BomeBox: Power dramas!

Bome Products
1

Yeah, more. Sorry.

Recently reconfigured my rig and back to using the BomeBox again. Woo! Well...urm. heh

I'm using a Behringer CMD LC-1 (Button/Knob controller), the BomeBox, a DLink 4 port powered hub, and a Squarp Pyramid.

The DLink hub is using its own power supply for power.

The LC1 only has a single USB cable for power & data. The Pyramid is deriving power and data via the hub. Normally I have a DSI Prophet 12 and an Impact LX49 plugged in.

I don't know the words for it, but the LC1 and the Prophet have their own built-in hubs (?) since they have the USB "B" type of connector on their side.

I have tested this without the Prophet 12 and the Impact as the most important part is to get the LC1 communicating to the Pyramid via the BomeBox (and data from the Box back to the LC1 for LED feedback)

If the Power is disconnected from the BomeBox, the USB Hub 'turns off'...or rather, the power is cut to the devices attached to the hub.

Yeah. Strange.

One step thru: - On power up, plug the LC1 and the Pyramid into the hub. - Power the hub - Lights come on, Pyramid can boot up - Now I use a separate transformer and power the BomeBox. This cuts power to the LC1 and the Pyramid and during the BomeBox bootup, the power on the devices cycles a couple of times.

I"m trying to step thru things coherently, but I have a script that is supposed to set the light feedback on the LC1 and every time it does this cycle, it barfs the lighting configuration I created.

I just had a chat with DLink support to see if there is some sort of power cycling routine that happens when the hub is plugged in (data). The rep I spoke to indicated it should not.

So...huh?

I have been attempting to power the Pyramid and the LC1 before powering up the BomeBox because I have 'on load' bits in the script (Global Variables and setting up the initial led feedback configuration). Should I try a different process?

2

Hi,

First of all, is the blue light on your Hub on? If so, it is not getting power from the attached adapter. In this mode, the hub will deliver .5a of power to attached devices. For USB 2 devices this should be enough to power 4 devices but you might want to check the power requirements of your devices to make sure it is enough. I would try it first without applying power to the hub. The reason for this is that this hub has fast charging ports and some devices (that are not to be charged) get quite confused when connecting to a fast charging port.

So try it unpowered and see what happens. My educated guess is that the issue is with the hub (assuming your BomeBox is powered via consistent power and not via some sort of fast charging device).

I think the spec for USB 2.0 is 100ma per port so if all devices conform to this spec, it will only draw 400ma with all devices attached. The USB 3.0 spec calls for 150m per device.

PS. Do not use a fast charing USB port of any kind to try and power your BomeBox. It will go into a continues restart cycle.

It also seems that perhaps since there are problems when you plug in the BomeBox, that maybe the power it is providing is confusing the hub and putting it into the wrong mode.

Bottom line, try another hub (unpowered at first) and one with no fast charging ports as a second try.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz

 

 

 

 

3

Thanks for the incredibly fast response, Steve.

The light on the Hub is actually purple, and it is on if the hub is plugged in for power and no devices are plugged into the hub, nor is the hub plugged into the Box. The colour and intensity do not change plugging either devices into the hub, nor when the hub is plugged into the Box.

The hub having fast charging ports: this is news to me. It’s a 4 port powered hub and different than the one DLink currently lists on their website. It has no markings to indicate a fast charging port (usually the lightning bolt thing, no?)

Note: I used to have a brain, but I think I left it back in my 20s…erm…30s…erm…40s….*sigh*. I’m confused on USB Hubs – many apologies.

Also, I have a 7 port hub sitting around with two powered ports. Or…those might be ‘fast charging’ ports…but why on earth would they have that? Really confusing.
But assuming the two ports with the little lightning bolts are powered and not fast charging, I plugged two devices in (both need power, btw). Same thing happens: Plugging the Hub into the Box cycles the power on the Pyramid and the LC1. (Note to self: powered hub but two fast charging ports? Whut? Test that out, maybe)

Truly the only problem with this is trying to ensure my ‘on load’ preset gets run, which it currently is not doing.

So, all that gobbleygook aside:
– BomeBox has a setup Preset (mostly for the LED feedback on the LC1) that is set to
Incoming: Project File is Opened. This is why I was trying to have the devices plugged in and *then* power up the Box. But since the LC1 and the Pyramid are in the process of power cycling, they don’t receive anything…or it just doesn’t get run…which means the led feedback is off/incorrect/malfunctioning.

Is there a more correct or error-avoiding process for triggering a Preset to run at Startup…or when all booting and power cycling is completed? I’m hoping that if I ignore the WTF with the power stuff since it may just be my own confusions that just getting that bit to run that Preset when I need it done will resolve the issue.

4

Try to use the 7 port D-Link Hub but not the 2 fast charging ports (with lightning bolt). You should be able to plug and power up your devices first and then the BomeBox so it sends the initialization.

If there is something strange happening with the other devices when turning on BomeBox. First unload the project file there to ensure you are not sending MIDI that messes something up. If it still does strange stuff, my guess is one of your devices is drawing too much power so if they have other power options other than power over USB, explore that.

There are also USB devices you can use to test current draw.

I use this one.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015F83X0U/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

5

I gotta get one of those devices.
Found one on Amazon.ca that’s under $50. LOL

All that being said: Is there an elegant way to reload a project file on the Box or should I just make the Preset run from an incoming MIDI msg and then just configure a device to trigger it?

6

Hmm, I guess you could set up a note or cc combination from the devices to trigger an initialization from the project file. Something not common so that you only do it once.
I have set up my LaunchPad MINI to do something like this when I want to remotely restart the project.

$50 is 10x too much for one of these little gems. You wouldn’t believe how many bad of flakey USB cables I’ve found using this. Many USB cables that you get work at first but some are cheap and break in a matter of just a few weeks use.

Steve Caldwell
Bome Q and A Moderator and
Independent Bome Consultant/Specialist
bome@sniz.biz

7

$50: Yeah, it’s one of the things I dislike about Amazon and living in Canada. heh

Thanks for the counsel.
I don’t have ‘extra’ buttons, but set up a button combination of 4 buttons that are probably never going to be pressed together that, when pressed together, triggers the Setup routine.

Shweet.

Going to chalk the strange power cycling stuff up to just a thing that USB does. It was more frustrating when I was having previous power issues due to physical connection problems (ie incessant power cycling).

Thanks again, Steve.