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Thread: Series 4 dip switch documentation

  1. #1
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    Series 4 dip switch documentation

    On several occasions, after storms, I've had to revive a locked up series 4 processor. Each time it has involved me calling tech support, telling them what the LED status lights on the processor was doing and being asked to flip a dip switch or two and power cycling and voila, the processor is unstuck from boot mode or a link is free. It seems like magic but I'd like to be able to do that without having to call tech support (everybody's time is money after all) so is there a pdf of the LED's somewhere? I didn't see it on resi and the tech support people said no which seems kind of odd. Is it because one can do some damage with the dip switches?

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    Quote Originally Posted by SparkyCoog View Post
    On several occasions, after storms, I've had to revive a locked up series 4 processor. Each time it has involved me calling tech support, telling them what the LED status lights on the processor was doing and being asked to flip a dip switch or two and power cycling and voila, the processor is unstuck from boot mode or a link is free. It seems like magic but I'd like to be able to do that without having to call tech support (everybody's time is money after all) so is there a pdf of the LED's somewhere? I didn't see it on resi and the tech support people said no which seems kind of odd. Is it because one can do some damage with the dip switches?
    I don't believe you can do any permanent damage with the dip switches. I think you'll find documentation in the help file in illumination, but I'm not certain. If you go to the help file, you can search for boot mode, processor addressing, diagnostic led blink codes. The help file in illumination is excellent, I really wish QS had something like it.

    If I remember right, when we find an illumination processor locked up, AND we have the program file, we can usually save it by:
    flipping the top dip switch #1 to ON
    power cycle the processor
    force an OS update via 232
    flip the dip switch back OFF
    power cycle the processor
    Upload the program again (it was erased with the OS update)

    One jobsite that had a lot of problems with brownouts sending their processors into this error mode had store-bought UPSs installed on the processors. No problems since.

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  4. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by SparkyCoog View Post
    On several occasions, after storms, I've had to revive a locked up series 4 processor. Each time it has involved me calling tech support, telling them what the LED status lights on the processor was doing and being asked to flip a dip switch or two and power cycling and voila, the processor is unstuck from boot mode or a link is free. It seems like magic but I'd like to be able to do that without having to call tech support (everybody's time is money after all) so is there a pdf of the LED's somewhere? I didn't see it on resi and the tech support people said no which seems kind of odd. Is it because one can do some damage with the dip switches?
    Dear SparkyCoog,

    The dipswitches on the Illumination processor are used for boot mode, forcing baud rate on the rs232, and addressing.

    Dipswitch 1 will force the processor into boot mode by turning to ON and power cycling the processor.
    Dipswitch 2 will force the RS232 ports to 9600 baud rate by turning to ON and power cycling the processor.
    Dipswitching 3-6 are used for addressing the processors in case of a multi-processor system.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin P. View Post
    Dear SparkyCoog,

    The dipswitches on the Illumination processor are used for boot mode, forcing baud rate on the rs232, and addressing.

    Dipswitch 1 will force the processor into boot mode by turning to ON and power cycling the processor.
    Dipswitch 2 will force the RS232 ports to 9600 baud rate by turning to ON and power cycling the processor.
    Dipswitching 3-6 are used for addressing the processors in case of a multi-processor system.
    Thanks, I actually might be dealing with this tomorrow (no clue what I'm walking into other than "the keypads blink"). Do any of these things cause the deletion of the programming?

  6. #5
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    Hate to bump this thread but I have been called to revive this same Series 4 processor. I did put the processor on a UPS 5 years ago and it held for 5 years but as I'm sure everybody knows, Texas had a really really bad week and I believe this house was without power for days so the UPS did not work.

    If I just turn dip switch 1 on and power cycle, would that erase the programming or does the programming only get erased if I flip the 2nd dip switch and force an OS update? I have the database but I haven't been to that house or touched the system in 5 years and there are a lot of wireless devices like tabletop keypads which are probably not plugged in (they probably don't even have the power adapters) so I'd rather not have to reupload the programming and have to chase wireless devices not connecting.

    If I can't figure it out, does Lutron's HW tech support still support illumination systems?

  7. #6
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    Turning dip switch 1 to the on position and power cycling puts the processor into boot mode. This will not erase any programming within the processor. What it does it stops all the links on the processor with the exception of the RS232 port. Putting dip switch 1 back to the off position and power cycling, takes the processor out of boot mode and returns all the links to normal operation. There should be no harm in doing this. Yes, Lutron's tech support will still support and field questions on Illuminations.

  8. #7
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    Thanks Aaron. It turned out I didn't need to do this - customer was complaining that the system was acting like it was in vacation mode with random things coming on and off. There were not supposed to be any other systems integrated with them so I wanted to upload the database to the system just to make sure there wasn't any memory issues. The issue I ran into however was that try as I might, I could not connect via ethernet. It would not find the processor. I tried with my standalone router, their home router, or directly with ethernet. Nothing. RS232 was the only way.

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