Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board

[profezzorn]

Ok, so what's actually in that blade?
Piece of advice: Never glue anything together before it's fully tested. :)

I looked pictures, and as far as I can tell everything is hooked up right.
I also looked at the video, and that's just weird. I wonder if the LED is being
driven in series with the booster or something?

[gmcivor]

Ok, so what's actually in that blade?
Piece of advice: Never glue anything together before it's fully tested. :)

I looked pictures, and as far as I can tell everything is hooked up right.
I also looked at the video, and that's just weird. I wonder if the LED is being
driven in series with the booster or something?

Yes, hindsight isn't always 20/20. I might try and break it open tomorrow. Use a vise and twist should break loose.

The testing blade is 2 of the PL9823 LED's inside of a blade plug. The bigger blade will 97 or so of them too. Im also going to make a 144 led strip blade.

I did solder it like your diagram on the website. The + lead attach to pin 7,8. - attach to pin 4,5,6. Data to pin 3 with the blade id resistor and blade id and data leach resistor to pin 1 and 2.

 But I will make a connector and attach it to the larger blade. Do some tests and send you pictures of that connector aswell.

And it could be, but I follow your schematic should it ?

Regards,

GMcIvor

[profezzorn]

Hmm, it's possible that everything is working, but misconfigured.
The PL9823 LEDs can draw enough power from the data pin to light up, and if the teensy picks the wrong blade configuration, it may leave the LEDs glowing. You might be able to avoid cracking that thing open... :)

What resistors did you use? What resistance does it actually list on startup?
What blade in the blade array does it pick on startup? Does that entry match your blade?

[gmcivor]

Hmm, it's possible that everything is working, but misconfigured.
The PL9823 LEDs can draw enough power from the data pin to light up, and if the teensy picks the wrong blade configuration, it may leave the LEDs glowing. You might be able to avoid cracking that thing open... :)

What resistors did you use? What resistance does it actually list on startup?
What blade in the blade array does it pick on startup? Does that entry match your blade?

I put a 2200 ohm resistor in the 2 PL9823 blade. The resistance it lists on start up says

ID: 3 Volts 0.01 Resistance = 96.96
 
Blade = 1

WS2811 Blade with 2 leds

Normal Style

Scanning sound font: Starwars

Activating polyphonic font.

Welcome to TeensySaber, type 'help' for more info

Amplifier off.

To my knowledge it is selecting the 2 LED blade. But the resistance seems weird... unless Its suppose to be around there.

Regards,

GMcIvor

[profezzorn]

ID: 3 Volts 0.01 Resistance = 96.96

That's an interesting clue.
This means that the data-out and blade ID is being pulled towards ground by something.
Sometimes there is some weirdness during startup, but you can try typing "id" after startup has
completed to confirm these values.

During startup, teensysaber turns on an internal 33k pull-up resistor on the blade id pin, then
it waits a few microseconds and then does a analogRead on that pin. The result was 3 out of 1024,
which means that it's only reading ~0.01 volts. That means that there seems to be a resistor of
about 100Ohms pulling the data pin towards ground.  Maybe switched the two resistors around in the
blade?

[gmcivor]

ID: 3 Volts 0.01 Resistance = 96.96

That's an interesting clue.
This means that the data-out and blade ID is being pulled towards ground by something.
Sometimes there is some weirdness during startup, but you can try typing "id" after startup has
completed to confirm these values.

I typed ID and this is what displayed:

ID = 4volts 0.01 resistance = 129.41

Then I unplugged the blade and to see what values it triggered and it was the same as the ID written above.

I will crack the blade open and try to switch the resistors around if I can get it open.

Regards,

GMcIvor

[profezzorn]

ID: 3 Volts 0.01 Resistance = 96.96

That's an interesting clue.
This means that the data-out and blade ID is being pulled towards ground by something.
Sometimes there is some weirdness during startup, but you can try typing "id" after startup has
completed to confirm these values.

I typed ID and this is what displayed:

ID = 4volts 0.01 resistance = 129.41

Then I unplugged the blade and to see what values it triggered and it was the same as the ID written above.

I will crack the blade open and try to switch the resistors around if I can get it open.

Regards,

GMcIvor

Wait, what? How can it be the same without the blade?
Without the blade, the ID should come out to about 1024, or near-infinite resistance.
How do you even power the thing up if there is no blade?
Maybe there is a short between the blade ID/data pin and the FET control pin next to it?

[gmcivor]

sorry I phrased that wrong. I unplugged the blade and plugged it back in to check the values on start up and it was the same as when I typed ID.

Regards,

GMcIvor

[profezzorn]

PS: The blade ID circuit, and associated code (the Saber::id() function) might be cool to explain and walk through with students as a simple example of ohms law.

[gmcivor]

PS: The blade ID circuit, and associated code (the Saber::id() function) might be cool to explain and walk through with students as a simple example of ohms law.

Thats a good idea. I will might just do that :)

Regards,

GMcIvor

[profezzorn]

Software version 1.84 uploaded.
The big new feature is multi-blade support. Accent LEDs can also be treated as additional blades.
Each blade can be configured and controlled individually. All blade types should be compatible
and can run at the same time as long as there is enough pins to support them.

PS: I'm getting 20 TeensySaber V2.3 board made, which will be on sale on this board soon.

[Sethski]

Continually pleasing and exciting to see your development of the Teensy Saber solution. Thanks as always for sharing your cool work. With the most recent update, having an array of accent LEDs addressable as a separate, additional 'blade' is a huge plus! 

I bought a Teensy 3.2 a bit ago and was intending to bite the bullet and attempt the hotplate reflow with the components and TeensySaber 2.3 board(s) you've made available through OSH Park - defo good to learn, but with slooow scratch build and learning as I go with current reveal saber build, I'm chuffed to read that you'll be making a small batch available - it'll potentially be a great timesaver to pick up two of these from you when you make them available. I'll keep a keen eye on here. If there's any possibility of reserving a couple of them subject to prompt follow up/payment when they are ready that'd be massively appreciated, but also appreciate and respect if you want to keep them on a 'first come, first served' basis.

[gmcivor]

Software version 1.84 uploaded.
The big new feature is multi-blade support. Accent LEDs can also be treated as additional blades.
Each blade can be configured and controlled individually. All blade types should be compatible
and can run at the same time as long as there is enough pins to support them.

PS: I'm getting 20 TeensySaber V2.3 board made, which will be on sale on this board soon.

I left my saber at work, tomorrow I will rebuild that connector and see if it all works!

Thank you for all the continued development.

Wahoo. Do you know approx how much each V2.3 will be ? I'd like to grab a couple before they are gone.

Regards,

GMcIvor

[profezzorn]

Wahoo. Do you know approx how much each V2.3 will be ? I'd like to grab a couple before they are gone.

For now I think they are going to be $60 each. (without teensy)
I'd love to make them cheaper, but I need to order larger volumes to do that, which is expensive. :(

[gmcivor]

Thats still not to bad considering the cost od the propshield, sd card reader, and powerboost is quite abit as well.

Yeah bulk orders are expensive. You could always try a presale then use the money to order a substantial bulk making it cheaper. Are you ordering from oshpark then making them or getting a company to make them ?

Regards,

GMcIvor