MPGuino newbie questions
 

Hello,
I've just built up the Spiffie.org MPGuino v2.1 kit, and I have a few beginner questions. I hate newbies who don't do their homework like everyone else :) I've been doing some reading but I am new to ATmega/Arduino programming.

1) When I plug the board into the USB port, nothing happens. I would expect the screen backlight to come on, at least. Is this normal?

2) After I install the Arduino environment, download the code ("mpguino.pde"), and upload the code to the board, the screen comes on, and the program is running as advertised. But I have to do this every time in order to get the screen to come on. This can't be right... whats going on?

3) When I send the sketch to the board, I get a message:
"Binary sketch size: 14346 bytes (of a 14336 byte maximum)"
So I'm not sure whether sketch was uploaded or not. Should I worry about this message? This is Arduino 0011, Mac OS X 10.5.

4) The code I downloaded from googlecode (link from Spiffie.org) has no version number in the comments or in the filename. Is it v0.75? I see references to 0.701 or 0.74 on various posts.

5) I see the installation instructions call for connection to non-switched power. How much power does the MPGuino use when it is "off"? Has anyone drained their battery with this?

6) Some [early?] documentation refers to jumper settings for changing from 5 V to 12 V power. Does anyone know if this is still required for the Spiffie v2 board? (I admit I have not studied the schematics which are online).

Thanks for your help!

1 - I forget. I think it should turn on just with the USB plugged in though.

2 - Again, I forget.

3 - Yes, apparently Mac's create a larger file than PC's, so you need to delete a small amount from the code in order to get it to work properly. There are several extra settings in MPGuino that aren't used right now, so they can be deleted, like tank size, or you can get rid of the 'CPU usage' screen.

4 - The current code on the googlecode page is 0.75. You can check by loading the code in Firefox, or anything else really, and searching (ctrl+F) for 'opengauge'. The second instance of opengauge should have 'version 0.75' 2 lines below it.

5 - Very little power is used when it's off, it's just an LED, and many cars have LED's that stay on anyway when the car is off, because they drain so little. I left my car off for over a week in the middle of winter with the MPGuino plugged in, and it started right up with no problems. If you're going on vacation or something for an extended period of time, then you should unplug it just in case, but even if you only drive once every few days, I wouldn't be worried about power drain.

6 - No, don't worry about it. The board will automatically switch between 5V and 12V sources based on what you plug in.

Thanks for your help. With regard to item #3 (file size), I commented out the "memoryTest()" function and the call to it, which is in "doDisplaySystemInfo(void)".