When using the shield shield some pins don't work

Troubleshooting
1

When I have the core in the shield most of the pins are not connecting. I was testing using a LED with 220 ohm resistor and tried the Digital pins D1-7 and 3 would work 2,4,7 to light the LED the rest would not. I think I have a bad shield unless there is something I’m not seeing. If it is bad who do I talk to get it replaced.

2

Hey there,

How are the LEDs connected to the shield shield and which arduino shield are you using? :slight_smile:

3

It’s called Shield Shield made by Spark. Bought along with the Core. The mounts onto it and various other shields can be nestled onto its female connectors - power and analog pins on one side and digital pins on the other. One would expect the Core would connect and be able to use all of these pins D2-D13 and A0, A1 and A2. To test I connected 220 Ohm resistor to each pin receptacle connecting to the LED and then GND. Sending a digital high to any of those pins should lite the LED I would think but doesn’t. If touch the appropriate pin where the core is plugged in the LED is lighting so the Core does work in the shield but not the shield output (female) connectors.

4

Maybe my question is not clear.

How are the LEDS connected to the shield shield? Did you solder them on or something? Or Just jumper wires?

What is the code that you are using to test this?

I wrote a sample:

void setup(){
 for(int i = 0; i < 8; i++){
     pinMode(i,OUTPUT);     // Setup Digital Pin as Output
     pinMode(i+10,OUTPUT);  // Setup Analog Pin as Output
     digitalWrite(i,HIGH);  // Switch all to HIGH
  }
}
5

Its, not a code issue. When I use a breadboard all the pins can be turned high and power the LED (led is just simplest test mechanism). I am connecting the same pins from the shield to a breadboarded led - so it’s not a solder problem (I am well experienced in electronics and soldering). I truly think the shield is failing. I don’t have schematic for the shield but I suspect the interface chips that connect the Core to the shield pinouts is failing. The socket on the shield for the Core has solder holes for the Core’s pins and these see the digital highs but only a few of the shield’s socket pins see the signals. I guess this thread was to make sure I didn’t miss something here with Sparks shield usage. I don’t have such issues with other Arduinos and shields.

6

Since you said you are well experience than i shan’t comment further. :wink:

The schematics can be found here: https://github.com/spark/shields/tree/master/Shield%20Shield

Also, if you would like to exchange the shield, you can email hello@spark.io and make arrangements.

7

Thank you for taking time to respond to me. I’m no expert but I have a good understanding of basic electronics through Amateur radio and building projects for a couple of decades. I am just getting into the world of Arduino and programming to learn about robotics. Lots of fun for an old guy. Anyway I did send an email to hello@spark last night. We’ll take it from there.
Thanks for the information…

8

After looking at schematic I noticed the pinout map and that may be part of my lack of understanding here. However, running your code I see D2-D5, D7-D9 will see the high signal. D6 does not and of course the others D10-D13 and A0 and A1 don’t have signals to measure. So maybe I need to do some more reading and research here. Shouldn’t D6 be seeing a high?

9

This is the pin mapping of Spark pins on Shield Shield, if it makes it easier…

Shield Shield

Spark pin     Shield pin

A0                A0
  A1                A1
  A2                D10
  A3                D13
  A4                D12
  A5                D11
  A6                A2
  A7                D6
  D0                D3
  D1                D5
  D2                D2
  D3                D4
  D4                D7
  D5                D8
  D6                D9
  D7                -

10

Thanks for this info. No wonder I was having difficulty. Too eager to play. I missed this important info. Time to spend time with the documentation.

Can you explain in general terms and in brief (I’m a newbie to coding been playing with an Arduino for few weeks.) how I need to approach writing code for the Core to send commands to a device (i.e. robot car or whatever) vs just uploading a new script? Would I send commands through the serial monitor?

Anyway thanks again for the pinmap.