MAKE Asks: Tricky Troubleshooting

MAKE Asks: Tricky Troubleshooting

Make: Asks is a new weekly column where we ask you, our readers, for responses to maker-related questions. We hope the column will spark interesting conversation and that we’ll get to know more about each other.

When using an XBee for the first time, I found that if I tried to run the “Hello World” code, I could only get my flashing LED to work if I unplugged one of my indicator LEDs, and vice versa. After going through what I thought was every possible troubleshooting measure, it turned out the culprit was a weak solder joint where the power was coming through. It provided enough juice for just a couple of LEDs, but no more than that. It took a while to figure out but it was one of my most maddening problems to fix.

This week’s question: What was a bug or tricky problem on a project you’ve done, and what did you finally do to figure it out and get it working?

Post your responses in the comments section.

MAKE
Michael Colombo

http://makezineblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/makeasks3.png?w=150

LED Matrix Glasses

Garrett Mace was rocking a pair of LED matrix glasses at Maker Faire:

The shades are a 20×6 matrix (with some pixels missing of course) driven by SPI from an integrated Arduino-compatible in the right temple. There is a Lithium-Polymer battery on the left temple. You can charge the glasses through USB, and download new code to it over the same connection. A button on the right temple allows switching between modes or auto cycling animated patterns.

[via HaD]