Signal Problem --- Using GigaBlox Rugged (Rev C) and SPEBlox (Rev F)

BotBlox Hardware
,
1

Help!
My team and I have a feed from an IP camera that we’re struggling to communicate over the T1 connection between two SPEBlox (each rev F).
The entire system is shown in the attached block diagram.
Note:

  • Each SPE blox was properly designated as master/slave via solder bridge instructions.

  • The subsequent steps in the datasheet were followed successfully.
    I.e. D12 flashed to indicate the SPE link was established.

  • We’ve confirmed the camera feed will successfully reach the tablet when the camera is plugged directly into the Insignia USB-C to Gigabit ethernet adapter.

  • The SPEBlox are connected via an unshielded twisted pair of 22 AWG wires apprx. 1 ft long.

  • The BotBlox provided picoblade-to-RJ45 wire harnesses are used elsewhere.

  • We’ve confirmed the camera feed will successfully reach the tablet when the tablet and camera are both plugged into ports of the GigaBlox Rugged switch (i.e. no use of SPEBlox).

Despite all of this, when we setup the provided diagram (add SPEBlox into the mix), we do not see the camera feed on the tablet.

Any thoughts as to where we could be going wrong?

System Diagram --- BotBlox Support
System Diagram --- BotBlox Support1758×1230 233 KB

2

Let’s debug…

  1. Let’s check the firmware is running correctly on both SPEBlox. At power on, do you see the LED flash green on the master and flash red on the slave? They flash for around 2-3 seconds and then stop, and this indicates the the firmware has loaded correctly.

  2. Your 1ft 22AWG should be just fine. A bit thick but it’s only a foot so should be just fine.

  3. Can you confirm electrical connectivity between the two SPEBlox? For this, turn the boards off and just check with a multimeter that those two wires are actually making a decent connection between the two boards. I use the solder terminal of the screw terminal on the bottom of the each board for this. Check the same corresponding terminal on each SPEBlox with your multimeter set in continuity mode.

3

Ah, I just reread your forum post and you mentioned that you do see D12 flash on SPEBlox. Do you see that flash on both boards? If so, that would indicate that the SPE link is up, and that we have a higher level problem here.

If that’s the case, let’s simplify the system to debug.

First, can you confirm that you see two red LEDs blinking on GigaBlox Rugged (indicating that both the IP Camera and SPEBlox have links on GigaBlox Rugged). Can you check if the lights flash together (implies the links can see each other) or seperately (implies the links cannot see each other).

Secondly, can you remove the GigaBlox Rugged from the setup and connect the second SPEBlox directly to the IP Camera?

4

First, can you confirm that you see two red LEDs blinking on GigaBlox Rugged (indicating that both the IP Camera and SPEBlox have links on GigaBlox Rugged). Can you check if the lights flash together (implies the links can see each other) or seperately (implies the links cannot see each other).

  • We see no LEDs blinking on GigaBlox Rugged.
  • We only see one LED lit continuously on GigaBlox Rugged.
    It is next to Port 1 where we have the IP camera plugged in.

Secondly, can you remove the GigaBlox Rugged from the setup and connect the second SPEBlox directly to the IP Camera?

  • Removing GigaBlox Rugged and connecting the second SPEBlox directly to the IP camera did not produce a video feed on the tablet.
  • We did observe that LEDs D10 and D12 on both SPEBlox were lit and flashing though.
5

Thanks Mike.

Can you confirm:

At power on, do you see the LED flash green on the master and flash red on the slave SPEBlox? They flash for around 2-3 seconds and then stop, and this indicates the the firmware has loaded correctly.

Also, what is the model number of the IP camera you are using?

6

Confirmed. At power on, we see the master (green) and slave (red) LEDs flash for 2-3 seconds and then remain illuminated steady on the respective SPEBLox PCBAs.

The IP camera we’re using is a Convoy Technologies IP1910IRHC-120-1.5.

A .pdf datasheet is available at the provided link if you’re looking for info like video format/compression, network port, etc.

7

Thanks. Ok so there appear to be two problems here.

Problem 1: Supposedly, you don’t see a link between SPEBlox and GigaBlox Rugged
Taking the IP camera out of consideration for a moment, you should absolutely see a link light appear on GigaBlox Rugged when you connect it to an SPEBlox. This link light will either be solid red, or it will flash when the SPEBlox actually transmits something.

Now, you mentioned you see a link light solid red on the LED next to port 1 on GigaBlox Rugged. It’s worth mentioning that the LEDs on GigaBlox Rugged are reversed in terms of order. In other words, the LED at the bottom corresponds to port 4, the next LED up corresponds to port 3, and so on. The image below makes this a bit clearer.

Screenshot 2024-01-09 at 23.47.15
Screenshot 2024-01-09 at 23.47.15903×817 97.9 KB

Understandably, this is a bit confusing, and not helped by the fact that we don’t add silkscreen labels to those LEDs. I’ve added that to our design update queue.

Anyway, this is all to say that it looks like you do see a link light for Port 4, and based on your diagram, port 4 is the port connected to SPEBlox. Here’s what our setup looks like with SPEBlox plugged into port 4.

IMG_3972
IMG_39724032×3024 3.2 MB

I’m pretty sure if you disconnect SPEBlox from GigaBlox Rugged, you’ll see that single LED turn off.

This is all to say, It does appear that the SPEBlox has formed a link with GigaBlox Rugged.

Problem 2: There is no link light corresponding to the IP camera when it is connected to GigaBlox Rugged

What is strange is that in your previous post, you mention there is only one LED lit on GigaBlox Rugged. As we saw above, this LED corresponds to SPEBlox, so why do we not see an LED blinking corresponding with the IP Camera.

You mentioned that when you connect the IP camera and USB-to-gigabit directly to GigaBlox Rugged, you get a signal. Do you see two LEDs blinking?

8

Hi Josh, there may have been a miscommunication somewhere here, so I’ll step in to help Mike out with some pictures from our bench setup.

In this first picture we see the SPEBlox is connected to port 2 on the GigaBlox, while port 1 on the GigaBlox is connected out of frame to generic tp-link ethernet switch. D10 is not lit on the SPEBlox, and the port 1 activity indicator is lit a steady orange on the GigaBlox. There are no other devices connected to the tp-link switch, so that likely indicates a fault?

2
2480×640 98.2 KB

In our next image, I unplugged the tp-link switch from the GigaBlox, and there are no port activity lights.

3
3480×640 103 KB

Finally, I disconnected the SPEBlox from the GigaBlox and plugged it directly into the tp-link switch and D10 lit steady green.

4
4480×640 79.6 KB

I’m not sure what conclusions to draw from all of this, but it appears to me that the GigaBlox and SPEBlox are not communicating.

9

Ah, now it makes sense. The issue is definitely between the SPEBlox and GigaBlox Rugged, and I know exactly what it is :slight_smile:

That 8 way picoblade to picoblade cable is incorrectly mapped.

We did have a manufacture issue a while back that caused this, and I thought we reached out to all those affected. Looks like this slipped through our net.

Reach out to us on info@botblox.org and we’ll get replacement cables sent out to you.

10

Not sure if this picture of the cable will upload with high enough contrast to be helpful, but it definitely looks like the ends have the colors in reverse order from each other.

5
5480×640 42 KB

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11

Yep, that’s a duff cable. That’s the issue. It should be the same mapping on both sides.

12

Here’s how it should look.

IMG_3970.HEIC
IMG_3970.HEIC3024×4032 2.24 MB

13

I believe those cables have been shipped out now to you. If you could let us know here if that solved your issue (99% sure it will), that would be great.

14

Hi Josh,

I just got our system rebuilt with the replacement wire harnesses.
Confirmed. Issue is resolved! Thanks again for your support.
We really appreciate your thoroughness and responsiveness.

Cheers!

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