Accelerometer stopped functioning

Wearable electronics: boards, conductive materials, and projects from Adafruit!

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
User avatar
ktaylo51
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:04 pm

Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by ktaylo51 »

My daughter built the sparkle skirt for a school project using the FLORA Accelerometer/Compass Sensor - LSM303. When she completed the project everything functioned as expected. The morning of the tech fair she wanted to test it and it was not functional. Through a series of tests we were able to determine that the accelerator was not longer functioning.

She has resewn all of the connections with the 3g thread and it didn't help. Fortunately I was able to comment out the accelerometer from the code, but she needs it for her next presentation.

it seems to have died after the first use, has anyone else had this issue? All of the ways to test I have found haven't been able to convince me it's anything with the code, board, or pixels as they are all working great when it's commented out of the code.

Thanks!
Kyle

User avatar
mikeysklar
 
Posts: 13936
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:10 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by mikeysklar »

Hi Kyle,

Can we review how the accelerometer is wired/sewn into the garment? Do you have photos?

User avatar
ktaylo51
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:04 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by ktaylo51 »

Absolutely, I'll take photos today and upload them tonight.

Kyle

User avatar
ktaylo51
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:04 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by ktaylo51 »

Images attached.
Attachments
Sparkle2.jpg
Sparkle2.jpg (553.05 KiB) Viewed 286 times
Sparkle1.jpg
Sparkle1.jpg (495.27 KiB) Viewed 286 times

User avatar
mikeysklar
 
Posts: 13936
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:10 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by mikeysklar »

Hello ktaylo51,

Thank you for the photos.

When you use an accelerometer to measure the resistance between the Lora and the Accelerometer what do you see on the SDA pads and SDL pads?

User avatar
ktaylo51
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:04 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by ktaylo51 »

mikeysklar wrote:Hello ktaylo51,

Thank you for the photos.

When you use an accelerometer to measure the resistance between the Lora and the Accelerometer what do you see on the SDA pads and SDL pads?
Hi Mikey,
I am not fully sure what you mean - but when I run the adafruit provided accellerometer test it says in the window that it cannot find accellerometer. I'm concerned that it is dead as the whole project was functioning perfectly and then the next day it was not working.

How do I test the SDA and SDL pads?

User avatar
mikeysklar
 
Posts: 13936
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:10 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by mikeysklar »

I'm sorry. I mean to say when you use a multimeter to measure the resistance between the Lora and accelerometer SDA and SDL pads what is the reading?

User avatar
ktaylo51
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:04 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by ktaylo51 »

I'll try this when I get home and report back later this afternoon.

I haven't tried with a multimeter just yet. Red on Battery and neg on each of those?

User avatar
mikeysklar
 
Posts: 13936
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:10 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by mikeysklar »

You want to measure conductivity so set the meter to the "ohm" symbol and measure SDA to SDA on the Lora to Accelerometer then SDL to SDL.

User avatar
ktaylo51
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2020 3:04 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by ktaylo51 »

Perfect, thank you.

User avatar
jcnayes
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 08, 2016 1:43 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by jcnayes »

My Flora + 303DLHC is also no longer working. My project was on the shelf for awhile, but now I'm not able to get very far, even using the test code. I remember putting the project on the shelf after getting values but not getting far interpreting them for the effects I wanted. My motivation is back a bit now, and I need help getting the sensor to start working!

I'm running the example code for the 'Adafrui LSM303 Accel - accelsensor' code. The serial monitor shows the 'Accelerometer Test' line, but (even with the sensor sitting in the window for 10 minutes), nothing else happens. One time I got the 'no LSM 303 detected' note...

Thoughts?


Debug info:

Code: Select all

#include <Adafruit_LSM303_Accel.h>
#include <Adafruit_Sensor.h>
#include <Wire.h>

/* Assign a unique ID to this sensor at the same time */
Adafruit_LSM303_Accel_Unified accel = Adafruit_LSM303_Accel_Unified(54321);

void displaySensorDetails(void) {
  sensor_t sensor;
// ..... (etc)...
When powered off, I get about 3 ohm on the SCL pins and about 3 ohm on the SDA pins:
DSC_1770.JPG
DSC_1770.JPG (393.9 KiB) Viewed 206 times
DSC_1771.JPG
DSC_1771.JPG (393.42 KiB) Viewed 206 times
Software versions:
Arduino: 1.8.11 on Windows 10 (not working on my Mac either...)
Adafruit AVR Boards 1.4.13
Adafruit LSM303 Accel 1.1.4
Adafruit Unified Sensor 1.1.3

User avatar
jcnayes
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 08, 2016 1:43 pm

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by jcnayes »

jcnayes wrote:My Flora + 303DLHC is also no longer working. My project was on the shelf for awhile, but now I'm not able to get very far, even using the test code. I remember putting the project on the shelf after getting values but not getting far interpreting them for the effects I wanted. My motivation is back a bit now, and I need help getting the sensor to start working!

I'm running the example code for the 'Adafrui LSM303 Accel - accelsensor' code. The serial monitor shows the 'Accelerometer Test' line, but (even with the sensor sitting in the window for 10 minutes), nothing else happens. One time I got the 'no LSM 303 detected' note...

Thoughts?

...
I tested the same LSM303 sensor with an Arduino Uno, same test code, using alligator clips to the snaps soldered to my LSM303, and I did get the expected results! The serial monitor lit up right away with sensor info and a continuously updating set of readings. I would assume that this means the issue is on the Flora.

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill
 
Posts: 88086
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am

Re: Accelerometer stopped functioning

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Can you post some close-up photos so we can better see your connections? Are you using conductive thread, or wire with solder?

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Wearables”