Drawdio not working

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

If you connect jumpers to the battery and touch them directly to the speaker pads, does the speaker make any noise?

bbette
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by bbette »

No, the speaker doesn't respond.

I attached alligator jumpers to the battery compartment prods, and then made contact with, first, both pads of the speaker (as best I could under the soldering!), and then, second, with the circuit board connector holes for the speaker wire. No response at all from the speaker.

Other speakers I have lying around *do* respond as one would predict when applying the current this way.

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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by bbette »

P.S. I already tried connecting a second speaker to the board via the circuit board wire holes (using alligator jumpers) -- those should work even if another speaker is soldered to the pads, right?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

If the speaker on the PCB is shorted, you won't get enough current through another speaker to make any sound. OTOH, if there's an open circuit, all the current will go through the other speaker and you'll get plenty of sound.

If you have a multimeter, check the resistance between the SPK+ and SPK- pads.

bbette
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by bbette »

I do have a multimeter, but am not skilled in using it, and the instructions are cryptic.

When I touch the red lead to the positive speaker jack, and the black to negative, the multimeter shows a variety of numbers (constantly changing) in its different resistance settings.

I have no idea whatsoever what that means!

bbette
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by bbette »

Have been spending my evening reading a tutorial on multimeters!

The resistance between the speaker jacks appears to be around 11M.

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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by bbette »

Oops -- you said pads.

Between the pads, the resistance is about 6M.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Bingo!

6M is *way* too high for a speaker. The resistance through the coil should be down around 8-10 ohms.. it's basically just a long piece of wire with some attitude. Try connecting one of your other speakers to the pads and see if that gives you any noise.

bbette
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by bbette »

Just tried it. Took some finagling to get the alligator clip in contact with the pads (they have the original speaker soldered onto them!) But pretty sure I made contact.

No sound.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Well shoot..

Just to verify, you're using the two pads closest to the edges of the PCB, yes?
pads.jpg
pads.jpg (33.24 KiB) Viewed 277 times
Assuming you are, does your multimeter have a 'frequency counter' setting? If so, let's see if the chip is doing anything.

Short the input wires together (which should produce the highest pitch sound) then touch the meter's black lead to the chip's GND pin and the red lead to the OUTPUT pin:
freq.jpg
freq.jpg (23.86 KiB) Viewed 277 times
If the chip is doing what it should, the frequency counter will give you a number (probably between 10,000 and 20,000).

bbette
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by bbette »

I tried using both (1) the pads you indicate (the ones to which the speaker would be *wired*), and (2) (as a separate experiment) the very same pads to which the speaker is soldered (per the "elegant" solution in the soldering instructions).

Neither generates sound from an independent speaker. (I've controlled for all [?] other variables; e.g., the independent speaker makes sound when tweeked with the power supply running directly from the battery compartment to the speaker leads).

The supplied speaker does not respond even to direct application of current to its leads.

My multimeter does not have a frequency reader, unfortunately.

bbette
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by bbette »

Not sure if I'll be able to borrow an appropriate multimeter for the frequency test, but if I can --

I realized I don't understand the instruction about shorting the input wires. Which wires are those? Where do I find them?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

I think at this point it will be easier to get you a new Drawdio. Something is wrong with the one you have, I'm running out of tests that don't take an oscilloscope, and you've made genuine efforts to get this one working. That's good enough in our book.

Send a note to [email protected] with a link to this thread and they'll get you a replacement.

bbette
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by bbette »

OK, thanks!

I appreciate your time and effort on this one.

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clawry
 
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Re: Drawdio not working

Post by clawry »

We are having the same issue. This is our second attempt, checked every connection/solder/placement, and get no sound when we get to the point of attaching the battery. We tried both speaker attachments. There is mention in the troubleshooting comments about a switch--can you please tell me what that means?

Very frustrated.

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