Lights Not Working on Channel 7

General Discussion
1

I am having an issue with my Lumens. Most likely a software config issue? Something with pwm?

I have two sets of 4 lights. One installed and one is a spare (new in box).

The 4 lights that are connected to my BlueROV are stuck on full power and sometimes flickers. I cannot dim them. They are connected to Channel 7 of the Pixhawk and I set the software to Lights 1 Channel 7, the joystick controller keys to lights1_inc and lights1_dec and the yellow cable is correctly placed nearest the plastic motherboard as expected (not upside down).

When I disconnect the yellow signal wire from Channel 7, no change. Lumens stuck on full power. I reboot the robot, lumens still on full power. I should also say that they used to work, they used to dim. I added a gripper and changed some settings, I must’ve messed something up in the settings.

When I install the new set of lights (new in box), they are stuck OFF. I can not turn them on using the Pixhawk. I tested them directly to the battery with yellow wire also to + and they turn on. Not broken.

Experiment 1:
My spare lights are off.
When I connect the black and red wires of the spare lights to a spare battery, still off.
When I connect the yellow signal wire to Positive on the spare battery, lights on full power. Work.
When I disconnect the yellow wire, they are off.

Experiment 2:
I connect the lights are stuck on full power to the battery.
The lights are on full power.
I connect the yellow signal wire to +. No change. Stuck on full power.
I disconnect the yellow signal wire, no change. Stuck on full power.

Swap the stuck on full power lights for the new in box lights, and now I can’t turn them on. lol. I’m going in circles.

Please help :slight_smile:

2

Hi @jfilion

Sounds like an odd problem you have there.

The Lumens, when connected to power, should remain off when the yellow signal wire is not connected to anything and turn on to full brightness with the yellow signal wire connected to positive.

It sounds like your “spare” set is behaving normally. The output channel may not be configured properly if it’s not responding through the pixhawk. I recommend loading the default parameters for your vehicle. In QGC go to Vehicle Setup > Frame > Load Vehicle Default Parameters and select which ever you are using (either standard BlueROV2 or Heavy configuration). *I forgot to mention the lights should be on channel 7 for standard BlueROV2 or Aux 1 for Heavy configuration.

For the set of Lumens that are stuck on full brightness, could you send an email to support@bluerobotics.com with the order number for these lights and a reference to this thread please.

3

It was an odd problem indeed ! I found the problem, because I was using one battery for the lights and a different battery for the ROV, they had two different grounds. When I plug the lights into the ROV terminal block all is well :slight_smile:

Sneaky sneaky problem !