I recently ordered and assembled the Monochron Pong Clock (Invoice 107859). The assembly went without a hitch, but now there are significant problems with the clock:
- There are “artifacts” – broken horizontal lines – on the display. When the ball moves over one of these spots, it disappears. But then is usually re-drawn nearby when the ball moves over a different spot.
- The time is perfectly accurate when it runs – even to the second. But then it gets stuck and fails to advance at all.
You can see both problems on the video linked here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsZL0tHuYpw (the video is over two minutes long, but the time never advances).
(Note that on the video it is difficult to see the ball at all – though you can easily tell where it is by the behavior of the paddles and the on-screen artifacts. This, however, is not an additional problem: In real life, while much dimmer than the paddles, the ball is easily perceived.)
And here is a still image of the screen:
I assembled the clock this past Friday evening with friends. They left and I went to bed shortly after finishing the project – and I noticed the display problems the first time I looked at the clock that next morning. I have found that I can re-start the time by re-setting it – but that fix is not permanent and the artifacts re-appear almost instantly.
I searched the forums to see if this was a known issue – but didn’t find any similar concerns. I did find an issue about vertical striping (http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=22934&hilit=monochron+display), which I also noticed as soon as the clock was turned on. This vertical striping, alone, was not a deal-breaker for me – but the other issues definitely are.
What do we do about this? I would be satisfied with the purchase if it were behaving properly. But I am not at all satisfied as things currently stand.
Thank you for whatever assistance you can provide.
