MM9k Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting hints for Mega Menorah 9000.

Not getting power

A simple test for power and basic operation is that when you press the "Night" button, LED D3 should light up.

If it does not:

• Check that D3 is oriented correctly: The "round" side of the ring around its base faces towards the letters D3, the "flat" facet faces away.
• Check that all five center pins of the USB connector are soldered, and that the solder does not bridge between the pins
• Check that the microcontroller is in the correct orientation, with its little dot facing towards the little dot on the circuit board.

Getting power, but not lighting top LEDs

• Checking resistor R3 (color code and soldering).
• Check soldering at connector J1, and on the 3-pin jack of the display board.
• Check the display board, and in particular the edge trace on the back side, leading from the 3-pin connector to the rightmost (from the rear) LED. Check for any damage to the circuit board that seemingly affects that trace.
• Check soldering of top LEDs. Sometimes, a pin can look soldered, but is only held on by clear solder flux (resin).

Color and display mode settings

When everything is working correctly, pressing the Color button once advances between the different color presets. There are 14 solid colors, and 10 mixed color and/or animated modes.

The colors settings, in order, are named:

1. Red
2. Orange
3. Yellow
4. Yellow-green
5. Green
6. Aqua
7. Teal
8. Royal blue
9. Blue
10. Violet
11. Purple
12. Maroon
13. White
14. Warm white
15. Per-LED color cycling, fast
16. Per-LED color cycling, slow
17. All-together color cycling, fast
18. All-together color cycling, slow
19. Red-Green color cycling, fast
20. Red-Green color cycling, slow
21. Red-Green, steady
22. Blue-White color cycling, fast
23. Blue-White color cycling, slow
24. Blue-White, steady

Hold down the Color button for a few seconds to advance the brightness or fickering/steady display setting.

There are four settings with flickering and brightness, as follows:

1. Low brightness, without flickering
2. Regular brightness, without flickering
3. Low brightness, with flickering
4. Regular brightness, with flickering

Night button and Sleep mode

When everything is working correctly, pressing the Night button (or resetting) advances the Hanukkah night (number of "candles") displayed.

Hold the Night button for a few seconds to put the menorah to sleep. Press Night again to wake it. You do not need to use the sleep mode, but it provides an alternative to unplugging power.

The button to be held for about one second to begin entering sleep mode, but will wake up again automatically if you hold the button too long. If you have trouble getting the menorah into sleep mode, try releasing your finger as soon as you see the lights begin to dim.

Demo mode

Hold down the Night button at reset to enter demo mode animation. Reset occurs when when you first plug in the menorah to power (USB), or when you press the reset button.

Programming

Hold the Color button at reset to enter programming mode. That can be when you first plug in the menorah, or when you press the reset button. LED D3 will pulse when in programming mode. You can only enter programming mode when the USB port is plugged into a computer, not just a USB charger or power supply.

Flash at turn on

To minimize bright flashes when you first plug in the menorah, put it to sleep fully before unplugging it.