Arduino: Eh, just grab some pliers and bend the pins

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Arduino: Eh, just grab some pliers and bend the pins

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

I'm new to arduino and I'm trying to figure out if I fried my board. I've been trying to find an answer on the internet but it's really hard to tell what the problem is.

The board is an elegoo uno R3 and I was trying to use it to control a 4 channel relay module. The code I had worked to blink the on-board LEDs on and off, but when I tried to wire up LED strips to the relays I think I did it incorrectly because now my computer won't recognize that the board is connected even though it recognized it minutes ago.

The green "ON" LED is lit and the orange "13" LED comes on and stays on, but the board no longer runs the sketch and I can't upload anything new to it.

Does it sound like this board is fried and just needs to be replaced?

# ¿ Sep 21, 2023 14:11

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 02:48

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

I think this board is shot, or at least parts of it. The reset button isn't working at all either.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2023 19:33

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

1) how did you have it wired up?
2) does it work again if you unwire everything?

This is the diagram I was following from a question I asked in the electronics thread

I've removed everything from the arduino but I can't get it to respond to anything. Resetting doesn't work and I can't get the arduino UI to recognize that the board is connected. It makes the Windows "something is connected" noise when I plug it in but the ports don't show under the tools menu, which from what I read is the only way to tell if a board is actually connected.

Edit: The power supply I used was 12 volts, which I wouldn't think would be enough to fry anything but I'm completely new to this

Deadite fucked around with this message at 21:14 on Sep 21, 2023

# ¿ Sep 21, 2023 21:10

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

If you used the plug-in bit that it came with to give it +12V, it should have been protected. If the polarity was reversed on that plug, then there are some little fusible links that will blow.

When connecting to the computer, use the USB plug ONLY, no power supply, to verify operation.

Follow this setup to see if it's the USB->serial interface chip that's dead:
https://support.arduino.cc/hc/en-us/articles/4410804625682-Set-a-board-to-DFU-mode

Oh hey, you are the one who was helping me in the electronics thread and I was too dumb to realize it. Thank you for your continued help, but I might not be smart enough for this project.

Here's a video of me pressing the reset button and shorting out the pins in the guide. Nothing changes with the lights and the computer still doesn't acknowledge that a board is connected:

https://i.imgur.com/vSWAwLI.mp4

# ¿ Sep 21, 2023 23:12

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

For reference, the way I would have done this is wire everything EXCEPT the 12V up and see what kind of lights you get on your relay board when the Arduino is just powered by USB. If all of that works, then is the time to unplug USB, carefully wire in +12V and GND to the appropriate bits, and power it back on.

That is what I did at first, I ran the sketch you gave me with just the arduino and the relay module without the 12v power supply or LEDs and it worked great, the relay LED indicators turned on and off as expected. It's after that when I tried to wire up the power supply and the LED strips is where I got confused and must have screwed up.

I'm going to have to find these cheap ebay clones and nail this down so I don't fry the itsybitsy when it gets here.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2023 03:02

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

Yeah, this one is probably smoked. There's a decent possibility you just burned the little microcontroller (serial-USB interface) because those are kinda fragile. If you have stacks of these lying around, it's possible to figure out if the main microcontroller (the big DIP package) still works, but it's probably not worth it because you have stacks of these lying around.

For reference, the way I would have done this is wire everything EXCEPT the 12V up and see what kind of lights you get on your relay board when the Arduino is just powered by USB. If all of that works, then is the time to unplug USB, carefully wire in +12V and GND to the appropriate bits, and power it back on.

There is one thing I wanted to clarify though, in the diagram you provided the 12v power is connected to the DC+ which also connects to the 5v pin on the arduino, but the diagram on amazon is missing this piece

Is the Amazon diagram just missing this piece and it should be included?

I also originally put the ground in the GND pin on the left under the power section instead of on the right like in the diagram. Would that have caused problems? Why are there three pins labeled GND?

# ¿ Sep 22, 2023 03:15

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

Well mystery solved! At least I feel like I have a better understanding of how this all fits together. I need to find a guide on what all these pin names mean because I understand GND and 5V, but the others along the left I shouldn�t try to guess what they mean.

Thank you for all your help

# ¿ Sep 22, 2023 04:09

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

So I got the ItsyBitsy board, and I followed the guide on setting up the UI so I can add a sketch to it. The problem is I keep getting an error when I try. The board is being detected and I think I selected the correct board and port but I'm getting the below error:

code:

Sketch uses 52220 bytes (0%) of program storage space. Maximum is 8384512 bytes.
Global variables use 10224 bytes (3%) of dynamic memory, leaving 251920 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 262144 bytes.
Resetting COM4
Converting to uf2, output size: 140288, start address: 0x2000
Scanning for RP2040 devices
No drive to deploy.
Failed uploading: uploading error: exit status 1

Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Googling this hasn't been very fruitful

# ¿ Sep 26, 2023 19:07

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

Sockser posted:

https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico/issues/5

Give this a quick scroll and see if that helps

This doesn't have a BOOTSEL button, just a RESET. Holding that down while plugging in the USB doesn't seem to change anything. I'm also on Windows 10 so I don't know if the Mac info applies. Someone at the end of the comments had this issue with Windows and was able to fix it but they never say what they did!

# ¿ Sep 26, 2023 19:47

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

All the solutions I can find for this "Scanning for RP2040 devices" line involve holding down the BOOTSEL button when you plug in the USB, except this board has no BOOTSEL button

Adafruit you sold me a lemon!

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 02:54

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

Which ItsyBitsy board did you get? "ItsyBitsy" is a product family, so that could be a RP2040, M0, 32u4, nRF52840, ATSAMD51... they don't program the same.

It's the one you linked me to in the electronics thread, the 32u4. It seems to work now if I switch the board on the UI to "Leonardo" for whatever reason. It's amazing to me that anyone finds this to be a fun hobby when just trying to figure out how to do something basic is hidden in riddles, since even after following the directions on the arduino site and installing the package that has ItsyBitsy as a board, apparently the ItsyBitsy listed is not correct for the ItsyBitsy I have, even though it's the only one listed:

So now I think I have the sketch uploaded, except it seems to just turn all of the relays on and off at the same time so I screwed something else up. The LEDs for the relays seem to cycle through intensity kind of in the way I want them to, but I can hear them clicking on and off at the same time.

https://i.imgur.com/UGgd72z.mp4

edit:
Here's the sketch I'm using:

code:

void setup() {
  pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(11, OUTPUT);

}

const int delay_time=500; // milliseconds.

void loop() {
  digitalWrite(13,HIGH);
  delay(delay_time);
  digitalWrite(13,LOW);

  digitalWrite(12,HIGH);
  delay(delay_time);
  digitalWrite(12,LOW);

  digitalWrite(11,HIGH);
  delay(delay_time);
  digitalWrite(11,LOW);

}

Deadite fucked around with this message at 14:54 on Sep 27, 2023

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 14:08

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

The other issue I'm having is that these relays make a very loud clicking sound when they switch on and off. I've never seen an animated neon sign that makes a clicking noise and if I have to listen to clicking all day long it will drive me insane.

Can you buy quiet relays somewhere? Maybe I went down the wrong path with this project

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 15:01

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

Acid Reflux posted:

It would be wonderful if the Arduino and adjacent ecosystems were all plug-and-play, but for better or worse, there's usually research that has to be done and knowledge that has to be gained in order to do even the most basic of tasks if you're not super familiar with any of it.

I don't know if this'll be helpful at this point, but Adafruit does have a guide for adding the ItsyBitsy libraries to the Arduino IDE. That should add support for your specific board and make it appear on the selection list.
https://learn.adafruit.com/introducting-itsy-bitsy-32u4/arduino-ide-setup

This is part of my frustration. I followed this guide earlier since on the website it lists the board I'm using, but when I installed the package it doesn't appear in the boards list:

So I don't know if my board is hidden somewhere in this list or what is going on. I then did a search in the boards manager for ItsyBitsy which brought me to the Raspberry Pi RP2040 boards list, which has an ItsyBitsy listed but it's apparently not the right one.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 15:49

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

You know what? I'm a loving idiot and installed ARDUINO AVR Boards and not ADAFRUIT AVR Boards, I'm going to install the right one now

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 16:13

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

You need to connect a GND between the relay board and the ItsyBitsy. Your optoisolators are floating.

Looks great so far! Super good progress. Learning this kind of stuff is exactly this way!

Perfect, thank you very much. Once I connected the 12v power to the ItsyBitsy everything worked as expected. Now I just need to look into these solid state relays so I don't have to listen to this endless clicking

This is a rat's nest of bad wiring but I'm using scraps to test
https://i.imgur.com/vnB7L7a.mp4

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 16:44

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

Does anyone have a link to a solid state relay they'd recommend? I'm trying to find one but I'm out of my depth and I don't understand a lot of the acronyms out there. I have a 12v power source and the outputs need to be 12v too.

Would this work for what I want?
https://www.amazon.com/NOYITO-High-...111&sr=8-3&th=1

It looks like it would but one of the reviews says it doesn't work for 12v loads

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 17:59

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

sharkytm posted:

How much current do your LEDs draw?

I'm not sure, these are the LEDs I use: https://www.amazon.com/iNextStation-SMD2835-Waterproof-Flexible-Outdoors/dp/B07V37X7SY?th=1

and I use 12v/2A power supplies with them

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 18:15

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

That's interesting, I don't know much about lighting controls and thought this whole thing would be much simpler than it is turning out to be. Do the DMX LED controls come in smaller versions?

I make neon-style LED signs and I'm trying to animate my first sign, but if this works it opens up a whole new area for me.

For this first one I just need the three sections to blink in sequence to look like the teeth of a chainsaw are moving:

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 18:54

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

Yeah that's the idea. I know that animated neon signs are something that have existed for decades but I'm not sure what the mechanism is behind it. This is a solved problem but I'm completely lost on how to find that solution. I just assumed there was an off the shelf thing I could buy and it would work

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 19:22

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

Sockser posted:

Is there a reason for fussing with relays over just using addressable LEDs here? Other than for funsies?

Because I have no idea what I'm doing. Like zero knowledge. All I know is that relays are used to turn power on and off so I thought that would work. I don't know what an addressable LED is but I'm limited to what I can get that is sold in LED neon flex.

The post above yours might has well been written in Greek to me, I have absolutely no idea what that is saying

# ¿ Sep 27, 2023 20:54

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

Splode posted:

I'd just use MOSFETs to switch those LEDs personally, given the currents and voltages are low, and the control logic and LEDs are already sharing a power supply

Is that something I can buy and use or is it a concept for something I need to study and apply? Because my posts in this thread show that I�m not great with electronics

If I can just order something and plug in my wires then that might work for my skill level

# ¿ Sep 28, 2023 02:17

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

I appreciate all of the responses and time everyone is putting in to help me, but it's still over my head. Pretend I'm 90 years old and changing the time on my VCR was too technologically advanced for me.

What I would love is for someone to link me to a product, tell me how many to buy, and then tell me what I need to do with it once I have it.

ante posted:

One of these for every channel

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005881449865.html

So like this, if I buy three of these what do I do with them? Just put the power wires into one end and the wires that connect to the LEDs in the other? Do I need to split the power line in three somehow? Do I still need to use an arduino with these?

# ¿ Sep 28, 2023 13:45

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 02:48

Deadite: Aug 30, 2003; A fat guy, a watermelon, and a stack of magazines?
Family.

babyeatingpsychopath posted:

The diagram is getting a bit strained, but it's basically the same concept. Each of those boards is a replacement for a relay. However, instead of a relay having a normally open and normally closed contact, this one only has a normally open contact that can ONLY switch + to LOAD.

So your pin names have changed slightly. There's no more "COM" because COMmon is now directly connected to DC+. DC- is now "-". "GND" is the reference to the microcontroller. If you're powering the micro with USB, do not connect "DC+" to "BAT", but do connect "GND" on the FET board to "GND" on the micro. "IN" is now called "PWM". That's it.

Thank you, that makes it clear how this works. Do you know what the differences between the models listed on the AliExpress page are? Does it matter which one I use?

And does anywhere else sell these? The best shipping date they can give me is October 31st, and I was hoping this sign would be ready for Halloween

# ¿ Sep 28, 2023 14:10

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Arduino: Eh, just grab some pliers and bend the pins