I got 5 pieces of the Janice reference design fabricated, components mounted and everything by ITEAD Studio (http://imall.iteadstudio.com/)
I did not make any changes to the schematics or board layout except for adding a little logo :-).
For some reason i am not able to switch my 24VAC solenoid valve on and off. Without the valve connected and with the triacs on (blue LEDs are glowing) I measure 24,7V between ‘C’ and the respective activated terminals 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.
When I connect the valve between ‘C’ and one of the activated terminals, voltage on that terminal drops to zero, and the valve does NOT ‘click’ open .
I tested all five of the boards, on 3 of the boards one specific triac is able to click the valve open without problems. On one board channel 5 works, on another board channel 6 and on a last board channel 7 works with the valve.
On the two last boards none of the channels can open the solenoid valve.
Some of the channels seems to ‘half-open’ the valve for a short time like gives of half a ‘click’).
It somehow seems like the triacs are not able to supply enough current to the valve, but the valve should only draw 75mA in holding and 90mA rush. The MAC97A6 should be able to handle this right?
It puzzles me that some of the channels on some of the boards are able to drive the valve.
I removed the code from the example firmware that has to do with the RTC.
Am I missing something obvious here?
Ideas for troubleshooting/bug finding?
I have attached pictures of (I get error when trying to attach files right now, so see dropbox links):
Valve:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2119565/janice%20debug/valve.JPG
PSU:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2119565/janice%20debug/IMG_0627.JPG
And a Janice
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2119565/janice%20debug/IMG_0631.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2119565/janice%20debug/IMG_0630.JPG
Best regards