iDuino MPGuino

[cmags]

Mine took almost 3 weeks, but it did get here. Patience, Daniel-san...

[XyKo]

Only if they left a physical address on their website. I was in Toronto 2 days ago and could had pick it up.

[Spiffed]

OK,
Sorry I dropped the ball on monitoring this thread. I'll deal with the quick issues regarding ordering first:

• Yes, the shipping calculator's been on the fritz lately, it now falls back to default rates if Canada Post doesn't provide one. Base shipping rates are:
  • Canada: $1.40
  • USofA: $2.27
  • International: $4.19
• Yeah, any form of First Class Mail can take a while to cross the border. First class mail is inspected by both Canadian and International customs (and whatever air-carrier is involved for overseas). Based on manifest tracking, i can tell it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 15 business-days to clear cross-border customs. Expedited US is really your cheapest rate for guaranteed shipping times.

Now, with regard to kits:

It looks promising, but I think a ftdi chip (USB) might enjoy a larger audience. My feeling is that I initially underestimated the footprint of legacy free machines out there when this project started.

Having found a source for less expensive FT232 chips, I think I'll go with a USB interface.

Or possibly just a kit with the software already loaded

I'll include whatever the latest software revision is when I package the kits. The ATmegas need to be burnt anyway, and it's just one less step.

It is a PITA to translate that to a simple PCB though, I wind up making them a bit like making jewelery ( see this post ) but I have a couple things I still want to try in that department.

buttons beside the LCD gave the lowest profile I could actually have manufactured. I'll see about making that section "break-away" so it could be mounted on top, if desired.

The consensus is that the blue ones suck. The green ones are much better especially if you crank up the contrast.

The blue ones are also nearly 2x as much wholesale, I'll either use g/y newhaven units or equivalent spec knock-offs.

FYI, I haven't had any trouble with nothing connected to the reset pin for the chipswap versions

Reset is pulled high internally with about 100-400K. To use the Arduino IDE's auto-magic reset, you need around 5-20K of resistance (or a ridiculously small cap).

The pinout to the buttons and the LCD is the same, correct

Yup, thankfully these things are standardized.

Iwould like to recommend to place approx 18 pF capacitors instead of 0.1 uF for C7 and C8.

Of course, it looks like an oops in the schematic. They'll be somewhere between 16 and 28pF depending on the crystal's cut.

Now that I'm done launching the StickDuino Freeduino, I'd like to have this ready for early September. I received a few requests for pre-orders and the like: If you're interested, PM me and I'll add you to a list to be notified when I have some pre-release ones to play with. (Actually, just PM me if you'd like to be a beta tester ... I only have the one car to test on.)
When I get back into work tomorrow I'll add the new board/render images.

[SVOboy]

I'm super excited.

[Axaday]

Okay, I've assembled my iDuino kit and to the best of my knowledge, I've done it all right. I was thinking that if I plugged it into my USB I'd be able to load the program and see if I'd indeed done everything right, but I found that the end of step by step instructions leaves me a little lost. Not the least problem is that the arduino website seems not to be working at the moment. When it is up, what will I do? Download a software that will immediately recognize my iDuino and ask if I want to program it?

After that, I see this pic http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...2&d=1218579499. Is that and the main page diagram my best guide or are there some step by step instructions that I haven't seen?

[cmags]

I had to do a little digging myself w/ the iDuino.. I'll try to do a bit of a writeup here:

So you've got your iDuino built, and have built your MPGuino auxiliary circuitry and are ready to program. You should be able to leave the auxiliary circuitry connected for this, but the iDuino and the ATMega are all that's required (This Assumes Windows XP):

1. Go to the Arduino site and download the IDE: Arduino - Software Note: Be sure to use Arduino 0.11 only
2. Plug in the iDuino to the USB port
3. Windows will recognize the iDuino 2.1, but you will need to manually install drivers:
   1. Choose not to search the internet for drivers
   2. Choose to manually find the location of the driver
   3. Browse to where you installed the Arduino software and dig into the drivers\FTDI USB Drivers folder
   4. Hit OK a few times to install
   5. It will then prompt for installation of USB Serial Port drivers
   6. Do the same thing, same folder to install that
4. Once you have the iDuino and USB Serial Port installed, launch the Arduino IDE
5. Copy/paste the current version of the code into Arduino
6. Go to Tools -> Serial Port and choose the port (typically the last one, but if You're not sure, right-click on My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Ports - one of them should indicate USB Serial Port)
7. Click the verify button, then the upload button
8. If all goes well you'll see a message indicating so - if not, check that port again

Installing the iDuino drivers was the part that held me up for a bit. It was mentioned somewhere in the forum, either in this thread or the MPGuino workspace, but took some digging. Hopefully this will help some people out.

Feel free to make comments/ask questions!

[wyatt]

Originally Posted by Axaday

After that, I see this pic http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...2&d=1218579499. Is that (...) my best guide or are there some step by step instructions that I haven't seen?

Sorry, I haven't gotten to install this in the car yet (I have been doing lots of work on the house since there is a good likelihood I will be moving in the upcoming months). When I do get it installed and up and running, I will be posting pictures of how I built it, but I want to be sure I have everything installed correctly first. If you want to be sure that what you are doing is correct, you should compare it to the first picture I posted, the one I got from dcb's thread.
The picture you reference is the way I have built mine (or something like that). Any number of variants are possible to achieve the same overall circuit. I am building mine this way to keep the large cap and the 7805 off to the side where their height will not be as big of an issue since the iDuino is standing on female headers right next to it.

[wagonman76]

Sounds just like the instructions for the USB based Arduino board. Is there any difference?

[cmags]

Originally Posted by wagonman76

Sounds just like the instructions for the USB based Arduino board. Is there any difference?

Nope, uses the same exact drivers. Only difference I suspect is that when you plug it in, the little bubble popup on the bottom says "Found New Hardware: iDuino 2.1".

[Axaday]

I've hit a snag, at least, and maybe a big disappointment. I downloaded the software, plugged in the iDuino, and installed the drivers, but the power LED doesn't come on and when I uploaded the blink test program it said it uploaded, but it doesn't blink.

I'm hoping someone will tell me that is just for an Arduino and that there is some good reason that my complete iDuino alone doesn't do anything. Otherwise, my iDuino doesn't work.

[Spiffed]

I've hit a snag, at least, and maybe a big disappointment.

If you were prompted to install the drivers, that's at least proof the USB interface is running.
If the power LED failed to illuminate, that's usually a sign of any of the following: a reversed LED, a short between VCC and GND, or an incorrectly soldered resistor.

Please email service@fundamentallogic.com regarding the issue.

[wyatt]

Originally Posted by Axaday

I've hit a snag, at least, and maybe a big disappointment. I downloaded the software, plugged in the iDuino, and installed the drivers, but the power LED doesn't come on and when I uploaded the blink test program it said it uploaded, but it doesn't blink.

I'm hoping someone will tell me that is just for an Arduino and that there is some good reason that my complete iDuino alone doesn't do anything. Otherwise, my iDuino doesn't work.

Mine had the LED light up right away, and it did the blinking. Kevin (Spiffed) would certainly be the best to help with the issue, but you may be able to look through the assembly instructions (version 2 or version 3) to make sure that something didn't get mixed up somewhere. Also, check all your solder points... one of mine came lose that wasn't done too terribly well and I had to re-solder it.

[Axaday]

I'm certain that the pieces are all in the right places, but my soldering skills are relatively weak. I am pretty sure I didn't solder a short, but it is perfectly possible that I didn't get a good contact somewhere. But, zounds! There are 91 solders to recheck and I don't REALLY know what I'm looking for. I have a multi-meter though, if someone could tell me what it should read in a few places.

[Axaday]

I took a good close look at the thing and removed some cat hairs with tweezers and trimmed some leads shorter and plugged it in again and the power LED came on. It still wouldn't run the blink program, though. Heartened, I trimmed some more leads and I looked for places where a bit of stuff looked like it was in a circuit pathway and tried to carefully knocked that stuff off with the tweezers. Now the power LED doesn't work again. Now and then it lights for a second as I'm plugging the USB into it, but not for long. The loader still thinks it works, but it doesn't.

At this point have I ruined the thing? And if I went and bought a complete iDuino like I should've to start with would I be wasting my time because of how much more soldering there is to go and me not knowing what I'm doing?

---

I just found the edit post feature. Thought we didn't have it here.

I managed to get the power LED back and I did it by bending it, which confirms that my contacts aren't all as good as I thought they were. But I don't have time to work on it anymore tonight. Thank you to those that have helped.

----

Well, I decided it wouldn't take THAT much time and I wouldn't sleep well wondering. So I did what dcb said. I just let the iron warm up and then touched every solder point. I found a few spots that didn't really seem to have that much solder on second inspection and I moved some around until I was better satisfied and then I plugged it into the computer again. For a second the red LED flickered a bit and then it started blinking one second on and off. If that program works, should I assume the other will can push on forward?

[dcb]

Talk to Kevin and/or just briefly touch the soldering iron to all the solder joints from the kit to re-melt them.

[cmags]

Originally Posted by Axaday

Well, I decided it wouldn't take THAT much time and I wouldn't sleep well wondering. So I did what dcb said. I just let the iron warm up and then touched every solder point. I found a few spots that didn't really seem to have that much solder on second inspection and I moved some around until I was better satisfied and then I plugged it into the computer again. For a second the red LED flickered a bit and then it started blinking one second on and off. If that program works, should I assume the other will can push on forward?

Sounds like you nailed it. If the LED started blinking right after bending it (temporarily) and then touching up the solder points, it sounds like you may have had just a bad LED connection, because the program did actually load properly. Either way, sounds like you're good to go forward and load up the MPGuino .pde. Did you build the other circuitry yet?

[wyatt]

What I looked for on mine was a broken connection, I did so by just wiggling components until I found a resistor that was lose on one end. It sounds like you found your problem, but I thought I would throw that out there for others.

[Axaday]

Originally Posted by cmags

Sounds like you nailed it. If the LED started blinking right after bending it (temporarily) and then touching up the solder points, it sounds like you may have had just a bad LED connection, because the program did actually load properly. Either way, sounds like you're good to go forward and load up the MPGuino .pde. Did you build the other circuitry yet?

No, but I expect to start on it within the hour.

I looked at Radio Shack for a disconnect that would look nice and I found nothing. Then my dad suggested using telephone jacks. A phone jack has 4 24 guage wires and seems perfect, but the rainbow wire I HAVE doesn't look like it will fit. Does anyone know why I shouldn't just strip a telephone line to serve as the 4 wires initially coming to the unit?

Edit - Actually, I see that the phone cord I was planning to use is 26 gauge. Will that be good enough for what will be running ground, power, VSS, and injector?

[cmags]

Originally Posted by Axaday

No, but I expect to start on it within the hour.

I looked at Radio Shack for a disconnect that would look nice and I found nothing. Then my dad suggested using telephone jacks. A phone jack has 4 24 guage wires and seems perfect, but the rainbow wire I HAVE doesn't look like it will fit. Does anyone know why I shouldn't just strip a telephone line to serve as the 4 wires initially coming to the unit?

Sounds very reasonable. I'm using a 4-wire phone cord (RJ-11) to power my radar detector, fused at 1A, no problems (that's what their factory "hard-wire kit" is so I know its good). Are you going to mount a female RJ-11 jack on the board? That would be ideal, this way you can take a phone cable, snip off one end, wire up power, ground, injector, and VSS, and just plug it in when ready.

[Axaday]

Originally Posted by cmags

Sounds very reasonable. I'm using a 4-wire phone cord (RJ-11) to power my radar detector, fused at 1A, no problems (that's what their factory "hard-wire kit" is so I know its good). Are you going to mount a female RJ-11 jack on the board? That would be ideal, this way you can take a phone cable, snip off one end, wire up power, ground, injector, and VSS, and just plug it in when ready.

I intended to do it the other way around, but I like your idea too. Do they sell phone cords with a female end?

Edit - Could anyone, without seeing my car, estimate how long a phone cord I would need to do like he said?