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I have researched every where for this problem and cannot find a direct answer.

I am currently working on a project which involves a large 20ft conveyor belt transferring product into a Plexiglas box and is then ejected onto another belt. When testing the project, I had been running the program for about ten minutes everything was running great until all of the sudden my LED's and Pneumatic piston started triggering on and off and went haywire.

I spoke with the other engineers and IT and they mentioned that there could be static interference? Is this possible with all of the friction occurring from the belts and the pneumatic piston? If so how can I prevent this from happening. What is the best method to ground the entire board preventing the voltage spikes?

When trouble shooting I had tested the power supply to see if any voltage spikes had occurred and nothing stood out. I replaced the SD card as well in hope that it could've been corrupted somehow. The PI is open right now and I am working on making a custom case for it if that will help. All of my inputs are assigned to the Pull Up/Down resistors.

Here are some pictures of my wiring. I am a mechanical engineer but have basic background with circuitry and writing code. Problems like these however i do not know a direct route to fix them so any advice would be appreciated.

PI Circuit Board

PI Circuit Board

Relay Wiring

Relay Wiring

M. Bell
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    You should not delete and reask the same question using a different username; instead you should edit your previous question. – Steve Robillard Apr 05 '16 at 17:32
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    How do you know that static is the cause and not RF, crostalk etc.? Instlling it in a metal enclosure would seem like a place to start. How are you activatng the relays (directly from the Pi)? How are you powering the load? Are all the grounds connected? – Steve Robillard Apr 05 '16 at 17:33
  • Steve, I was handed this project as a shell, it had been sitting for about a year and before that, this same problem occurred. The previous engineers did testing and came to an agreement it was interference. Unfortunately with them no longer with us I cannot go to them for troubleshooting. Does the enclosure need to be metal? or would a 3D printed case do the trick? The relay is activated by the PI. The power supply is the basic raspberry pi micro USB connection and the Conveyors are powered through a Rhino 12v/24v power supply. http://www.automationdirect.com/static/specs/rhinopsm.pdf – M. Bell Apr 05 '16 at 19:13
  • Assuming the relays are 5V the Pi may not be able to supply enough current to current to engage them properly. Are they active Low or Active High? – Steve Robillard Apr 05 '16 at 23:27
  • I am amazed that rats nest works. There are standard engineering techniques to handle these issues. In any event this is off-topic. – Milliways Apr 05 '16 at 23:50
  • Everything connected to the relay is active low. – M. Bell Apr 06 '16 at 11:03
  • Should I connect a separate board? Milliways - Please enlighten me on any info then, like i said Im no electrical engineer. – M. Bell Apr 06 '16 at 11:14
  • If you want to address a comment you need to use @... If you search this site you will find similar discussions aimed at hobbyists e.g. http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/a/9771/8697 Unfortunately this is still off-topic. No responsible Engineer can solve problems without detailed circuitry. I would start by putting it in a case and using short wiring runs with wires parallel. I suggest hiring a competent process engineer. – Milliways Apr 07 '16 at 00:01
  • Alright. Well I appreciate the help. Was posting here to see if there were simple tips to fix the complications or if anyone had run into the same problem before with there PI. – M. Bell Apr 07 '16 at 11:47

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