Standard_HIW - jbu313mlb92ome8w/Winegard-Trav-ler GitHub Wiki

  • There’s a debug port on the ODU board that can be directly plugged into and controlled without the need for the IDU. I actually don’t see any less information from connecting to the ODU directly than from using the IDU to ODU. I think it all gets passed through and the only thing the IDU does is give the user a UI to control basic options and sends them to the ODU. Caveat, the IDU does print out ODU connection errors if it cannot be connected to.
  • When the ODU is “bricked” the IDU will power cycle the 48v to reboot the ODU three times before stopping. The IDU will need power cycled before voltage is applied again. Don't let this set you down the path of checking for power failures first. If you changed a setting and the ODU is no longer available, the first suspect is a bad setting. The IDU debug will report the power cycling and the screen will report an antenna failure.
  • The IDU can be used to “unbrick” the ODU. After the IDU boots you can hold enter and get a menu. There’s an option to “reflash”. I believe it forces the ODU to use the default values in the NVS menu. Either way it worked for when my ODU refused to fully boot. The factory reset option didn’t fix whatever I had broke.
    • Presumably setting the minimum elevation to -25 is what caused the no boot. 0 did work though.
    • The reflash method will not recover a bootloder mishap: bl menu and ld command. DO NOT DO IT!
      • A completely unfounded theory/hunch I have is that the reflash command from the IDU interface can only be used once. To upgrade the Trav'ler the factory has to do it or an installer can by using a "special IDU" (no further details were disclosed on what this meant). Given that both the IDU and ODU come from the factory preloaded and compatible the IDU has a version of the ODU firmware available to reflash. Upon reflasing the IDU deletes it since the ODU should now be up-to-date and compatible with the IDU. Why keep it if it good to go mindset.
      • What this is sort of based off of is that there is an upgrade kit for the Shaw systems. Both the IDU and ODU have to be replaced for upgrade. Maybe new LNB compatibility? There's a chain of thoughts in there somewhere that led me to my theory.
  • Related to the above, you can pull the ODU out of the turret and tinker with it on the “bench”. Just need power and debug, no motors.
  • All of the wire connectors (except the debug) are “Micro-Fit 3.0mm Pitch”.
  • All hardware is SAE, not metric.
  • When plugging in a 48v into the ODU you get a "snap". That is a burst of current hitting the components, specifically charging the capacitors. That is not good for them. Not instantly breaking, but does cause them to wear quicker. An inrush current limiter (ICL) would preferably be used to prevent the sudden surge. I am looking for a 48v compatible ICL, but have not found one yet.
    • To feed 48v power directly to the ODU I have made a pigtail using the “Micro-Fit 3.0mm Pitch” connection with a barrel plug for the power wires, green and yellow. In this configuration the data wires are not needed as the purpose is to use the debug port on the ODU. No two RS422 connections can be made at the same time and have them both work. Check your colors and the voltage on the ODU connector before making such a pigtail. That is why I am not listing the power specifics of my power wires.
  • A standard 16x2 (1602) LCD can mount to a unmounted (out of the case) IDU. The reason the IDU has to be unmounted is that the OEM IDU LCD needs the header at the bottom left, when looking at the screen side. The run of the mill LCDs have the header at top left. That means a standard LCD will be hanging below the top of the IDU when mounted.
    • The OEM LCD has dual headers, top and bottom left with 16 pins each. Only the bottom left is populated, but all the pins show continuity to its corresponding top header pin.
    • Always check your voltage pins before hooking up a screen to prevent damage. All the screens I've found have had the same pin layout, but you never know.
    • I've only found RGB LCDs with headers that have a bottom left mounting header. They are usually dual headers, top and bottom left, but have 18 pins vs the standard 16.
    • A screen needs to be connected for the IDU to boot. I've tried a fully working screen, half working display (left half only), and a screen with a loose bezel/poor zebra strips connection. All of these have worked to get the IDU to boot.
  • More advanced and probably not needed, there is a TTL header labelled "MOT" on the ODU that gives direct access to the motor control menu (dcmc). I haven’t play with it much. Maybe it will allow for motor control commands to override an existing executing one?
  • The debug ports use RS422 from my understanding. I know testing has shown RS485 hardware chains work. The silkscreen on the back of the IDU and ODU have the pins labeled as RA, RB, TA, TB. From what I’ve gathered that’s RS422. When using a RS485 to USB adapter it would not work. Maybe the hardware chains using RS485 somehow gets the RS422 to work good enough. Using the RS485 chain could also be leading to missed/erroneous commands during operation.
  • The debug and six pin connector both use RS422. The only difference is the positive power. The debug +power wire is connected to the 5v rail. The six pin connector uses 48v.
    • For sure the ODU "chips" can be manually powered by powering the 5v rail directly on the board.
    • Putting 5v to the debug port works to power the chips. This is also the easiest way to provide 5v power to the board.