID2 and first side is ID1. If both CPU are at same ID#, they will both reply, causing data contention.

Power both sides off, plug direct to the second side controller and re-configure the CPU then re-test. If

problem persists, disconnect CON20 from the Cat5 plug on ID1 side. Test communications. If it works

properly now, test/replace the CAT5 cable connection between faces, then test/replace the ID2 CPU.

Finally, replace ID1 CPU if problem still remains. Remember that it is possible for ID1 CPU to hold the

data in contention; affecting your ability to talk to ID2, even though ID1 itself appears to communicate

fine.

Verify light sensor data cable is plugged to CON6 and the TTL port on the light sensor. Set brightness

setting in Complay to Auto Sensor with minimum 2 and maximum 10. Use a flashlight and check Sign

Info frequently to verify that the brightness does rise. Cover the light sensor chip with black electric

tape and check Sign Info frequently, verify the brightness drops to 2

Verify temp probe data is good. Display temperature on the sign. Temp data may be off as much as 7

degrees. Tape a digital temp probe sensor to the sign’s temp probe. Let the probe warm up to ambient

temperature for 15 minutes, then take a few readings and compare to the sign’s display. Use temp

Probe offset to compensate for inaccurate probes. If sign is double-sided, verify that ID2 receives the

temp data from ID1. Test/replace the CAT5 cable connection between faces if the temperature doesn’t

display.

RS485 connection:

6 Gnd Grn/Wht

5 TX- Wht/Blu

4 TX+ Blu/Wht

3 RX- Wht/Org

2 RX+ Org/Wht

1 No connect NC

RS232 connection:

6 Gnd Black Notes:

5 No Connect NC

4 DCE/DTE Blue Used only for phone modem

3 RTS Grn Used only for phone modem

2 RX Red or Brown

1 TX White

Flashing the Rabbit firmware via RFU 3.0.5 (DCRabbit 9.62)

The Rabbit RFU is reprogrammed through a USB dongle available from Rabbitsemi.com, P/N 20-101-

1201 (USB Prog cable 2MM)

Whenever the CPU is performing oddly, it sometimes helps to re-flash the firmware. This can be done

through Complay but is quicker to do via the program header and RFU utility.

Plug the “PROG” header (The middle header on the cable, not the one labeled “DIAG” on the end of the

cable) onto the Rabbit MCU J3 connector. Pin 1 is marked on the PCB and is typically located next to the

mounting hole near the centerline of the Rabbit MCU

Open the DC 9.62 RFU application

The first time it’s opened, you should check the settings, Go to Setup -> Communications

The main settings are to ensure the Serial Port is correctly detected (Use Device Manager to verify the

driver is installed). Also, check “Enable Processor Verification and “Use USB to Serial Converter”. The

Baud Rate setting should never need adjusting.

If the software can’t locate the Pilot or Coldload Bin files, go to Setup -> File Locations, and browse to

each file location by using the button with the 3 dots “…”. The files are installed with the application by

default and this is unusual to need to change.

To program the MCU, Go to File -> Load Flash Image or select the most-recent image from the drop-

down menu

If the Rabbit MCU is faulty, you may get an error at some point during the upload. Simply unplug then

replug the cable, power cycle the CPU and try again. If it continues to fail, the Rabbit MCU is likely bad

and should be replaced.

The programming status has both a progress bar that grows at certain milestones during the process, as

well as a “byte” counter on the bottom status bar of the main application. Note the bytes at which

certain failures occur as this may help during further troubleshooting. Failing at 671 bytes constantly

usually was linked to an old Pilot.bin from a previous, older version of Rabbit Field Utility.

Upon completion, the progress dialog simply disappears. There is no “Success” indicator, but the Byte

counter at the bottom usually shows that all bytes were reported as sent and the Elapsed Time is usually

roughly the same for that PC.

.

When this completes, go back to the Hyperterminal section and re-configure the CPU settings from

Factory Default. This ensures that the Rabbit MCU “User Block” in Flash is correctly set and doesn’t

contain any old, erroneous settings.

AtmelISP7 program setup

Replace chips with Atmel ATF1508AS-15JC84 or ATF1508AS-10JU84, other models may not work and

would need to be tested for compatibility.

Common sources are Digikey and Mouser

Remove both chips from socket carefully, being sure not to damage or crack the socket. Install new

chips with the chamfered corner locating pin1.

Install the Atmel ATDH1150USB ISP header on CON11 with the red stripe next to Pin1 and the white

silkscreened arrow. Plug to the JTAG-A connector on the ISP programmer and connect the USB to the

PC. Power up the CPU

Load the AtmelISP7 application, then go to File -> Open and locate the CPU.chn file

Verify the program setup is correct.

Device Type :ATF1508AS

JTAG Instruction: Program/Verify

Inst.Width 10

IDCODE=yes

Jedec file: Chip1.jed for Chip1, Chip2.jed for Chip2

If you need to edit any settings, double-click on the setting to bring up the dialog box

Correct the settings and click OK

Click on RUN to execute the program functions.

Verify the program was successful