Pong clock not working; please advise.

[HK8]

I have attached photos of the front & back of the Pong Clock circuit board. At an earlier step in the assembly, when the instruction is to apply power and observe the red LED, that LED did light up. At this point, the LED no longer lights up. Nothing appears on the screen.

I've attached photos of the front & back of the circuit board for your review.

Please let me know if you can see anything I might correct; my goal is to get this operating (not to return it).

Thanks for looking this over.

Hersch

[adafruit]

hi there, i'm the designer and engineer of this kit. i'll be able to help you.

lets start with some tests, do you have a multimeter handy? please follow the tests in the tutorial that should give you 9V and 5V - can you measure them and verify?

[HK8]

I don't have access to a multimeter. Is it possible to proceed without one?

[adafruit]

not a problem, we'll proceed without it. although its a very useful tool to have

if you plug in the power adapter, and you flick the switch back and forth, does the red LED on the PCB ever light up

[HK8]

No; the LED remains dark, however, in the middle of the assembly process, there is an instruction that says to plug the device in and observe the LED -- at that point, the LED did light.

[adafruit]

OK, when you plug in the adapter do you hear a beep?

*carefully* remove both ICs, and perform the same LED test again, switching the slide switch and check if the LED appears

Also, the adapter could be damaged, its impossible to tell without a multimeter, so try another power adapter, any 7-12V power adapter that fits will be OK. if you do not have access to a multi-meter at all, let us know and we might be able to send you one.

thanks,
adafruit

[mike31416]

IC3 is upside down.

Mike

[HK8]

I removed the two IC chips and YES -- the LED light comes on when power is connected.

[adafruit]

OK
CAREFULLY replace the LARGER chip, making sure that it is placed correctly

http://www.ladyada.net/images/monochron/switchplace.jpg

[HK8]

Okay, with the LARGE chip in place (and the SMALL chip still out), when I apply power, the beeper sounds "BEEP BEEP" repeatedly, and the LED responds properly to the power switch, however, the beeping persists with the power switch ON or OFF.

[adafruit]

OK now place the smaller chip in CORRECTLY according to this image

http://www.ladyada.net/images/monochron/rtcplace.jpg

[HK8]

Yes. That did the trick! One thing: The clock presented on the screen as the digital clock; how do I get it to present as the Pong clock display?

[adafruit]

hi,

thanks, that's great to hear. and we're glad to see your clock is up and running now and it was something easy to troubleshoot

the clock firmware you have is the one makershed sells, it does not include all the clock patterns. you can program your clock with many different clock patterns or if you're not able to do that, we can send out a pre-programmed chip you can pop in.

thanks,
adafruit

[HK8]

I'm really not familiar with this sort of programming, so I think I'd like to opt for the PONG CLOCK chip replacement. Please let me know how I should pay for this chip. Thanks so much.

[adafruit]

thanks, we'll contact you directly.

thanks,
adafruit