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A set of Octolively panels can be misaligned by about 10 degrees per connection, to fit along a curved surface. If a steeper curve is needed, you can use a ribbon cable (or individual wires) to connect them together. If you know in advance of building them exactly what configuration you will need, that can enable the use of more compact flexible connections.
One of the default eight programs does have the LEDs normally lit, and then dimming when a hand moves over. It is also possible to reprogram them to modify this or the other programs as you see fit.The Eggbot motors use a similar amount of power whether or not they are turning, since the coils in stepper motors are continuously energized whenever power to the motors is turned on.
If the motors are getting excessively hot, you may want to adjust the motor current down. There’s a “sweet spot” in terms of motor current, where the drawing quality is best (not too much current, not too little current) and the motors tend to run at a reasonably-warm medium temperature.For instructions on how to adjust the motor current, see here: http://wiki.evilmadscientist.com/Making_your_first_plot#Drawing_on_your_EggSo, you may have a similar problem at one of those two LEDs. Those two lines are only involved in the blue, as you can see here: http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2010/on-the-design-of-the-bulbdial-clock/
Well, we knew from the set of LEDs that were apparently connected that there was a partial short between LED1 and LED2, or a defect at D21 or D12, the two LEDs between those lines. When we received it, I checked those two LEDs. D21 worked fine, but D12 did not, so I clipped one of its leads to see if that LED was the issue, or if it was external. Turned out that even isolated, D12 would not light up, so it was apparently the culprit.
I’m not sure what went wrong with it; it could have been stressed during lead-bending or soldering. But, I’m glad that it’s working now. :)I’m afraid that yes, this falls under “unwritten lore” of that cable. If it doesn’t work, unplug one end, then the other. There must be something about the way the chip keeps itself safe that causes this behavior. For me, if it doesn’t mount, I unplug the computer end, and then it works. :P
Good luck with the more interesting challenges!Hi jj33,
The FTDI cable (either in the 3.3 V or 5 V version) *should* work just fine on all three platforms, both for programming and serial communication.On the mac, you should indeed see it show up under /dev, as both /dev/cu.usbserial-xxxxxxxx and /dev/tty.usbserial-xxxxxxxx.It should also show up in Arduino, in the Tools>Serial Port menu. If it is not there, you may need to install or update the FTDI “VCP” drivers in order for it to show up correctly, and to use it for communicating with the Alpha Clock Five.Two other things: Consider updating to firmware v2 as soon as possible; it’s much easier to work with. And, please feel free to ask questions here in the forums, hopefully before you get frustrated next time. :)Received clock today and found the problem: D12 had an apparent connection between the leads. Replaced it, everything seems to be OK now.
Perhaps you could try replacing your Time library and then restarting, in case something has gone wrong with it, or it’s an older version. If you’re getting the exact same error– indicating that the Time library is not installed –there has to be something wrong with that library or its installation.
The most likely cause of this kind of thing is if you have not yet adjusted the motor current.
Please see this section of our documentation, for how to adjust it:First, be sure that you’re measuring this voltage at test point TP3.
While I don’t think that there’s a design error, it sounds like you may have received a board with a bad pot or some other kind of fabrication error. You should probably contact the store where you bought it, to arrange for an exchange.Okay, a suggestion. Open up the library file ( …/Documents/Arduino/libraries/alphafive/alphafive.cpp ) and on line 753, make the following change:
From:Wire.write(0); // start at register 0To:Wire.write((uint8_t) 0); // start at register 0Please let me know if that fixes it.Hmm. I just tested all of the sample code, and I don’t get that error.
Which version of Arduino are you using?The Larson Scanner is designed to run off of 3 V DC, if you use the standard red LEDs. You can swap out and use larger resistors (say, 100 – 150 ohm), if you’d like to run it off of 5 V DC. As far as current goes, it’s under 50 mA, max.
Now, I don’t know what the output of your motion detector looks like, but you also need to think about that, and how it relates to the Larson Scanner. :)So, your two basic approaches at this point would be either (a) carefully document what the actual status is right now, or (b) send it back for us to take a look at it. Seeing as we’re getting on several months now, I’d tend to advise option (b) at this point. If you’d like to do that, please contact our store directly.
It sounds like you may have a broken servo motor. Please contact our store directly for a replacement.
