GEM / Dashbox Help .......

[penguinshockey]

So now I am completely stumped. My Dashbox power supply failed - just like my GEMs power supply failed - at least this one lasted 6 months lol. Anyway - I had another laying around so the Dashbox is powered pack up. I have the Dashbox hooked up via Com1 to the GEM and and ethernet cable between the Dashbox and the router. The Dashbox LED is solid green and the ehternet connection is good (lights). When I do a device scan - nothing shows up. I configured the Dashbox originally about 6 months ago and have been so busy travelling (work) haven't looked at anything for a while. Not sure what to do. I have tried rebooting both - the status lights on the GEM are green and dull yellow if that helps any.

Thanks in advance -

[ben]

So now I am completely stumped. My Dashbox power supply failed - just like my GEMs power supply failed - at least this one lasted 6 months lol. Anyway - I had another laying around so the Dashbox is powered pack up. I have the Dashbox hooked up via Com1 to the GEM and and ethernet cable between the Dashbox and the router. The Dashbox LED is solid green and the ehternet connection is good (lights). When I do a device scan - nothing shows up. I configured the Dashbox originally about 6 months ago and have been so busy travelling (work) haven't looked at anything for a while. Not sure what to do. I have tried rebooting both - the status lights on the GEM are green and dull yellow if that helps any.

Thanks in advance -

What's the amperage on the power supply you're using on the DashBox? It should be at least 1A. The GEM can use less, maybe you can swap the two if the other is a higher amperage.

[penguinshockey]

Thanks Ben - the power supply I am using on the DB is 1.5 amps. I disconnected the DB to see if I could access the GEM directly - that seems ok.

[ben]

Does the switch on the DashBox cause the LEDs to change color? If so, hit the switch, then hit it again when the LED turns orange. This will revert you back to DHCP.

[penguinshockey]

I have used the switch to reboot (red led) but that's all so far.

Let me bring you up to date. Currently the DB is connected to my router and to the GEM Com 2 port via the STS cable (using the DB Com 1 input). I was finally able to access the DB and verify settings. It still has all my channels and dashboards, etc. but not receiving any live data. I verified the baud rate at 115,200 on both DB com ports. I also verified that GEM Com 2 baud rate is 19,200 and flow control is disabled and that live data is available on the GEM. The DB indicates an unknown source plugged into Com 1 and nothing in Com 2. When I switch the input to the DB Com 2 port and rebooted, the status was nothing plugged into either Com port.

I upgraded the firmware on both the DB and GEM with no change or success at getting live data to the DB. After many attempts and reboots of both the GEM and the DB, I finally returned the GEM to default settings. Initially after rebooting I had a green and dark yellow status light on the GEM. I was not able to access either network or communication menus. I tried to reboot via the switch but there was no response to depressing the switch. Finally I pulled the power supply out, waited 30 seconds and re-plugged back in - now it appears to be completely dead with no status lights at all.

I realize that part of the problem is that , at least for me, knowing what each of the GEM network settings need to be to actually send the data. For example, AP or STA mode, server or client, etc. While the manuals are full of good information - I am still confused as to how it should be setup to communicate with the DB. In some cases, the pictures don't match what I am looking at..... I have found out some helpful things from viewing forum threads however.

Bottom line is I don't know where to go from here. I will check the GEM tonite when I get home but if there are no lights then I'm stuck - I doubt its the PS this time but I'll check anyway - assuming I have another laying around.

[ben]

Let me bring you up to date. Currently the DB is connected to my router and to the GEM Com 2 port via the STS cable (using the DB Com 1 input). I was finally able to access the DB and verify settings. It still has all my channels and dashboards, etc. but not receiving any live data. I verified the baud rate at 115,200 on both DB com ports. I also verified that GEM Com 2 baud rate is 19,200 and flow control is disabled and that live data is available on the GEM. The DB indicates an unknown source plugged into Com 1 and nothing in Com 2. When I switch the input to the DB Com 2 port and rebooted, the status was nothing plugged into either Com port.

The DashBox and GEM must have the same baudrate. So if you're on GEM COM 2, you need to set the DashBox to 19200.

Also the GEM Secondary Packet Format (or Primary, and Disabled Secondary) must be set to Bin-48-NET-Time.

I upgraded the firmware on both the DB and GEM with no change or success at getting live data to the DB. After many attempts and reboots of both the GEM and the DB, I finally returned the GEM to default settings. Initially after rebooting I had a green and dark yellow status light on the GEM. I was not able to access either network or communication menus. I tried to reboot via the switch but there was no response to depressing the switch. Finally I pulled the power supply out, waited 30 seconds and re-plugged back in - now it appears to be completely dead with no status lights at all.

I realize that part of the problem is that , at least for me, knowing what each of the GEM network settings need to be to actually send the data. For example, AP or STA mode, server or client, etc. While the manuals are full of good information - I am still confused as to how it should be setup to communicate with the DB. In some cases, the pictures don't match what I am looking at..... I have found out some helpful things from viewing forum threads however.

Bottom line is I don't know where to go from here. I will check the GEM tonite when I get home but if there are no lights then I'm stuck - I doubt its the PS this time but I'll check anyway - assuming I have another laying around.

How old is the GEM, I'd suspect the power supply if there's no LED activity on the GEM.

If you're connected to the DashBox via STS cable, it doesn't really matter what you have the network module set to. Although, you may want to set it to STA mode, connect it to your router, and leave it as Server mode so you can access the GEM whenever you want without having to deal with going through the DashBox.

[penguinshockey]

The DashBox and GEM must have the same baudrate. So if you're on GEM COM 2, you need to set the DashBox to 19200.

Also the GEM Secondary Packet Format (or Primary, and Disabled Secondary) must be set to Bin-48-NET-Time.

This confuses me because it conflicts help given on other posts where you have said that the DB com ports should be both set at 115,200 while the GEM com 2 port should be at 19200 if using GEM com 2 via the STS cable..

How old is the GEM, I'd suspect the power supply if there's no LED activity on the GEM.

If you're connected to the DashBox via STS cable, it doesn't really matter what you have the network module set to. Although, you may want to set it to STA mode, connect it to your router, and leave it as Server mode so you can access the GEM whenever you want without having to deal with going through the DashBox.

I purchased the GEM on 4/1/15 and the DB on 4/24/15. I have already replaced the PS on both with my own as the originals both failed. This evening I plugged the PS back into the GEM and after about 10 seconds had a steady red and yellow light. I ran the Device Discovery program and was able to get into the GEM network setup. After changing a few things I restarted. The result was no LEDs lit and it was no longer identified via the Device Discovery (other than thru the DB-although could not access). I unplugged and replugged in the PS with no effect. Then I plugged the PS I am now using for the DB into the GEM and still no lights.

I'm starting to thing there is something wrong with the GEM..........

[ben]

This confuses me because it conflicts help given on other posts where you have said that the DB com ports should be both set at 115,200 while the GEM com 2 port should be at 19200 if using GEM com 2 via the STS cable..

Not sure what you're referencing there but I probably meant that they're set to 115200 by default from factory and GEM COM2 is at 19200 from factory (for Xbee compatibility). You should set the baud rate on the DashBox to 19200.

I purchased the GEM on 4/1/15 and the DB on 4/24/15. I have already replaced the PS on both with my own as the originals both failed. This evening I plugged the PS back into the GEM and after about 10 seconds had a steady red and yellow light. I ran the Device Discovery program and was able to get into the GEM network setup. After changing a few things I restarted. The result was no LEDs lit and it was no longer identified via the Device Discovery (other than thru the DB-although could not access). I unplugged and replugged in the PS with no effect. Then I plugged the PS I am now using for the DB into the GEM and still no lights.

I don't think we had our new power supplies back then, we had a batch of old power supplies which can be faulty over time. It does sound like yours is starting to show these symptoms (not able to put out enough initial power to power the WiFi/Ethernet module). Contact ben(at)brultech.com and sales(at)brultech.com and we'll send you 2 of the new ones to make sure that isn't the issue.

[penguinshockey]

[quote="ben
I don't think we had our new power supplies back then, we had a batch of old power supplies which can be faulty over time. It does sound like yours is starting to show these symptoms (not able to put out enough initial power to power the WiFi/Ethernet module). Contact ben(at)brultech.com and sales(at)brultech.com and we'll send you 2 of the new ones to make sure that isn't the issue.[/quote]

I don't think it is the power supplies Ben. I tried 3 verified power supplies last evening and got no lights or activity of any kind using any of the three. All are > 1.5 amps - one is a 2.5 amp supply. I've tried pushing the switch, holding the switch while inserting the PS, etc. with no luck at all.

Any further suggestions?

[ben]

If it's a black board GEM, remove the battery, unplug it, wait around 5 seconds, then plug it back in.

If it's a blue board GEM, there's a jumper above the Ethernet port. Remove that jumper, remove power, wait 5 seconds, then plug it back in.