Assembly issue with kit #107

[Jane Rivers]

I’m in the latter stages of assembling the mainboard of kit #107 and have run into two challenges. First, the power connector (part M10) doesn’t seem to be able to screw down far enough to grip the small wires from the battery connector part. I stripped additional wire and wrapped it back and forth to give it additional thickness and the clamps still didn’t hold the wires. I eventually soldered the wires into place from the outside after screwing them down as much as possible and am hoping they will hold and connect properly. Still need to test the connection.

Secondly, the rotor (E04) when installed on the encoder makes full contact with the side of the slot on the side opposite the encoder. I believe it is installed correctly but it’s not obvious to me how I could adjust this easily, short of belt sanding the entire rotor or taking a Dremel to the metal of the shaft so that the rotor can slide further onto it.

Any ideas? Here are a couple of photos.

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

[me2016]

Hi Jane and thanks for your post.

Power connector, Depending on the cable it might be lot of space in the hole. What I done is fold it double and then put a solder blob on it. Then it can be screwed in a bit better.

The rotor. It might require some adjustments to get it somewhat clear. I see that you have not yet added the support for the board, with that in place it is a little easier to adjust the rotor angle to not touch on the sides.

/ps

[Anonymous]

We were able to adjust the rotor to avoid touching the sides. We finished the assembly and went to test it; however, there is an issue we can’t identify. When we turn the machine on, we hear a brief beep, but the led board does not light up and neither do the digits. The keyboard special functions (C, K, L, etc.) do not work as well.

There are red lights on the Arduino, the DC boost converter and the RTC. I’m reading about 4 volts between A5 and SDA (pin 27 on ht16k33) and 4.5 volts on A4 and SCL (pin 26 on ht16k33). However, it’s saying no IC detected.

Have other people had this issue? Any suggestions on where to look for a solution as I’ve checked all recommended connections.

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Jane Rivers.

[me2016]

I havent heard anyone else having this problem.
The first you can do is to just make sure it’s power on the chip. Next (with power removed) ring up the connection between the chip and the connector, starting with the 4 i2c wires. Just use a dvm/multimeter and put one pintip on the contact and the other just on top of the pin on the chip. Also make sure it’s no microscopic connection between the pins.
If that is ok measure from contact on l&k board to arduino.

[Anonymous]

There was connectivity between the 4 i2c wires and the chip as well as between the arduino and the chip. At this point I’m thinking it’s a short, but I can’t find one. I believe I’ve isolated the short to the mainboard and eliminated the lamp and keyboard. I’m getting connectivity between ground and VCC on the mainboard.

[Anonymous]

Based on the another support thread, I connected the arduino to ht16k33 at VCC, Ground, SCL and SDA. Unfortunately, it still says “no IC detected”. So, I may be dealing with 2 issues: a short in the mainboard and possibly an uncooperative IC.

[me2016]

I was once hunting a short and managed to find it with help of my dvm. I did measure the resistance and just kept moving around hunting the lowest resistance calue. It may only be numbers like 0.8 vs 0.6 but that is good enough to give a hint
I hane not has any reports of doa chip so you would be dirat then. The chip may be broken if to much heat been applied to it for to long but you have to do it a lot to break it that way so I’m guessing that’s not the case. Another thing is if you happen to get some solder on the address jumpers and with that changed the address but that’s probably even more remote.
You can try using the 4pin connector that goes to the plug board as a direct i2c connection.
Also, does the plug board work? Not sure if it will show up if the main chip isn’t detected but if it does…

[me2016]

I was once hunting a short and managed to find it with help of my dvm. I did measure the resistance and just kept moving around hunting the lowest resistance calue. It may only be numbers like 0.8 vs 0.6 but that is good enough to give a hint
I have not had any reports of doa chip so you would be the first then. The chip may be broken if to much heat been applied to it for to long but you have to do it a lot to break it that way so I’m guessing that’s not the case. Another thing is if you happen to get some solder on the address jumpers and with that changed the address but that’s probably even more remote.
You can try using the 4pin connector that goes to the plug board as a direct i2c connection.
Also, does the plug board work? Not sure if it will show up if the main chip isn’t detected but if it does…

[sutherling]

Similar problem as bfrivers on 2022-04-22 at 12:19 reply #2071:

“We finished the assembly and went to test it; however, there is an issue we can’t identify. When we turn the machine on, we hear a brief beep, but the led board does not light up and neither do the digits.” The keyboar function C turns on the red dots on the digits between the rotors. “The keyboard special functions (K, L, etc.) do not work as well.”

“There are red lights on the Arduino, the DC boost converter and the RTC. I’m reading about 4 volts between A5 and SDA (pin 27 on ht16k33) and 4.5 volts on A4 and SCL (pin 26 on ht16k33).”

WHAT ARE OTHER THINGS WE CAN DO OR REPLACE?
THANKS.

William Sutherling

[me2016]

Having 4V between Arduino A5 (SCL) and SDA on ht16k33 or 4.5V between SDA and SCL might be ok, depends on what you measure with, pullup resistors and so on. More interesting would be GND-VCC on the arduino and ht16k33 (pin 1 and 28).
It could be battery issue, it need good batteries for the DC-DC module to convert battery power to 5V.
First thing you can try is to power it over the arduino. Connect a usb-micro to usb-a cable to any usb charger or some computer. Then any battery issue is excluded.
You can remove the sound module and see if that makes any difference.

When it starts up it should turn on all lights and then show “M3” in the top. When you hit “c” for clock it should show the time from the RTC module, not just a few dots.

[Author]

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