Christmas lights... ENC28J60 module...sACN controller

Other Hardware LEDs and Multiplexing
1

Hopefully this is the correct forum to start asking and also hopefully this issue has not been answered already…

Last year - I helped a friend do a relatively large Christmas light display. I went to the DIY Christmas lights forum to ask a question and one member DM’d me on the side and provided some code and direction for me to go. I tested the design and software and… worked like a dream. It involves an Arduino Nano with a ENC28J60 network module and a simple NOR function for output.

Well - this year he wants to expand his display and needs a couple more boards - which I already (mostly) have. But I have assembled 2 of them and based on the code originally provided (which I confess to being pretty complex involving direct port access and ‘bit banging’ the output to light the pixels) I can’t get this 3rd board to work. I built a forth - STILL won’t ‘work’.

I suspect I may have been ‘sloppy’ with storing the code and maybe I have a corrupted or incomplete code base. Unfortunately - the individual who provided me the input was quite helpful at first - but is completely ghosting me was I request another copy. My solution has been to breadboard up a Nano with an ENC28J60 module and with the help of Gemini (Googles AI brain) try and write some basic code to at least try and capture and read some of the packets. I’m using a free application called sACNview for generating the network packets.

It has been a total failure. I can get the Module to connect to the network, respond to pings on the assigned IP - but Gemini is telling me I have hardware issues at this point because I can’t seem to capture the DMX packets and display the contents in the terminal screen. I’ve even tried to just have the Nano flash the onboard LED if it receives a directed packet.

Questions:

  1. are the ENC28J60 modules reliable?
  2. has anyone successfully used one for packet capture of anything at all? (DMX packets would be a bonus)
  3. Is the Nano too underpowered to do what I want in simple function calls (which is why the original code got into direct port addressing and ‘bit banging’ the output)
  4. (this is the BIG one) - does anyone maybe have an idea where this code came from in the first place and know where it can be found again? (That’s the ‘lottery’ request - > 1M:1 chance of success)

Thanks in advance!

Arden (lost on my way to Christmas)

2

I have Xmas lights and the code is pretty simple. Checki out the WLED site, it can do almost anything and is simple to set up.

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I have never had problems with them. They top out at 10MB’s.

Since it is Ethernet and not DMX the odds of that happening are like my two cozens slim and none.

I have used them with the AVR Nano and they work fine however your application software if not properly written will not work no matter what it is on.

I have no idea where the code came from.

4

Thanks for the quick response…

I don’t know where the original code came from either - but I received it with some modifications from a fellow and based on this code and the implementation schematic - it worked… for the first 2 boards. I’m starting to wonder if I’m making an assembly error. The prototype and first 2 boards worked and now the second 2 boards do not. The Ethernet modules and Nano boards are all from the same purchase ‘batch’.

I’ll keep working through it - I’m pretty sure it will be one of those ‘ah HA’ moments when I figure out what I’m doing wrong.

5

If you could post the code then someone might have an idea where to find it. If nothing else, googling some of the more unique lines from the code will often come up with the source.

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I actually found the original code (I HAD kept it in a super safe - secret place). I’m still thinking the issue is something I’m doing wrong in the board building. I’m working on some test code to see if I can confirm the connectivity between the ethernet module and the nano.

7

Posting the code and an annotated schematic would go along way in getting your problems solved. Be sure to post links to technical information on all of the hardware items.