Electronic Animated Eyes using Teensy 3.1

[gordonswanson]

Hi,

HELP! wanted to bring it to Maker Faire this weekend. Got everything to work using the 1.5 OLED but the image of the eye is scrolling to the left slowly and it's not centered top to bottom. What would cause that? seems like a timing issue my wires are 4in between Teensy and OLED. Also I have only 1 OLED connected for 1 eye only.

[gordonswanson]

Got it working!

I connected to a different power source and it just started working. Must be some issue with my PCs USB power.

[pburgess]

I've seen this very occasionally and haven't tracked down the cause yet...I suspect something during initialization. Regardless, usually rebooting takes care of it.

[pburgess]

Think I've fixed it, please fetch the latest from Github and see what you get! Thanks.

[jwheat058]

Hello – I am trying to pull this project together and am having problems. I am a noobie with Arduino, so I’m sure it’s just something I am missing. I do a lot of work with PICs, so I am very comfortable with programming, compiling, etc. Anyway, I am using the Teensy 3.1 and OLED display. I have downloaded and installed all of the relevant software and libraries as described in the How-To and have loaded and run the Blinky program on the Teensy, so everything seems to be talking. I loaded the Uncanny Eyes program and compiled (verified) it. I did not make any changes to the code as it should work as-is with all the defaults (right?). I am not using any external controls (buttons, joystick, etc.). I did get some warnings that mostly related to the duplicate definings of the Swap routine, but no fatal errors. I loaded this onto the Teensy and rebooted. The amber LED on the Teensy lights up and the OLED screen comes on with a random color pattern. This pattern slowly disappears, one pixel at a time as though someone is pressing a delete key and nothing else happens. I have the Teensy and the OLED mounted on a proto-board and am using very short (<3”) jumpers to connect everything so wire length should not be an issue. Also, I am powering everything at 5V from a benchtop power supply so USB power is not an issue as mentioned in an earlier post. I have checked and re-checked my connections and everything is exactly as detailed in the How-to, so I am now stumped. Can anyone please offer some suggestions? This seems pretty straight-forward, but like I said, I am new to Arduino, so I am sure it’s something silly… Thanks!

[pburgess]

If you can get a clear photo of the wiring and post it here, that would be helpful in troubleshooting. It's most likely just a crossed wire somewhere.

[jwheat058]

Thanks! I will do that and get it posted shortly - Thanks!

[jwheat058]

Hello - I just uploaded 2 pictures of my proto-board setup. Sorry if they are a little fuzzy, but I think it shows how everything is hooked up. Please let me know if you see anything or have any questions... Thanks again!

[pburgess]

Looks like DC and OC (to Teensy pins 7 & 9) are reversed. Switch the two green wires at one end or the other, should be good to go.

[jwheat058]

Oh My God! That was it!!! It looks awesome! Thank you so much! I knew it was something simple.... Very cool!

[gordonswanson]

My 1.5in OLED module died (went black after intermittently blacking out). It was working fine with the exception of the eye scrolling across the screen once and a while.
Is there a way to put just the module in a self-test mode?
there really not much documentation on this module. does it have builtin test grid or anything?

It has an SD card holder, what kind of file can I put on an SD card to display on the LED?

I ordered some more. If the new one works I need a RMA# for the one in question.

[pburgess]

Email [email protected] with your original order # and a link to this thread, and they can either send out a new OLED or issue a refund for the defective unit if you'd prefer, since others are already outbound.

There's no built-in self-test, but the Adafruit_SSD1351 library includes a simple test sketch that talks to the display a bit less 'aggressively' than the eye code. A second example there reads a BMP image from the SD card (if MISO and card select are wired up).

A recent update to the eye code fixes (I think) the rolling problem, so fetch that from Github if you haven't already.
https://github.com/adafruit/Teensy3.1_Eyes

Hey question: are you using the OLED 'in the open' (either on a breadboard or wired straight to Teensy), or using the 3D-printed enclosure with lens? And how long was it running before you started seeing symptoms?

[gordonswanson]

That fixed the scrolling issue. Thanks!

Got the new panel and it's working great!

Right now it's not in an enclosure but I'm going to encase it in some non-conductive foam rubber with a glass lens over the top.

Didn't get to show it off at Maker Faire but Halloween is right around the corner.

[jwheat058]

Hello - Got my eyes working nicely with the 3-D printed enclosures and acrylic lenses. Very cool! I have a question. I plan on using this in a latex head prop that has eyelids. Is there a way to turn off the eyelid action on these displays so that only the eyeball, looking around, shows? - no blinking, etc.? I really like the blinking effect, but for this prop, I would just like to have the eyeball looking around.
Oh, and an unrelated question - I see that the Teensy 3.2 version is out. Does this software work on that controller? Just asking in case the 3.1 version gets hard to find...
Thanks! Jeff

[pburgess]

Sure thing. Just comment out this line:

Code: Select all

#define AUTOBLINK         // If enabled, eyes blink autonomously

The project will work exactly the same on the Teensy 3.2; that board adds a beefier voltage regulator, but softwarily it's identical. I'll add some mentions to that effect in the guide.