[time-nuts] Tbolt and iCruse readout problem - any ideas?

David Bobbett d.bobbett at tiscali.co.uk
Thu Aug 19 09:20:17 UTC 2010


  Further to my messages regarding this problem, I contacted Bob (aka 
fluke.l) who replied almost immediately, saying that this has happened 
to around 1 in 400 iCruse units and he is working on a fix. Sort of a 
relief that there really is a problem and not some strange combination 
of events.


On 19/08/2010 08:22, David Bobbett wrote:
>  Hi Brooke,
>
> I know what you are thinking! Sadly the supply is 12.1v so there's 
> plenty of regulator headroom, very interesting page though.  I'm 
> beginning to think that Didier's suggestion of corrupted firmware in 
> the iCruse is the most probable explanation.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> David
>
>
>
> On 18/08/2010 16:58, Brooke Clarke wrote:
>> Hi David:
>>
>> What power supply voltage are you using?
>> http://www.prc68.com/I/ThunderBolt.shtml#iCruze
>>
>> Have Fun,
>>
>> Brooke Clarke
>> http://www.PRC68.com
>>
>>
>> David Bobbett wrote:
>>>  Hi Didier,
>>>
>>> No - the display reads "DAC V: 0.0000" on the iCruse LCD, all the 
>>> other data (including temperature) displays normally and correctly. 
>>> So it is only that part of the data which doesn't seem to be decoded 
>>> and displayed correctly. The really odd thing is that the DAC V 
>>> value can be seen in Tboltmon.exe, although I realise that that 
>>> particular program also sends data to the Tbolt, which the iCruse 
>>> does not.
>>>
>>> The reference to the RS232 resistors was in the context of the 
>>> discussions regarding whether the values in the iCruse are correct 
>>> -  but of course if all the other data is being received correctly, 
>>> there doesn't seem to be any logical reason why the DAC data would 
>>> be any different.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks for the reply, but I'm still puzzled!
>>>
>>>
>>> David, G4IRQ
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 18/08/2010 12:33, Didier Juges wrote:
>>>> When you say "will not display the DAC V value", do you mean the 
>>>> display is
>>>> blank, or it displays garbage?
>>>>
>>>> Interestingly, the code that displays temperature and DAC voltage is
>>>> essentially the same, the only difference being which part of the data
>>>> string received from the Thunderbolt is processed, so it is hard to 
>>>> imagine
>>>> why one would work and not the other, unless the data received from 
>>>> the TB
>>>> is corrupted in the part that should contain the DAV value, and the
>>>> conversion routine fails.
>>>>
>>>> If you have doubts that the serial interface may not be working (I 
>>>> am not
>>>> sure about what missing resistor you are talking about), fix that 
>>>> first and
>>>> try again.
>>>>
>>>> Looking at the serial stream with a scope may help diagnose such 
>>>> problem.
>>>>
>>>> Didier KO4BB
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com 
>>>> [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On
>>>> Behalf Of David Bobbett
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 4:23 AM
>>>> To: time-nuts at febo.com
>>>> Subject: [time-nuts] Tbolt and iCruse readout problem - any ideas?
>>>>
>>>>    Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> Having struggled in vain to solve this problem, I thought I  would 
>>>> make a
>>>> plea for help as my first posting to Time Nuts . . . so here goes!
>>>>
>>>> I have a Tbolt with v3.00 firmware which works fine with the 
>>>> Tboltmon.exe
>>>> V2.60 and Lady Heather software. It also works fine with the iCruse 
>>>> Tbolt
>>>> LCD monitor - except that the monitor will not display the "DAC V" 
>>>> value,
>>>> all the other values are displayed without a problem.
>>>> The iCruse is the later version which has had the PIC voltage 
>>>> conversion
>>>> done, but not the RS232 input resistor mods.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I have two questions really:
>>>>
>>>> 1) Is there a setting which I need to change in my Tbolt using 
>>>> Tboltmon.exe
>>>> to get this to work?
>>>>
>>>> 2) Does anybody on Time Nuts have an iCruse which shows a negative 
>>>> value for
>>>> the "DAC V"?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> As far as I can see, there are 3 options: a) there is a configuration
>>>> problem, b) the iCruse doesn't display negative values for DAC V, 
>>>> c) my
>>>> iCruse is faulty. I've pretty much run out of ideas on this one, so 
>>>> any
>>>> suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> David Bobbett, Milton Keynes, UK.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
>>>> To unsubscribe, go to
>>>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
>>>> and follow the instructions there.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
>>>> To unsubscribe, go to 
>>>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
>>>> and follow the instructions there.
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
>>> To unsubscribe, go to 
>>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
>>> and follow the instructions there.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
>> To unsubscribe, go to 
>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
>> and follow the instructions there.
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts at febo.com
> To unsubscribe, go to 
> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts
> and follow the instructions there.
>



More information about the time-nuts mailing list