adafruit flora/ battery smoking

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vo_shona
 
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adafruit flora/ battery smoking

Post by vo_shona »

hi!

when trying to sew the chameleon circuit together, the battery started to smoke and i think it shorted out the led sensor. i think it's because of the battery used, or some sewing mistake because the circuit was working before using alligator clips. the battery pack used is the adafruit one from the starter pack, with everready gold aaa batteries. the code was also functioning fine before, but now when it is uploaded gives us an error message along the lines of "couldn't find a board on the selected port". in the conductive thread you can clearly see the thread burnt through the fabric. is there any way to fix this?
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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: adafruit flora/ battery smoking

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

That does sound like a short circuit. That is one of the weaknesses of conductive thread. Because it has no insulation, you need to take care not to allow threads to cross.

If there was smoke from the battery pack, then it is likely that there was some damage to it. If you have a multimeter, measure the voltage between the GND and BAT pins on the Flora.

If you see burn marks elsewhere, there may be further damage. If you post some close-up photos of the project, we can take a look.

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vo_shona
 
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Re: adafruit flora/ battery smoking

Post by vo_shona »

Here are close-ups of our project and batteries which we used.
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Franklin97355
 
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Re: adafruit flora/ battery smoking

Post by Franklin97355 »

Sure looks like you shorted something there.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: adafruit flora/ battery smoking

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

It looks like the thread with the burn marks around it goes from VBAT and GND. That is a direct short circuit. So no surprise that it is overheating. You also appear to have a thread running from VBATT to D12. That could cause damage to D12 as well. You need to keep the different connections in your circuit separate. If you connect them all together like that, nothing will work.

I also see a lot of loose-ends there. Also, some of the knots look fairly loose. With stainless steel thread, these will only get looser with time.

You need to make the knots for your connections very tight for good contact. And trim any loose ends. It helps to put a small drop of clear nail-polish on the knot to seal it and keep it from loosening. Only use a small drop and be careful to keep it to just the knot. Don't let it get between the thread and the gold plating on the board.

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