Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Christmas decoration

Even though it's not entirely working yet, at least we have some decoration just in time for Christmas! Some of the lamps don't light while others light all the time. Time for more troubleshooting again...
Some of these problems come in groups: the first 16 lamps on output # 6 don't light up, the first 16 lamps on output # 7 light up all the time, and the first 24 lamps on output # 8 don't light up. These are the last 2, 2 and 3 chips on those outputs, so I'm sure I messed up output board number 2 in a somewhat consistent manner (it almost has to be the connection from one shift register to the next). 172 out of 235 lamps are working perfectly.
Not all switches are completely working either. Five pairs are ganged together (shorted somewhere), and one plainly doesn't work at all.

3 comments:

  1. You are doing a great job - I am following your progress with much interest. I notice you have a push button and a marginal voltage knob missing. I almost certainly have spares of these you can have. The push button probably won't have the correct text, but you can rub it down and have the correct text engraved. As I'm sure you know, it's the red "STOP" button.

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  2. Hi Chris,

    Thanks!

    I do have the push button and the knob; they tend to fall off though; the switch behind the STOP button is missing the four plastic retaining clips for the button, and the knob is missing the metal plate inside. Please contact me at iamcamiel@gmail.com; I'm interested in contact with anyone who knows more about these machines.

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  3. One thing that _is_ missing is one of the lamps. A spare lamp would be welcome.

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