BlinkyPOV programming error

[bartjuan]

I am having trouble programming my BPOV

I have read through the forums. I believe my sensors are in correct, I have not clipped them off yet, the longer legs are to the outside of the board.

When I go to program, the second LED stays on but the First LED alternates on/off at what seems to be every 8 clock flashes. no new program is loaded.

All other functions seem to be working.

Thanks

Bart

[bartjuan]

Additional information.
I can enter programming mode just fine.

Hold down button while switching on, first light blinks slow. Release button, first light blinks faster.
Push and release button, second light comes on, stays on.
first light alternates as in previous post.

Neither sensor looks cloudy.

Does it matter if I solder on the front or back of the board?
I put the sensors on the "back" of the board and soldered from the front side, all other solders are on the back.

Bart

[layne]

Hi Bart, sorry to hear that your blinky POV is having trouble.

The "8 clock flashes per led toggle" you see is correct, good observation. Sounds like you know what you're doing when it comes to bootloader mode. Did you hold the sensors up to the screen when you pressed the button the second time? When you press and release the button the second time that's when it takes some readings to evaluate the "black" value so you need to have it up to the screen for the second press-and-release of the button.

Soldering the sensors to the back side of the board should be just fine, the pads on the top and bottom of the board are connected through the hole (it's a "plated thru-hole" PCB fabrication process), so you're good there. Maybe post a couple high-res photos if you can?

Not sure what to tell you beyond that, it sounds like you know what you're doing and you've looked at all the troubleshooting steps we would have done. I'll contact you privately for the next step of troubleshooting. Sorry for the trouble!

[layne]

One last thing: Have you tried this on another computer or smartphone? Your screen brightness was turned up to 100%, right?

[bartjuan]

I have tried on two systems; One laptop brightness @100%, and one desktop. Will try with smartphone.
Attached are a couple of pics.

I try to hold the sensors up to the screen while pushing the button to begin bootloading.
Since I am getting a light toggleing on/off I feel like it must be working. However, it seems odd to me that it is the first LED blinking, not the second.

I got the private message and responded there as well.

IMG_1017.JPG (168.65 KiB) Viewed 772 times

IMG_1018.JPG (96.69 KiB) Viewed 772 times

IMG_1021.JPG (82.35 KiB) Viewed 772 times

Bart

[The Shape]

Hello,

I also have trouble getting the blinky pov programmed.

Assembly was quick and easy. The pre set POV patterns work as expected.

I can get the POV into bootloader mode;

-switching it on while pushing the button gives me a flashing LED (the first one)
-releasing the buttong increases the frequency of flashes for this LED
-pressing and releasing the button again turns on LED 2 continiously

I hold the Clock and Data sensors close (almost against) to the screen for programming - making sure I press and release the second time with said sensors close to the screen so they can sense the difference between black or light.

Then, when I start loading my message only the first LED flashes, the second LED stays on. At the end of this loading of the message the second LED just stays on and that's it. Nothing more happens.

I've also managed to get what I think is a checksum error. Sometimes LED 1 and 3 start flashing. But I expect for a checksum error to have LED 3 and 4 to flash.


Perhaps there is a way around to programming it with a cable?


Regards,
Jori

[jkelleher]

Hi Jori,

My son just built his board. We are going through the same programming issues that you are seeing. What the instructions say on the programming website about which LED's blink do not match what we are seeing. I'm seeing the same thing that you stated. I believe mine is going into failure mode and the 3rd and 4th LED are not blinking, but the 1st and 3rd LED are alternating. Still going to try some of the other fixes (brightness, lights out,.....) will let you know what I find out. Ours is doing exactly what you are seeing though. So we are all in the same boat.

Jim

[wayne]

Hello,

I also have trouble getting the blinky pov programmed.

Assembly was quick and easy. The pre set POV patterns work as expected.

I can get the POV into bootloader mode;

-switching it on while pushing the button gives me a flashing LED (the first one)
-releasing the buttong increases the frequency of flashes for this LED
-pressing and releasing the button again turns on LED 2 continiously

I hold the Clock and Data sensors close (almost against) to the screen for programming - making sure I press and release the second time with said sensors close to the screen so they can sense the difference between black or light.

Then, when I start loading my message only the first LED flashes, the second LED stays on. At the end of this loading of the message the second LED just stays on and that's it. Nothing more happens.

I've also managed to get what I think is a checksum error. Sometimes LED 1 and 3 start flashing. But I expect for a checksum error to have LED 3 and 4 to flash.


Perhaps there is a way around to programming it with a cable?


Regards,
Jori

The kit can be reprogrammed using a pic programmer, but that's beyond what we expect folks to have

Why don't you contact us via the contact form and we can see what the next step is? If everyone in this thread is having the same problems, it's possible there was a programming issue on our end.

Thanks!

Adam Wolf

[wayne]

Hi Jori,

My son just built his board. We are going through the same programming issues that you are seeing. What the instructions say on the programming website about which LED's blink do not match what we are seeing. I'm seeing the same thing that you stated. I believe mine is going into failure mode and the 3rd and 4th LED are not blinking, but the 1st and 3rd LED are alternating. Still going to try some of the other fixes (brightness, lights out,.....) will let you know what I find out. Ours is doing exactly what you are seeing though. So we are all in the same boat.

Jim

Hi Jim,

Why don't you contact us via the contact form? It's possible there was an issue on our end causing the weird error condition.

Adam Wolf