Chronodot and LoL Shield conflict HELP!

[GoolGaul]

On the RAM angle, i commented out HUGE sections of the DS3231 test sketch pointed out above, and in the process, took out dozens of Serial.print commands.

I did have to add in 2 for debugging. I put a Serial.print before and after the LedSign::init();
The pre-init line prints, the post init line doesn't.

again, the sketch seems to not progress beyond LedSign::init();

I also commented out the clock.getyear() to no avail.
It doesn't seem to be a bug in either sketch, I'm convinced it's some kind of conflict between the 2.


There is no "Clock Init" of any kind. The library doesn't need to be started or init'ed because it's all pre-addressed writes/reads.
The lib. doesn't use any Timers nor Interrupts.

I still can't believe that I am the only person to use these 2 rockin products together.

[adafruit_support_rick]

Please post your latest sketch and the output. Before you do that, however, put a delay(1000) after every Serial.print statement you've got left. The characters from print go out to the console asynchronously, so you could be hanging someplace AFTER the print, even if the output never shows up on your console.

[GoolGaul]

Sketch:

Code: Select all


/*
DS3231_test.pde
Eric Ayars
4/11

Test/demo of read routines for a DS3231 RTC.

Turn on the serial monitor after loading this to check if things are
working as they should.

*/

#include <DS3231.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <Charliplexing.h>

DS3231 Clock;
bool Century=false;
bool h12;
bool PM;
byte ADay, AHour, AMinute, ASecond, ABits;
bool ADy, A12h, Apm;

byte year, month, date, DoW, hour, minute, second;

void setup() {
   // Start the I2C interface
   Wire.begin();
   // Start the serial interface
   Serial.begin(9600);

delay(1000);

    Serial.println(" init ");       //  <-- This prints, ++
delay(1000);
//    LedSign::Init();                //  <-- when this is enabled
delay(1000);
    Serial.println("made it");      //  <-- this doesn't print ++
delay(1000);                        //  <-- Nothing after the LedSign command executes
}

void loop() {
   // send what's going on to the serial monitor.
   // Start with the year



   Serial.print("get time"); delay(1000);
   Serial.print('\n');
   delay(1000);

   // Display the time once more as a test of the getTime() function
   Clock.getTime(year, month, date, DoW, hour, minute, second);
   Serial.print(year, DEC);
   Serial.print(month, DEC);
   Serial.print(date, DEC);
   Serial.print(DoW, DEC);
   Serial.print(hour, DEC);
   Serial.print(minute, DEC);
   Serial.println(second, DEC);
}



With LedSign::Init() active, the monitor window simply shows:

init

With LedSign::Init() commented out the monitor window shows:

init
made it
get time
00000327
get time
00000329
get time
00000331
and so on. (yes, it's not counting properly, but it is counting...

[adafruit_support_rick]

Hmmm…
Actually, it is counting properly, since you've got 2 1-second delays in your loop.

Well, I'm baffled. What kind of arduino and what version of the IDE are you using?

Is there anything else attached? Have you changed anything on the board? Are you targeting the right board in the IDE?

[GoolGaul]

I am using an Arduino Pro-Mini Clone: http://www.jayconsystems.com/product_detail.php?prod_id=64
Nice board, and TINY...

I also just tried the same sketches on a Duemilanove with the same exact results (locking up at LedSign::Init(), but counting by 2's when the command is commented out), using a different Chronodot (I bought a few as I am making multiples of my project).

I am using IDE 1.0, and have updated all libraries used to the fit the changes that (from what I can see) apply, like .read instead of .receive, etc.

Investigating the possiblities of the wrong board, I started tinkering with those settings...

"Pro Mini 5V 16Mhz w/328" is how I've had i set. Everything else I have done except trying to get these to things to work together has worked flawlessly at that setting for that board.

I tried many other settings, if I didn't get AVR-Dude errors, the sketch does the same thing, quit at that init.
the errors i got when trying different boards were:

avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00

on the Pro-Mini board, there is a rotary encoder (Pin11 = Encoder Low side; Pin12 = encoder high side; Pin13 = power for encoder, PinA1 = Encoder button) Chronodot ( PinA4= SCL from DS3231; PinA5 = SCA from DS3231, plus 3.3V and gnd from the usual)and a 9-pin charlieplex network on pins 2-10.

On the Duemilanove, I had an encoder (on different pins) a Chronodot, and a single LPD-6803 PWM LED controller (again for other testing purposes).

I am beginning to think I might just have to abandon ship on the Charlieplexing and use WS2803's or something...

[adafruit_support_rick]

The LOLShield uses digital pins 2 through 13, so it's not going to play nicely with the encoder. The LPD6803 is serial, running on pins 0 and 1?

Is all this other stuff hooked up and powered while you're trying to make these sketches work? How are you powering the arduinos? From a wall-wart or just with USB? The LOLShield is going to source and sink a fair amount of current. Off hand, I don't know how much, but the ATmega328 does have limits. Quoth the data sheet:

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Although each I/O port can source more than the test conditions (20mA at VCC = 5V, 10mA at VCC = 3V) under steady state conditions (non-transient), the following must be observed:
ATmega48A/PA/88A/PA/168A/PA/328/P:
1] The sum of all IOH, for ports C0 - C5, D0- D4, ADC7, RESET should not exceed 150mA.
2] The sum of all IOH, for ports B0 - B5, D5 - D7, ADC6, XTAL1, XTAL2 should not exceed 150mA.
If IIOH exceeds the test condition, VOH may exceed the related specification. Pins are not guaranteed to source current greater than the listed test condition.
Although each I/O port can sink more than the test conditions (20 mA at VCC = 5V, 10 mA at VCC = 3V) under steady state conditions (non-transient), the following must be observed:
ATmega48A/PA/88A/PA/168A/PA/328/P:
1] The sum of all IOL, for ports C0 - C5, ADC7, ADC6 should not exceed 100 mA.
2] The sum of all IOL, for ports B0 - B5, D5 - D7, XTAL1, XTAL2 should not exceed 100 mA.
3] The sum of all IOL, for ports D0 - D4, RESET should not exceed 100 mA.
If IOL exceeds the test condition, VOL may exceed the related specification. Pins are not guaranteed to sink current greater than the listed test condition.

As the current load goes up, pin voltage goes down. Maybe the LOLShield just pushes the whole thing over the edge.

[GoolGaul]

for the pro mini with the charlieplex, I am not using the LoL shield, I made my own 60 LED network, and since it's a clock, no more than 9 LEDs are lit at any given moment. 1 for hours, 1 for minutes, 3 for hours, and 4 others, 1 @ :00 :15 :30 & :45, so it's not a power issue. It doesn;t even get to the point of moving any current around, that is the problem.

My Charlieplexed clock sketch works just fine using millis() to generate seconds for testing, and there are no delay()'s in the sketch - It's bad form, no? I ran it for 2 weeks without a glitch, then I used the DS3231 with manipulating the Charlie network with individual digital.Write (xx, HIGH/LOW) and so on, and it works, but the charlieplexng is brighter has 7 brightness levels. The programming structure is almost identical to a color version (using those LPD6803's), so I can make 1 sketch that covers both versions of the clock.

I think I should post this issue to Arduino forum...