Is this CTC-DRA-10-R2 dead?

Using Arduino General Electronics
1

New to Arduino stuff, though we have done basic sign of life on the Uno board itself (blinking light) with no issues.

My buddy and I are trying to automate some DMX stuff and we attached a CTC-DRA-10-R2 (DMX Shield for Arduino SKU: AngelDFR0260US - CQRobot-Wiki).

It very obviously stacks on top of the Uno...but when we apply power, the only sign of life is the power light on the Uno. The Arduino stops doing, well anything. The light doesn't blink and neither of our computers can upload to it anymore.

According to the instructions (http://www.cqrobot.wiki/images/1/14/DMX_Shield_User_manual.pdf) we found, it needs to be put into an UNEnabled state with a jumper, but this makes no difference. We've tried connecting EN, -EN, powered by USB, powered by the barrel adapter in every combination.

So either there is something overly obvious we are missing, or our board is dead.

If anyone here has any input it would be appreciated. Thanks!

2

Sounds like a hardware problem. Unfortunately the "getting started" instructions are minimal, to be generous.

I recommend to contact the seller's technical support.

1 Like
3

Thanks, I have emailed them but I am not optimistic that I will get a timely (or any) response from the Hong Kong email address they have.

4

pull out shield, connect LEDs to pins 4 and 3, try Blink for this pins, if blinking - UNO ok.

5

Have already confirmed the Uno functions on its own. Thanks!

6

The tech support email bounces back domain doesn't exist lol.

7

technically this shield is RS485 adapter. you can look for that tutorials and example sketches.

8

Without a schematic diagram or a good technical description of the shield, there is not much you or other forum members can do.

There is no sign of recent activity in the product wiki or library pages, so interest seems to be lacking and the product should probably be considered unsupported and obsolete.

However, as mentioned above, RS485 adapters are inexpensive and there are plenty of tutorials on line, explaining how to get started with Arduino and DMX.