Need Help on Weeder WTDIN

[james at sentman.com]

George,

The more I think about this the more I think that bringing one of those new WTDIN boards up to the XTension machine and plugging it into a spare USB/Serial adaptor for a test is the best starting place. I think this will prove if it’s a software issue in talking to them that I can fix with software, or a hardware problem with something at the remote location as I suspect.

So I would definitely try that first. No need to bring the wiznet card, just the weeder. You’ll have to change the configuration on the interface in XTension to find it at the serial port instead of at the IP address but that should be easy to do temporarily. Then you can use any piece of wire to connect some of the inputs on the weeder card to it’s GND pin to turn them on and off and see if XTension receives the inputs from there properly or not. If it does then the problem is definitely in some hardware at the remote location.

> On Sep 27, 2022, at 9:03 AM, james at sentman.com wrote:
> 
> Good morning George,
> 
> You’ve got some physical connection issues between XTension and the wiznet cards that I believe you’re using for the connection. For example this: 
> 
>> GarageWeederBank2: Digital Input received weeder packet: (?)A 
> 
> Is the return from the weeder when it doesn’t recognize a command. It received either only a partial packet from XTension or some other garbage that was not a valid command. This message:
> 
>> GarageWeederBank2: port error received 102
> 
> Is a networking error, this just means that the connection was dropped by the remote side for some reason or other. It might have lost power, thrown so many TCP errors that it was unrecoverable or something similar. This does not appear to be a configuration issue as the startup command is properly referencing a remote connection and a WTDIN board. It looks like a problem with the network layer to the wiznet card or possibly power to the wiznet cards or something similar.
> 
> Then you start receiving extra characters in the data as in the failed receptions logged like this:
> 
>> weeder message recieved for unknown weeder ID "Á" message: "A11110111" (GarageWeederBank2) 
> 
> That second part under “message” is actually the correct polling response. But it is inserting that accented A character at the beginning of each one. The only way I can think of that being inserted is between the weeder and the wiznet since it is not generating a TCP error. I would again suggest interfierence at the remote location. Bad power, bad cabling, something has gone bad physically. It may be the power supply filters or possibly induced noise on the serial line connecting the two, or a broken data ground on the serial connections or something. But you’re getting garbage data sent from the weeder to the wiznet, and possibly garbage data being sent from the wiznet to the weeder. 
> 
> It is also possible that the lightning hits in the past have damaged the UART on the wiznet card. I’ve got 2 outputs on a multi-port USB/Serial adaptor here that took an inductive hit from a nearby lightning strike and while they still appear to work the output and input are damaged and are very weak and receive garbage sometimes too, if I try to use them.
> 
> There is more of the same in the log:
> 
>> weeder message recieved for unknown weeder ID "ÿ" message: "A11110111" (GarageWeederBank2) 
> 
> This is a reasonable packet in the message section, but is preceded by that accented y which is just noise on the serial line. Again here:
> 
>> weeder message recieved for unknown weeder ID "Â" message: "B30AE" (BasementEastBank1) 
> 
> An A again, but with a different accent. More noise from somewhere. 
> 
> You’ve got a problem at the remote end. The most likely reasons for this I have mentioned inline above but will sum up:
> 
> Possibly damaged Wiznet UARTS. try a spare?
> 
> Possibly bad power supply running the remote boards, try a spare?
> 
> Possibly bad or failing wiring on the serial connection between the wiznet and the weeders. Failed data ground connection or failed power ground and trying to use the data ground for power or something similar.
> 
> Some induced noise from something nearby, the power supply maybe? Or something else. 
> 
> When dealing with noise or random errors like that it is difficult to debug. I might bring the wiznet and weeder up to the main machine and plug them directly into the switch next to XTension and see if they function there. You can power them with something else temporarily for testing. You can temporarily use a USB/Serial adaptor to connect the wiznet to XTension and test it that way to verify it is working properly, though I suspect the weeder is fine in this case I cannot be sure. 

Thanks,
 James


James Sentman                       http://www.PlanetaryGear.org		http://MacHomeAutomation.com




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