Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

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Spetznatz1
 
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Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by Spetznatz1 »

Hey all,
I've been working on my Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock, and I am not getting it to work. I uploaded the code into the Flora, and made, (and verified several times), all the solder connections, but the rings only light up in one area. That is to say that I've got one pixel lit up on the inner ring and two pixels lit up on the outer ring, but they aren't moving. I've had the GPS sitting outside and it has a fix, (according to the information on the Flora GPS module, the red LED blinks once every 15 seconds when it has a fix). I've had the clock sitting here for a couple of hours and the same NeoPixels are lit as they were two hours prior. Is there anything I might have missed? Perhaps a bad connection somewhere?

I can try to go back and undo all the solder points and re-solder them to see if that fixes the issue.

Thanks everyone!

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

If you can post some photos showing your soldering and connections, we'll see if we can spot any problems.

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iguanaman
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by iguanaman »

I just finished mine and have the exact same issue. I am attaching several images showing connections.
BackOfFlora.jpg
BackOfFlora.jpg (233.07 KiB) Viewed 1072 times
BackOfRings.jpg
BackOfRings.jpg (223.99 KiB) Viewed 1072 times
ClockFaceLEDs.jpg
ClockFaceLEDs.jpg (203.88 KiB) Viewed 1072 times

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iguanaman
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by iguanaman »

Rest of images
FloraGPS.jpg
FloraGPS.jpg (216.58 KiB) Viewed 1072 times
FloraGPS2.jpg
FloraGPS2.jpg (217.3 KiB) Viewed 1072 times

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Spetznatz1
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by Spetznatz1 »

Yes Iguanaman, that's exactly what mine looks like. I re-read the soldering instructions and checked the diagram several times and I can say that mine is absolutely correct according to the instructions.
It sure seems like each parts worked fine before I assembled it, but it looks almost as if the clock just won't keep time and the pixels, representing the hands of the clock, are stopped. (Kind of like you forgot to wind the clock and it stopped at a certain time;-))

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iguanaman
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by iguanaman »

When I first tried to compile the code, the IDE noticed I had no time.h so I got one from Github (time-master) which I *hoped* would be correct. The code did compile but I wasn't certain if the libraries were correct.

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iguanaman
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by iguanaman »

I did turn on the "debug" mode in the code to view the time reported via the serial port. I noticed that the time was coming back 0:0:0. constantly.
I kept moving the antennae and finally saw actual time reported in the serial console and at the same time the clock began displaying the time.
Not sure if the debug mode will help you but it did me. See if you are getting zeros as the result.

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iguanaman
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by iguanaman »

Even after getting the time, it never seems to increment so even though the lights changed when the time was finally seen, they never change after that. This seems suspiciously like a software issue and not hardware. The time once obtained should continue to increment even without a GPS signal and it does not.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

@Spetznatz1
Yes Iguanaman, that's exactly what mine looks like. I re-read the soldering instructions and checked the diagram several times and I can say that mine is absolutely correct according to the instructions.
Just making all the connections as in the diagram is not always sufficient. The quality of the connections is important too. Please post photos as requested.

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iguanaman
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by iguanaman »

I found another post
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=51061
Which the software was modified and now the clock seems to be working. Check it out

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Spetznatz1
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by Spetznatz1 »

iguanaman wrote:I found another post
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=51061
Which the software was modified and now the clock seems to be working. Check it out
Yeah!! Thanks Iguanaman!! I copied and uploaded that code on the link to the other forum post and my clock is now working great. I am amazed at the ability of the GPS to get a signal in my house, (the "hour hand" indicator went from red to blue, which according to the specs means the GPS has a fix).
Thanks for your help! Ada fruit needs to update the project page and fix that code in there for this project.

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Spetznatz1
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by Spetznatz1 »

Ok, well it was working great, but for some weird reason the time on the clock suddenly jumped ahead about 5 hours. I looked at the serial monitor and it shows a GPS fix with 7 satellites. The other strange thing is that the serial monitor shows the same time on it as the clock displays. For example the clock shows 13:45 and the time the serial monitor shows per the GPS fix is also 13:45, but the real time should have been 20:45. I checked to make sure the code has the time correct by it showing "const int offset = -4; // Eastern Daylight Time (USA)".
The only way I can display the correct time is to change the location of the NeoPixel LED on the inner ring to compensate for the incorrect time displayed. It just concerns me though that the GPS time is not correct. If it showed the UTC time on the serial monitor I would be satisfied, but its behind by 8 hours. How is that possible?

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iguanaman
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by iguanaman »

I ran into the same issue around 7pm. It jumped to 11. I didn't write the modified version so I can't answer what is going on with the behavior. I would post the same text you did here on the previous post that contained the code. Perhaps the author can correct it.

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=51061

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Spetznatz1
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by Spetznatz1 »

iguanaman wrote:I ran into the same issue around 7pm. It jumped to 11. I didn't write the modified version so I can't answer what is going on with the behavior. I would post the same text you did here on the previous post that contained the code. Perhaps the author can correct it.

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=51061
So, did you get yours working correctly yet, or is it still off? As I stated, I can get the time to display correctly, but the GPS time reported on the serial monitor is off. Right at this moment, it is 23:41 (Eastern Time), and I've got the NeoPixel Clock showing that same time, but the serial monitor shows 15:41. The GPS module light is blinking red every 15 seconds, (again an indicator that it has a fix, this is corroborated by the serial monitor showing "GPS Fix: 1 Quality: 2 Satellites: 7". And lastly, the hour indicator NeoPixel is blue, not red.

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Spetznatz1
 
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Re: Flora NeoPixel Ring Clock

Post by Spetznatz1 »

Wow, I'm really confused now. After looking at the code from all the sources, Adafruit, Kevin Alford, and the person who updated the code in the other forum post, I saw some things I might try to change. The problem however is that my clock just suddenly got back on the right track and now the serial monitor shows the correct time. I obviously had to "reassign" the position of the inner ring of NeoPixels to the way they had them in the last code we were using. Everything looks fine now, but I'm going to let this thing run the rest of the night and I'll see what time it shows in the morning.

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