Kit #55 not yet working

[Anonymous]

After installing the kit the arduino lights up red and the red light at the DC-DC boost converter also shows a red light. The system however does not show the flashing lights and I hear no sound. Been checking connections with a DMM but don’t find the problem. Pressing buttons result in nothing. Hoping for some tips.

[me2016]

Hard to troubleshoot without more info. For a start connect to the serial port and see if you get anything out that way. If nothing try to remove the arduino nano from the board and see if anything comes then.

[Anonymous]

Get the following output:

MeinEnigma Version: 1.06
Checksum seems OK, (A48) keeping the values
No plugboard found
No IC detected,assuming standalone

Version: 1.06
Preset: 0

Odometer: 0
TTS: ON
Serial number: 55

Model: M3 (Enigma M3, German Navy (Kriegsmarine))
Reflector: UKWB
Rotors: I – II – III
Ringstellung: – A A A
Plugboard: virtual –
CurrentWalze: – A A A

Ready

[me2016]

The “No IC detected” means it can’t talk to L02 – HT16K33 and with that it assumes it’s standalone and doesn’t test anything else = no sound. I know that the chip is soldered on properly because I did ring it up to the connector before shipping it. You need to verify that all soldering points on the nano and the ones for the jumper cable are good.
The path involved is gnd, +5, SCL (A5) & SDA (A4). With power on, verify power between cable connector (p101 & p201) pin 25(gnd) and pin 23(+5V).
Remove power, then verify continuity from nano to chip for i2c

SCL: Nano pin 25(A5) -> p101 pin 19 -> p201 p19 ->ht16k33 pin 26
SDA: Nano pin 23(A4) -> p101 pin 21 -> p201 p21 ->ht16k33 pin 27

[Anonymous]

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[me2016]

Power – set the DMM to a range that includes 5V DC, then measure on the pins.
I2C – Most modern DMMs have setting where it beeps when it is a short. If not you can just set it to measure resistance. Then (with no power to the board) check the connection between the pins. Also, check that it is _no_ connectivity between SCL/SDA and any other point that looks suspect.

[Anonymous]

My schematics show pin 24 as A5 instead of 25. Do I miss something?

[me2016]

Just checking you are alert 🙂
Typo, 23 & 24 as the schematic states.

[Anonymous]

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[me2016]

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[Anonymous]

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[me2016]

Is that missing connection on the same board or between p201 and p101 ?
Verify that the cable is ok, pin to pin on the boards (p201 to p101)
If broken on the lamp and keyboard, try to follow the track to see where it is broken.
Now when all connections except com5 & com6 works, what do you get on the serial port? Does it still complain about no chip ?

[me2016]

Any luck/progress ?

[Anonymous]

Been away on a short vacation. In the meantime I have been testing some additional things:

A5 all the way to pin 26 shows resistance although minor
A4 all the way to pin 27 shows resistance although minor
when testing ohms between P101 and P201 I see clear indication of connection on all pins.

[me2016]

A low resistance (<2 ohm) is normal and not a problem along a trace like that. Did just check and and on my working meinEnigma it is 1.5ohm.
For the software to find the chip it need only 4 wires to work, power, ground, A5(SCL) & A4(SDA). Now if any of those wires are shorted between each other it's of course a problem also so please verify that it's not unexpected shorts.
If you have a oscilloscope you can look at the signal on A4/A5.
I would have no problem taking a look at it if it wasn't for the shipping cost.

[Anonymous]

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[me2016]

No one else in Netherlands that ordered a meinEnigma but that is probably not needed. Try to look up some close by electronics club and when they have meetings. I’m involved in some here in town and it does sometimes show up people with some electronic issue that they can’t solve because they don’t know any electronics.

[Anonymous]

It has been a while since last time because measurements show the mainboard has a problem in connection between Arduino and P101. My expert tells me the the board is giving the problems on both A5 and A4 connections. Could there be other issues than and issue with the board itself?

[me2016]

Every PCB is tested during manufacturing to have the correct connections so that should be way low on the suspect list. The most common issue I seen is bad soldering to the level that the solder holes and/or traces are broken. Had to add some extra wires due to that on a board I fixed up earlier. Don’t forget to verify the soldering of pins on the arduino it self (been there, did just solder in the corners and things didn’t work to good until I soldered in the rest).

It’s a dual layer board so all traces are on the top or the bottom, nothing in the middle of the board. You have the schematics of where all connections should be or not. With that you can verify connections and add extra wires as needed.
For example, as a test you could solder two wires directly from the arduino to the pins on the ht16k33 chip and see if you get some life signs from it that way.

[Anonymous]

Working on it every now and then. After checking a lot of connections it now results in the following. When turning n the machine every key press will lead to display 2, 3 and 4 turning on the red light at the bottom right. Every key pressed on the keyboard will lead to those three lights.

[Anonymous]

Have been testing extensively this weekend:

SDA Arduino (A4) to P101 > OK
SCL Arduino (A5) to P101 > OK
P101 to P201 > OK

SDA P201 to U201 > OK
SCL P201 to U201 > OK

P201 to P203 (resistance with USB):
– SDA > OK
– SCL > OK
– 5V > NOK
– GND > NOK

P203 to P301 > OK

P102 to Arduino D2/D3 > OK
P103 to Arduino D4/D5 > OK
P104 to Arduino D6/D7 > OK
P105 to Arduino D10/D11 > OK

L101 front to back > OK
L102 front to back > OK
L103 front to back > OK
L104 front to back > OK

When connected to Arduino:
– Plugboard not connected
– All leds working
– Keyboard working and letters are recalled the right way

Problems:
– L103 display is not working
– Displays do not show all segments
– Plugboard seems not connected
– When turning to reflector mode system seems to get into a loop
– Slow response in run mode

[me2016]

So, lets go through the problems one by one;

– L103 display is not working
That means that Common on pin 18 on the digit does not have a connection to COM6/pin 8 on ht18k33. The path includes pin 24 on the jumper cable.

– Displays do not show all segments
Pretty much the same as above, just a different trace that’s broken. Identify the segment missing and look at the schematic as to what pin it is on. Then follow that pin all the way through the jumpercable to ht16k33.

– Plugboard seems not connected
You state above that p201-p203 fails regarding 5V and GND, that is why it’s not working. You need to fix that connection, see schematic for pins to connect.

– When turning to reflector mode system seems to get into a loop
Hard to guess, possible because of a short somewhere in the rotor but why only in reflector mode? The logic is pretty much the same for all the different modes.
Fix the other things first, then see if it’s still a problem and of so provide some more details.

– Slow response in run mode
How slow is “slow”? if maybe 5sec then it could be a problem with the sound board. Do you have sound? It is possible that it thinks you have a sound board and wait for the sound to finish before moving on.

[me2016]

Please report what issues you found. It can be of help to anyone else who run in to similar issues.

[Anonymous]

Most important thing I learned is that resistance does not always mean that the connection is working. Thorough soldering of ALL connections solves this. It means checking all connections preciously and soldering perfectly. Most important for me was the route from arduino to ht16k33 and the rout via the digits. Thanks again for this amazing experience.

[Author]

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