Shield Shield - Blinking LED problem

Hey Guys,

I’m new to electronics so please bear with me :smile:

I’m not sure if it’s me or if there is an issue with my shield shield, but I cannot get a blinking led to work using any of the digital pins (0-7, and yes I update the code when testing the pins) on the shield shield. If I plug the spark into a breadboard and connect the led to the digital pin it works without any issues. It’s like power is not routing through the digital pins on the shield shield.

If I wire the led directly to GND and 3V3 on the shield shield, it works.

The shield shield is using a 7v 2a power supply

Here is the code:


// Define the pins we're going to call pinMode on
int led = D4;  // You'll need to wire an LED to this one to see it blink.
int led2 = D7; // This one is the built-in tiny one to the right of the USB jack

// This routine runs only once upon reset
void setup() {
  // Initialize D0 + D7 pin as output
  // It's important you do this here, inside the setup() function rather than outside it or in the loop function.
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);
}

// This routine gets called repeatedly, like once every 5-15 milliseconds.
// Spark firmware interleaves background CPU activity associated with WiFi + Cloud activity with your code. 
// Make sure none of your code delays or blocks for too long (like more than 5 seconds), or weird things can happen.
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(led, HIGH);   // Turn ON the LED pins
  digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);
  delay(1000);               // Wait for 1000mS = 1 second
  digitalWrite(led, LOW);    // Turn OFF the LED pins
  digitalWrite(led2, LOW); 
  delay(1000);               // Wait for 1 second in off mode
}

Do I have to add anything to the code do use the digital pins on the shield shield?

Have I missed something obvious? :slight_smile:

Thanks.

Sparkacus

Did you solder the led to the digitalpin pad or simply poked it?

I would use a multimeter to check and see if there’s a voltage on the Digital pins :wink:

Hey @kennethlimcp,

Thanks for your response.

No I just popped in some jumper cables which then connects to a breadboard and then the led. It works via an Arduino Uno so I’m happy with the wiring.

Believe it or not I have never used a multimeter :frowning:. I’ll have to go buy one and check. I’m sure I’ll find some decent youtube vids.

I hope the shield shield is not broken as I’ve only had it a few weeks and this is the first time I’ve found the time to test it :frowning:

It’s probably not broken but poor connectivity since the contacts are kind of crude.

You can try to touch the digital pin with the jumper wires :wink:

aaa ok, getting somewhere, thanks.

If i touch pin 7 below the header pin, it seems to work and now when I plug it into the header it’s working, although the light is very dim and alternates in intensity. None of the other digital pins work though.

If I touch the the digital pin on the spark itself, it lights up beautifully, the same with pin 4.

Hello Timothy,
Based on your last observation it seems it could be either a faulty buffer chip (TXB0108PWR) that translates the voltage levels (3.3V <–> 5.0V) or a bad solder joint. Is it possible for you to take a close up picture of the chip on the board and post it here? And if you have access to a soldering iron, retouching the headers and the chip legs should fix the problem. I’m sorry for the trouble caused!

Mohit

Hey,

I’m really sorry for the late reply.

Here are a couple of pictures, hopefully they’re what you’re referring to:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93109240/DSC_0001.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93109240/DSC_0002.JPG

To be honest I’m not that confident with a soldering iron :frowning: I’m rather new.