Elk Output Expander Board Lost Comm

[apostolakisl]

Had a bigtime WAF issue the other night. It was 2:46AM and "the lady" as she is referred to by my wife announces something to the effect of "Lost Comm to Output Board". Then it starts in with the beep every so many seconds.

This is the second time this has happened in maybe 2 years. I checked the board and it is doing the double blink so both the board and the Elk agree that comm is lost. All the wires are firmly attached. I power cycled just the board and all is fine again.

But I have to wonder what is up with this? Ideas?

 

[tmbrown97]

I've had that happen once - in 5+ years... no idea why - didn't happen again. Although, thinking as I type - that was right around the time my battery failed. Maybe it was doing a self-test and voltage dropped to a point where it wasn't sufficient to support the expander properly? How old is the battery?

 

[apostolakisl]

I've had that happen once - in 5+ years... no idea why - didn't happen again. Although, thinking as I type - that was right around the time my battery failed. Maybe it was doing a self-test and voltage dropped to a point where it wasn't sufficient to support the expander properly? How old is the battery?

Shouldn't be the battery since I have that particular board powered by an aux power supply. Nothing else on the aux power supply had any troubles. The system battery is getting close to 4 years old. It should have another year in it. I suppose it could still have something to do with the battery if the issue was on the main Elk board side rather than the expander board side.

 

[tmbrown97]

It's just one option - but I find it kind of interesting that it's the one board that's powered separately... those boards are really sensitive to voltage changes, and a battery self test or other anomaly from this separate power supply could've caused an unexpected response to the M1.

Also, I got a hair less than 4 years out of my Elk battery before it blew open and leaked.

 

[Del91574]

Assuming no intermittent wiring or connection issues....

If the supply drops below 12V, any board attached to the bus will start to go down or get in a reboot loop. Most other devices will operate corrrectly down to about 11 or 10V, but the M1's devices act screwy below 12V (this was confirmed in a long drawn out phone conference with them that led to the tech note regarding Altronix supplies and their LBC).

4 years is the replacement time for a battery, I wouldn't push it, not to mention as a battery ages and starts heading south it'll drag down the supply.

 

[mikei-ma]

Couldn't you (we) create a simple cutoff that throws a relay if voltage drops to a certain level? Do we know when the elk boards actually cut off? 11v 11.5v ??

I found this simple example at overclockers

 

[apostolakisl]

The power supply runs my modem, router, xep, hai c3, wifi ap, RF transmitter for the garage door and chicken coup, ISY, and obi110. It is a 250w power supply so I am certainly not taxing it in the least. My other output expander is powered by the Elk as well as my 2 input expanders. So, there is something to be said for the fact that it is unique in that it is the only board (besides the xep) that is not powered off the Elk. But I have been loving this power supply since I installed it a few years back. My router and modem have been flawless and that was not the case on their wall warts.

I wish I could remember which board did this last time. I kind of think it was the same board, so I think I'll try switching over to Elk power on it. I need to look at the amp load with all this stuff as I have a gut feeling I am getting close.

The battery will be 4 years old in February. .. so pretty much right at 3.5 years. I though I should expect 5 years, but I'll go for 4 years. It is in a mostly conditioned space with temps between 65 and 80. Not sure if there is a way to know when the Elk is doing a battery check. Is that in the log? Certainly if it was doing the check at that time I would be convinced.

 

[michelkenny]

A silly question but are all the negatives of the separate power supplies tied together?

 

[apostolakisl]

A silly question but are all the negatives of the separate power supplies tied together?

The grounds are shared. Although I have it shared via a screw down on the board with 2 wires of different type. I wonder if I shouldn't solder them together. Sometimes the screw downs with different wires don't make proper connection.