SFR-1 wont do ANYTHING

[ReubyOnDuty]

Hello all from Ontario Canada! I bought this sfr-1 and was absolutely amazed at its capability. I'm building a 1/4 scale rc truck and this sfr-1 is used to control all of my lights, sounds, and truck functions. The units outputs run into a relay board that powers the lights. Ive been building this thing for the last 2 years now. Everything worked as expected until the other day... I powered on my truck and NOTHING happens from the sfr-1. Im running it on SBUS, my receiver powers on, my motor drivers power on, Sabertooth 2x32 and a SyRen. these motors run at 24volts to power my drive axles, and steering servo. These controllers still work, the truck moves and operates as it should... Note: the sfr-1 is NOT running off 24volts, its running at 12volts. Only the green led on the sfr-1 is on. no blinking lights of any kind, just a solid green light. I've pulled the sd card and put in my computer, I can read and write to the card, Ive tried a different card, same thing. Also, I power it on with no sd card and I get the red solid led and a flashing blue led... yes I know that means its not reading the sd card... duh, its not in there. I reinstall the sd and back to just a solid green led and still nothing works. When I connect the data link cable, the led on the link board does not light up and my computer does not recognize the sfr-1. Has anyone ever experienced this problem or have any idea as to what it might be. Any kind of help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much, Reuben
P.S. Im sorry this is quite long of a post, just want to give you as much info as I can!!

[Rascal]

Hello Reuby,

solid green indicates that the SFR-1 is powered on and ready, so that's good.

Some things to check:

1. Just for me to understand: The SFR-1 does not drive any motor since it is powered by 12V but the motors run on 24V?
How is the power supply setup, i.e. different batteries, step-down converter ... ?

2. What is "SyRen"?

3. Did you create a new project and save it to the PC (as backup) and to the SD card ?
(Alternatively open an existing project, modify it to your requirements and then save to PC and SD card.)

4. Did you carry out the setup (teaching function) in accordance with the instructions on page 16 in the manual?

5. How did you connect the SFR-1 to the receiver, i.e. which servo cables are connected with which prop-channels of the SFR-1?

6. Did you "Activate SBUS on X2/6" and assign the SBUS channels to Prop-channels under Configuration > S-BUS/SUMD ?

7. To narrow down the problem you may also try not using SBUS, that way wrong settings in the transmitter or SFR-1 related to SBUS can be excluded as source of the problem. When everything works you can activate SBUS again.

8. If there is still a problem please upload the current configuration/project file (*.sfr)

[ReubyOnDuty]

Wow, timely response, thanks for that. Let me try and answer all your questions. The sfr-1 does drive a motor but not a 24volt motor, it runs a fan motor that is in my smoke generator. Its a little cooling fan from a pc, not much for an amp draw, 2 amps I believe. The more throttle, the faster the smoke comes out. Yes there is a step down converter taking the 24 down to 12 volts and it is a 100amp converter (theres a ton of 12v stuff running. There will be 200ish leds, a car stereo, a 300watt amplifier, 2 linear actuators, the heating coil in the smoke machine... Lots of stuff). A SyRen is another type of 24volt motor driver but it only runs one motor instead of 2, i.e. steering servo. The Sabertooth and SyRen both are from Dimension Engineering. These 2 motor drivers still work just fine, I can still drive the truck as normal, just no sound, light, of functions from the sfr-1. Yes, I have saved the file to both my pc and to the sd card. I have tried loading a totally different project onto the sd card and still nothing happens. Yes I have done the teaching to the sfr-1. The receiver is connected with a patch cord going to prop 6 on the sfr-1 and to the sbus port on the receiver. Receiver still has power and works properly as the 1 servo, and the 2 motor drivers still function as they should. I am using a FrSky Taranis x9d, and a 8xr receiver. Yes I have activated SBUS. Everything worked fabulously for about 3 months while I've been building this thing until 2 weekends ago I turned it on and got nothing. Now also please note that when I plug in my data cable, my computer does not see the sfr-1 and I cant read or write to it and the led on the little board does not come on. I have to manually take out the sd card, program it and reinstall the card. I hope this helps. If you still would like the project file Id be happy to upload it along with pictures!
Thanks again, Reuben

[Rascal]

Hello Reuben,

please do upload the project file (*.sfr), it makes it easier for me to troubleshoot if I have the entire configuration.

One more thing to check: how is the receiver powered? Is there any ESC or receiver battery connected to it, or does it only get the power via the patch cable from the internal BEC of the SFR-1?
Note that only one power source must be connected to the receiver; the BEC of the SFR-1 provides 5,6V so that should be fine for the X8R, but if there is another power source connected at the same time it may cause some conflict and possible damage the modules in question.

Not sure if the data cable issue is related, please check if the correct driver is still loaded, in particular if Windows has installed some updates or if you are using a different PC now. Even the SFR-1 is not connected the PC should see the serial converter when you plug it into the USB port. Check if you can see it in the Windows device manager under Ports (COM & LPT); you should normally also hear a sound when you plug it in.
If the serial converter does not show in the device manager then there is an issue with Windows or the driver, or the converter itself is faulty.

Please note that the SFR-1 must be powered by the battery when using the data cable, you cannot power the SFR-1 by using the data cable only.

[ReubyOnDuty]

yes the receiver is only powered by the sfr-1. I know that the sfr has to be powered in order for the link cable to work and the computer to see it. I have reinstalled the drivers for it, and still nothing. It does not make any sound and my computer can not find it. I will post the project soon