Well most of the lights are working.....

However they aren't supposed to all be on.

During the building of the panel many things had changed and none of it was tested. When I turned everything on, nothing worked, including what was working.

I tried different things, checked wires, nothing helped. I decided to go back as far as I could and start with introducing one new thing at a time.

I first took out the new panels, but it didn't help. I took out upgraded I/O's and programs. No good. I had run a new networking scheme and noticed that one half, while it didn't work wasn't giving me errors like the other line. I disconnected the offending network bus, changed files and started up the half system. Now this side was working again. OK progress.

I went back to the other network and brought online one I/O at a time and things were starting to look up. I ran across one bad network cable (which was probably the biggest offender), I got eventually got everything I had before working and called it quits for the night.

I came back down in the morning and put all the new files back in. So far so good. Now it was time to bring on the new panels. I started with the smallest I/O first. It was OK with just a small wire goof. Now the big one. I turned it on and got the lights you see above. There were data file errors, some plugs had two wires backwards, a couple of cold solder joints and "THE BIG ONE".

I just realized I'm missing a button and there is no way to put it in where it belongs. I'll have to make a new panel or come up with a work around. This panel took about a week, with all my great experience, I might be able to cut down the time in half. At least most of the soldering work is already done. The LED's would be the ones I would be required to remove for this change.

The other godd news is that everything that is installed is working correctly. Now to find a plce to put that button.

MODEL RAILROADING IS FUN..... model railroading is fun.....model railroading is fun