Only 2 of 20 Gold Leaf RGB LED’s lit on iPAC Ultimate

[JT_Johnson]

Subject pretty much says it all...

Rpi4 running RetroPie
IPAC Ultimate with 3 amp wall-wart
IPAC MAC and Windows config tool. All buttons are registering (beeps on Mac for each button press)
Running RBGCommander
Ground wire connected to the same pin on every button
Only two buttons lighting up and one is not right next to the other in the ground chain I.e. there are other buttons between these two in the ground chain

What am I missing?  Why can’t I get these lit?  All the RGB cables are plugged in the San and have been triple , quad checked.

[PL1]

Ground wire connected to the same pin on every button
Only two buttons lighting up and one is not right next to the other in the ground chain I.e. there are other buttons between these two in the ground chain

The LEDs have a daisy-chained operating voltage (common anode "+"), not a daisy-chained ground. (common cathode "-")
- The red, green, and blue channels provide the ground path.
- Notice that the LED pins are labeled "+RGB". (lower left corner)




Scott

[JT_Johnson]

I should have been more clear. The ground wire I’m referring to is the button ground. I’m using Ultimarc’s wiring harness and yes, all of the wires are aligned in the proper spots.

[mahuti]

Running RBGCommander

If they light on Mac or Windows, then it's not hardware related. Also, I think there's a self-test on start-up if the unit isn't plugged into a computer (but is still powered). If all of the lights work, then it's definitely not hardware related.

Have you tried using RGBCommander's testing functions to turn all leds on? If you turn off the RGBCommander service, you can then turn on the testing capability. Sorry I don't have it running in front of me so I can't provide the specific commands. The testing app is in the folder with rgbcommander's service. Once it's running, you just have to type Set Leds On and they'll all light. If they all light up, then it's an XML configuration issue most likely.

Also, is it running in UIO's multi-mode as 2 controllers? I've been talking to RGBCommander and there may be some issue supporting that, but I haven't tested it myself yet to see if I can confirm.

[Haleice]

Only two buttons lighting up and one is not right next to the other in the ground chain I.e. there are other buttons between these two in the ground chain

Hi I'm getting the same issue. When I connect the buttons to the ultimate IO board, the lights on pins 1,2,3 and 49,50,51 ( the top two sets of pins of each column) are the only ones that light up.

When I use LED BLinky to test the leds on my PC those two don't respond correctly compared to the leds on the other pins.

RGBCommander is also having issues on my PI. It can't set the colours correctly for those two buttons the rest work as intended but the ones connected to 1,2,3 and 49,50,51 the colours are off, light blue instead of red, Magenta instead of green, and Yellow instead of blue.

Have you managed to get to the bottom of the issue?

[mahuti]

I recently bought a UIO. From the jump 2,3 didn't work at all. Also, I wired one LED backward, after which the pin it was connected to stopped working with anything. By any chance 1. did you wire anything incorrectly (backwards)? 2. regardless, if you don't absolutely need the pins, perhaps try a different set.

the colours are off, light blue instead of red, Magenta instead of green, and Yellow instead of blue.

Could it be that some of the pins are swapped? Doesn't exactly sound right, but... 

[Laythe]

Only two buttons lighting up and one is not right next to the other in the ground chain I.e. there are other buttons between these two in the ground chain

Hi I'm getting the same issue. When I connect the buttons to the ultimate IO board, the lights on pins 1,2,3 and 49,50,51 ( the top two sets of pins of each column) are the only ones that light up.

When I use LED BLinky to test the leds on my PC those two don't respond correctly compared to the leds on the other pins.

RGBCommander is also having issues on my PI. It can't set the colours correctly for those two buttons the rest work as intended but the ones connected to 1,2,3 and 49,50,51 the colours are off, light blue instead of red, Magenta instead of green, and Yellow instead of blue.

Have you managed to get to the bottom of the issue?

Your list of color swaps is diagnostically suggestive.

You ask for red, you get "light blue" - aka cyan which is blue + green.   
You ask for green, you get magenta - magenta is red + blue.
You ask for blue, you get yellow - yellow is red + green.

So, you're getting the inverse of what you want.  The R,G,B channels you set to off, are on - and the channels you set on, are off. 

The next thing I notice is that 1,2,3 and 49,50,51 are also the 1A drivers on this card.  I strongly suspect that is related.

Are you sure your RGB LEDs are common anode?    You should have +5v Common, Red ground, Green ground, Blue ground as your four LED wires.
(I want to rule out that your RGB LEDs might be common cathode, having Ground Common, Red +5v, Green +5v, Blue +5v as the four LED wires, which could work on the 1a drivers but nowhere else.)

[Haleice]

The next thing I notice is that 1,2,3 and 49,50,51 are also the 1A drivers on this card.  I strongly suspect that is related.

Are you sure your RGB LEDs are common anode?    You should have +5v Common, Red ground, Green ground, Blue ground as your four LED wires.
(I want to rule out that your RGB LEDs might be common cathode, having Ground Common, Red +5v, Green +5v, Blue +5v as the four LED wires, which could work on the 1a drivers but nowhere else.)

I have an update on my situation. Andy at ultimarc suggested that I switch off the enable high power outputs on the config tab in WinIPAC.

That solved my issue with the lights on 1,2,3 and 49,50,51 I believe it's related to the board supplying power to the two connectors at the top of the board, as I'm sure I read that if you use these you effectively lose the top set of pins. It didn't occur to me until I saw
high power option. So I think you are correct Lathe.

The strange thing is PACLed64 doesn't recognise my card at all, but everything appears to work normally with LEDBlinky and RGBCommander.

With regards to the question about the RGB LEDS I'm using the Goldleaf RGB buttons and have tried them in different positions and they all exhibit the same behaviour, so I was always fairly confident that the buttons were not the issue.

Thanks for all the replies.

[Haleice]

I recently bought a UIO. From the jump 2,3 didn't work at all. Also, I wired one LED backward, after which the pin it was connected to stopped working with anything. By any chance 1. did you wire anything incorrectly (backwards)? 2. regardless, if you don't absolutely need the pins, perhaps try a different set.

the colours are off, light blue instead of red, Magenta instead of green, and Yellow instead of blue.

Could it be that some of the pins are swapped? Doesn't exactly sound right, but... 

I used the Goldleaf RGB buttons and I double checked all the cables were plugged in the right way round on both sides of the board. (The right hand is a mirror image being BGR+ rather than +RGB)

If you read my other update post I think I understand why it's doing what it is doing. I'm going to move everything down so I have the option to use the two connectors for marque RGB strips.

Thank you for replying. 

[mahuti]

I believe it's related to the board supplying power to the two connectors at the top of the board, as I'm sure I read that if you use these you effectively lose the top set of pins. It didn't occur to me until I saw
high power option.

I bet this is going on with mine too. I guess this is a default thing? Seems odd.