Common
Problems and Solutions
This guide will
go over some common problems users of the EF-232 lens controller have
experienced in the past. Some
issues could have multiple causes so if one offered solution does not rectify
the issue, see if there are any others that could
pertain to the problem. For setup
issues, review the installation
guide to make sure HyperTerminal has been setup correctly.
If you have any
answers you think should be included on this page, please e-mail us at info@birger.com
The lens controller worked for a
short period of time, and just stopped working, what do I do?
The initial step of problem solving is to cycle the power to the unit in
order to reset the internal electronics.
Simply unplug the power to the unit for a minimum of 10 seconds to
let any excess power drain and then power the unit using whatever source you
have chosen. When using a
RS-232 adapter, the RS-232 cable can remain plugged in during the process
and HyperTerminal can remain open. When
power cycling a USB controller, the unit must be unplugged from the computer
and HyperTerminal closed. Once
the power has been cycled, plug in the USB, wait for recognition, and then
proceed to open HyperTerminal.
A power cycle will solve some problems involving the lens controller locking
up and should be considered a first step in the debug process.
The lens controller initially communicates, but on the second command it
ceases to respond.
In this situation, the problem typically is that in the ASCII setup of
HyperTerminal, a box has been checked that causes extra characters to be
sent to the lens controller. To
remedy this, go to File>Properties and click on the Settings tab
then ASCII Setup. The box by
‘Send line ends with line feeds’ should be unchecked.
Some of the commands on the Lens
Interface Protocol Definition page do not work on the lens controller.
This typically occurs when the library for the lens controller is
outdated and a more recent library is needed.
A new library can be loaded into newer units, v40 and above, while
units previous to this require a hardware upgrade.
To see if your library is up to date, please view the
downloads
page
under
the heading Libraries.
To determine what library and version controller you currently have,
please see the FAQ.
I changed the baud rate for my EF-232 controller and set it to remain at
that rate, but I don’t remember what the rate I chose was. Is
there a way to recall the value I chose?
Unfortunately, there is not a
way to communicate with the lens controller without knowing the baud rate it
was set to. The only solution
is to try all the available baud rates.
When commands are sent to the
lens controller rapidly (ie. sending a text file) the lens controller tends to
cease communication and a power cycle is needed to reset the controller.
Due to the use of a rolling 16 command buffer (32 characters), if
commands are fed into the controller at too high a rate, the EF232 lens
controller will hang, and remain in such a state until a power cycle.
The only solution up to this point in time is to allow the controller
to finish parsing the present command, as indicated by the
"OK" response, before initiating a new command. Future
software revisions will address this issue, but in the meantime we suggest
the above solution.
© 2006 Birger
Engineering, Inc. All rights reserved.
