Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

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matgyver00
 
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Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by matgyver00 »

I received my Adabox 19 and put together the Macropad. Once I powered it up I noticed that none of the neopixels would light up. I have tried the following.

1) Loaded the recent Alpha version of CircuitPython and tried several other example codes, with no luck
2) Tried controlling the neopixels via REPL with no luck
3) Loaded the most recent build of CircuitPython (July 28th 2021), again no luck
4) Switched to Arduino and downloaded the demo code again. Nope, still no neopixels

I've hooked up my scope and probed the pins on the Neopixels. All Neopixels are getting power (5V) and I can see the signal coming into DIN on Neopixel 0, but nothing on DOUT, and none of the other Neopixels show data. Not sure what else I can try and it appears I might have gotten a bad board.

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dastels
 
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Re: Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by dastels »

Do you notice anything odd about the connections of NeoPixel 0 to the board? Or the condition of NeoPixel 0? It sounds like the pixel is either poorly connected, or bad.

Dave

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matgyver00
 
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Re: Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by matgyver00 »

Yes, on Neopixel 0 it seems like it was maybe hand soldered as there is solder on top of the pins of the Neopixel. All of the other Neopixels have a very clean look on the pins.

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dastels
 
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Re: Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by dastels »

Weird. Care to post a clear photo?

Dave

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matgyver00
 
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Re: Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by matgyver00 »

No problem. The picture is attached.
IMG_0753.jpg
IMG_0753.jpg (800.64 KiB) Viewed 628 times

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dastels
 
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Re: Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by dastels »

Yes, that was definitely replaced by hand. I suspect the pixel was bad (or missed/mangled by the pick&place). If you are able, reheating the 4 pins might fix it if it's a poor connection. If so, that'll save you having to wait for a replacement. Let me know in any case and we'll replace it if required.

Dave

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matgyver00
 
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Re: Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by matgyver00 »

I was able to reflow it and yep, that did fix it. So it looks like it was a bad solder connection there. Thanks for the help!

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dastels
 
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Re: Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by dastels »

My pleasure and I'm happy that was all there was to it, with you up & running quickly. Have fun with it.

I'll pass this incident up the chain. IMO it's a QA glitch.

Dave

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matgyver00
 
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Re: Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by matgyver00 »

Well, it stopped working again. I noticed that the Neopixles stopped changing and when I rebooted the Macropad nothing is coming on again. I've tried re-flowing it and this time nothing. If I probe that first Neopixel, there is nothing, not even a data signal, but the code is running and it's the same code running before it stopped working again.

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dastels
 
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Re: Adabox 19 Macropad neopixels are not working

Post by dastels »

OK. There may have been damage to the traces and they finally gave out. Who knows.

Please email [email protected] with a link to this thread, your order number, and request the replacement of one Adafruit MACROPAD RP2040 Bare Bones.

BTW, the issue was pushed to QC.

Dave

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