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Bluetooth Unleashed Design Challenge
Blog Stirling Blue - Bluetooth Terminal Awakening - Blog 8
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Engagement
  • Author Author: dougw
  • Date Created: 25 Jun 2018 1:18 AM Date Created
  • Views 970 views
  • Likes 14 likes
  • Comments 4 comments
  • stirling blue
  • doug wong
  • psoc4
  • qwerty keyboard
  • bluetooth unleashed
  • bluetooth unleashed design challenge
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Stirling Blue - Bluetooth Terminal Awakening - Blog 8

dougw
dougw
25 Jun 2018

The past few weeks have been very discombobulated with lots of heavy priorities and travel interceding in my project plans. And project progress has been stubbornly slow. However my second PCB arrived and it looks good.

This card is a QWERTY keyboard for the micro:bit. It needs a PSoC4 MCU to read all the keys and output ASCII using SPI because the micro:bit doesn't have enough I/O pins on its own.

Of course it is also one of those things that didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. After spending lots of time troubleshooting, I don't think there is anything wrong with the design which is a relief, but how come it didn't just plug and play? I tend to be pretty meticulous with my designs and it pays off in them pretty much always working on the first power-up. But when they don't work first time it seems much tougher to troubleshoot - you know you already rechecked everything multiple times during the design phase so what could possibly be wrong? It turns out a little assumption can end up costing a lot of self-doubt and endless rechecking, oscilloscope testing and head scratching. In this case I had set the LCD contrast so light, there was no discernible activity on the display. I'm happy that is what the problem was, but not happy I spent so long to figure it out. Here is a video of the first signs of life from the new PCB...

 

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The card is designed to have an alternate configuration with its own LCDs and a Bluetooth radio, making it a stand-alone Bluetooth terminal. This configuration will be implemented first because it doesn't depend on the micro:bit firmware also working at the same time. The micro:bit variant doesn't need Bluetooth of course, because the micro:bit has BLE built-in.

I keep promising to write a blog about Stirling engine technology, but it always seems that getting something working has higher priority - maybe next time...

This project it starting to look like there is a lot to accomplish in the time remaining, but at least there is progress.

 

Upcoming blogs:

  • the micro:bit keyboard
  • how Stirling engines work
  • start connecting some sensors to the PSoC6
  • designing the sensor interface PCB

 

Related Links:

Bluetooth Unleashed Design Challenge

Bluetooth Unleashed Design Challenge: The Challengers

Bluetooth Unleashed Design Challenge: About This Challenge

 

Links to other blogs for this project:

Stirling Blue - Project Description - Blog 1

Stirling Blue - Unboxing Hero - Blog 2

StirlingBlue1

Stirling Blue - micro:bit TXTR - Blog 3

Stirling Blue - Fuel Measurement - Blog 4

FuelMeasurement1

Stirling Blue - Interface Description - Blog 5

Stirling Blue - BBC micro:bit LCD - Blog 6

microbitLCD1

Stirling Blue - Power Measurement - Blog 7 (updated)

PowerMeasurement1

SpeedMeasurement1

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Top Comments

  • jw0752
    jw0752 over 7 years ago +3
    Hi Doug, Thanks for the update. John
  • DAB
    DAB over 7 years ago +3
    Nice update Douglas. Yes, it is always the stuff you assume works that end up surprising you at times. DAB
  • dixonselvan
    dixonselvan over 7 years ago +2
    Hi dougw This is a nice update even if it is short. I enjoyed watching you build in the video. Good Luck!
  • DAB
    DAB over 7 years ago

    Nice update Douglas.

     

    Yes, it is always the stuff you assume works that end up surprising you at times.

     

    DAB

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  • genebren
    genebren over 7 years ago

    Nice update on you Design Challenge project.  That is another clean PCB implementation.  I really like your dual purpose design.  It is nice when you can create a PCB that can be used to perform multiple tasks, saving a little bit of money in process.

    Extra points should be awarded for the use of discombobulated image

     

    Gene

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  • dixonselvan
    dixonselvan over 7 years ago

    Hi dougw

     

    This is a nice update even if it is short. I enjoyed watching you build in the video.

     

    Good Luck!

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  • jw0752
    jw0752 over 7 years ago

    Hi Doug,

    Thanks for the update.

    John

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