Cinderella Castle Version 2 Middle and Upper Lights

I just finished installing all the lights and middle and upper interior and exterior lights will not work. I made sure the connectors have the white dots lined up, but nothing. I am not overly technical, so is there a way to check to see if the boards are bad? 

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  • From memory - with power applied, is the main controller board's green little light glowing? 

    And to be more helpful, I should probably pull out my install instructions.  That said, the usual culprit is pinched wires... if the wires are bent around an angle too tight, or compressed between bricks, that could be *just* enough of a bump in the night to prevent power from flowing.

    (I personally baby my wires more than the bricks; if a choice is made to protect one over the other, a Swiss Army knife's small blade is used to make teeny niches for wires to pass safely under - I figure a replacement brick from Brinklink is a few pennies, messing up  the light kid is far more expensive.)

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  • Paul George Thanks Paul for the reply!  Jill's kit is our new "v2" kit so the wiring is completely different.

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  • Hi Jill, thanks for your note.  Sorry for the trouble with your setup!  As Paul mentioned, the first thing to do is check to see if power lights are turned on for your adapter boards.

    If you've verified that your interconnect cable (Step 64 in the instructions) is connected to the master effect controller, one thing you can try is to connect the cable from the top tower (shown in Step 85 of the instructions) directly to the cable in Step 64.  This will essentially bypass the middle section, and the lights in the upper section won't have the correct effects, but what you'll be looking for is whether the lights in the top tower come on at all.  If so, the problem is likely in the center section, possibly in the cable passing into the base of the middle section (Step 95 in the instructions).  Because of all the wires collected in the small space behind the kitchen stove, it is possible that feeder wire became pinched.

    If you can try connecting the top tower directly to the lower level and let us know if that makes any of those lights work, that will give us a good clue.

    Thank you!

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  • Rob, I connected the upper lever cable (Step85) directly to cable fro step 64 and the lights do not come on. I have the cable from step 64 completely out so no pinching. Could there be an issue with the master board? I also tested all the small lights in the upper section and they work.

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  • Jill Mastandrea Hi Jill, thanks for doing the additional testing.  OK one more thing to try that should give us a clue about the root cause: on the master controller (see Step 64), there are two small plugs, one labeled SENS1 and one labeled SENS2.  One connects the color-changing spotlights and the other connects the middle and top-level lighting as you know.

    Can you try swapping the plugs in SENS1 and SENS2, and leaving the cable connected directly to the top tower?  Then power up the kit and try turning on the color-changing spotlights.  Also, see if the spotlights (which should now be connected to where the middle-level lighting would connect) do anything when you turn on the interior lights.

    If the upper-level lights now work (while connected to the plug normally used by the color-changing spotlights) and the spotlights (now connected to where the interior lights would be connected) do not work, then it's definitely an issue with the master controller.

    If the spotlights do work while connected to where the interior lights should be connected, and the interior lights do not work while connected to where the spots normally connect, then we know the master controller is good and the issue is likely then with the cable itself that runs from the lower level to the middle and upper sections.

    I hope this makes sense-- a lot of words to describe "switch the cables and try the lights." :-)  Please let me know what you see.  Thank you.

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  • Rob Klingberg , I switched the cables and the spotlights and lower interior lights work, but the upper level lights do not. I sent a support email earlier  today indicating that while testing all the lights, I accidentally broke the BRANCH09X board located near the master board and one of the fiber optic firework cables. I will gladly pay to replace those items. 

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  • Jill Mastandrea OK, thanks again for doing all the testing.  The good news is that the master controller seems ok.  This sounds like a bad connecting cable (the one leading to the upper level lights).  We can send you a new one of those, and I'll reply to your mail as well with the cost to replace those two items.

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  • Rob Klingberg that sounds great. Would love to get the items ordered and paid so I can finish this awesome set!

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  • Rob Klingberg any idea on timing for damaged cable and costs for replacement items?

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  • Jill Mastandrea Hi yes,  sorry for the delay.  I'll respond today.

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