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The “most appropriate” depends entirely on your intended application for the result; can you say what you might use the output for?
Yes, by custom order; please contact our store directly: http://evilmadscience.com/contact
It’s very likely to be repairable if you can identify the trouble spot; don’t give up yet! :)
If diode D2 is not installed correctly, or if it has a bad connection, that would indeed cause this symptom. Check to see if there’s a bad solder joint there, or if perhaps a trace on the board has been torn.
Yes, see some hints about how to modify Arduino to work without a crystal here: http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoToBreadboard
Generally however, I would recommend sticking with the crystal and putting the speaker elsewhere; you only need one output pin to do it.Fantastic– Glad to hear it!
One thing to consider is how you’re going to reprogram the clock to take advantage of the speaker. If you’re going to use the USB-serial interface, then repurpose the ISP pins. If you’re going to use the ISP interface, repurpose the serial pins.
The crystal *is* used by the Bulbdial. So, if you want to run without it, you’ll need to reprogram the chip with an ISP interface (to set the fuses to run off of the internal timebase), and likely make other changes to the programming as well.The Alpha Clock Five and Meggy Jr RGB kits use a little magnetic speaker/buzzer for their noises and alarms. It only requires one pin from the MCU (plus a transistor) to drive it. That type is likely a good choice. Use the contact form on our web store if you’d like to buy one from us.We are currently working on an all-new version of the Alpha Clock Five firmware, which has an updated toolchain and will (hopefully) be a little easier for people to modify. The new firmware is currently at the stage of adding the menus, options, and other functions.
The primary supported functions of Alpha Clock Five are (1) as a serial-controlled data display device and (2) as a bedside-type alarm clock. We are always interested in hearing new feature requests, but there is a definite tradeoff to consider in terms of feature completeness versus simplicity and usability. So, while I like the idea of adding features like countdown and interval timers, they may not actually be good things to add to the main branch of the firmware. We could certainly consider a separate fork of the firmware (i.e., an available download) that would have those features instead.– We could do a boxing timer, that displays the round number and time remaining– We could do a lap timer, reset by a button, or so forth.– We could do a simpler countdown timer.The trickiest part for any of these is defining what the behavior *should* be– which button press does what, and what is displayed an so forth –such that it’s intuitive and easy to use. If you would care to make such suggestions, we’d be happy to listen.BTW, I see that you’ve left this request on our wiki as well:(That’s the best place for feature requests– if anyone has others, please add them there as well.)It’s no problem to do so, so long as you use the correct load resistor for the different LEDs.
Step 8 of the assembly guide mentions this possibility: “Advanced tip: If you are using multiple LED colors on a single Octolively module, make sure that the resistor by each LED is the correct type: 220 ohm for red/orange/yellow/yellow-green, 82 ohm for blue/green/white.”There will be intensity differences due to the relative brightness of the different LED colors. It is possible (but not particularly trivial) to correct that in firmware. (Some LEDs are just brighter than others.) Another thing that you can play with is the load resistor value for each LED, so long as you *increase* rather than decrease the values.No, not necessarily. While you shouldn’t scuff your feet along the carpet and then try to zap the boards, they’re pretty robust with respect to general handling.
For long term storage, preventing moisture should generally be the chief concern– store vented in a cool dry place, or sealed with a desiccant.Antistatic bags will work fine, as will polyethylene bags (those made of the same type as ziploc bags). Avoid other types of plastic, especially styrene, acrylic, and other types that seem particularly “staticy.”Hi Relaxing,
Every LED in each vertical column is connected together by a printed copper trace, on the back side of the Peggy 2LE circuit board, that runs along each row and connects the “round” hole of each LED together.
(The “square” holes connect every LED in a horizontal row, on the front side of the circuit board.)So, it appears that you have some broken traces on the circuit board. Either the circuit board was scratched in those three places where the column turns off, or the trace was somehow otherwise damaged.The good news is that it isn’t so hard to fix.
Identify, on the back side, the three exact places where you have breaks– in those three columns between the working LEDs and non-lit LEDs. In each of those three places, solder a short wire (e.g., a piece of clipped resistor lead or LED lead) between the pin of the lower (working) LED– the pin in the round hole! — to the pin of the upper (non-lit) LED– again, the pin with the round hole.Fix one at a time; make sure that the fix works on the first of these locations before going on to the next.
Good luck, and please let us know how it goes. :)While I have not done this myself (I do not have an STK500), it should definitely be possible.
Let me ask a couple of things to point you in the right direction.
– Was this a preprogrammed ATmega644A (e.g., for the Alpha Clock Five)? If so, the fuse bits are set to require an external crystal oscillator. Make sure that you’ve provided one, or are programming it on a board that provides one.
– Are you using the latest version of Atmel Studio? The ‘644A is a relatively new device, not supported by all older versions.– Is it possible that your STK500 needs a firmware update? (I’m not sure that it does, however, we have needed to run firmware updates on our Atmel AVRISPmkII devices.)Ah– bad timing for my reply!
On the next panel, see if you can identify any similar types of soldering issues– they’re responsible for a good 90% of things that ever go wrong. :)> The other LED’s in the quadrant of the panel I mentioned are off.
Then, there are (at least) two independent problems here.Problem 1: The LEDs are not responsive, stuck in one “direction”Problem 2: The LEDs in the other half of the quadrant are all off.There is no single place on the circuit that a single problem could cause both of these to happen. First, then, try to figure out why the other quadrant is fully off. It’s likely a soldering problem.> Two of my six panels have an arrangement of 5 lights (trapezoidal pattern) that stay lit up and do not interact in any way. I haven’t been able to find the problem. Any ideas?
One panel at a time: Are those 5 LEDs on full bright, or only a little bit? And, how are the other 10 LEDs in that quadrant acting?
First thing to double check is that each LED in that half-quadrant is oriented correctly (check the LED “collars” to make sure that the flats all point the same way) and that each LED in the quadrant is correctly soldered. Check each solder joint to make sure that they look shiny and clean.
> Is there an easy way to add music to the device so that when the lights are going, music is automatically triggered?
There are a few different ways if you know some electronics, but I’m not sure what you regard as “easy” — you could sense and divide the output signal from each node, but then you also need to figure out what kind of device you plan to drive from that output.
