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  • Author Author: linkaspers
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Flora ColorCam: troubles in Flora-Paradise

linkaspers

Hi everyone, so sorry it took me so long to get another blogpost online. But you'll be hearing (or rather, reading) from me today and later this week!

I have to start this post with some sad news, because I have a suspicion that my Floraboard is not functioning as it should. I can upload my program to the board and so long as I keep the Arduino IDE running, the program works just fine. But once I unplug the Flora, shut down the IDE, and plug the Flora back in, the program I just uploaded is gone. The board is recognised by my computer and the onboard LED on the color sensor is on. Other than that, nothing works!

 

I inserted two close-up pictures of my Flora board. Just above the TX-pin, there's a chip that is supposed to be lying flat, but it is standing on end. Victor soldered it flat some time ago, but is it possible that it still has something to do with these problems I'm having? And is anyone else experiecing similar problems?

 

Any ideas/suggestions anyone?

Thanks!

 

 

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  • Thanks for the comments guys! I received an email from Element14 saying they had contact with Adafruit and a new Floraboard is on its way!
    I really hope it won't break down on me again.. In order to get my project working, I'm going to have to sew the Flora in an environment of foam and felt.. I'll try to cover up as much as I can with the static safe package James mentioned. But I can't cover everything. Fingers crossed!

     

    Btw, tombstoning James? Really? Haha, who knew!

  • I agree 100% with John's assessment of the capacitor. That looks like a manufacturing defect and I would see if you can get the board exchanged. Most likely the capacitor will be damaged when you try to resolder it and you won't be able to get the board replaced if you try and fix it yourself.

  • The rather colorful technical term for an SMT component standing on end like that is "tombstoning".  I don't have a Flora schematic or part placement diagram, but it's looks like it's a capacitor next to an SMT crystal and thus part of an oscillator circuit.  It would be a good idea to resolder it flat, otherwise the oscillator could be unstable.

     

    I don't know if this is causing your symptoms.  They sound more like a problem with getting the boot mode right for the micro-controller.  Is there a jumper that needs to be in place for the uC to boot itself instead of waiting for a download over USB?  I'm not an Arduino expert, so I don't know what they need.

  • Microcontrollers are highly susceptible to shock, vibration, static electricity and power surges.  Most likely the micro received some static charge built up on the fabric that damaged the IC.  Maybe there is a way of isolating the fabric from the surface of the chip or covering it with a static safe package and then sewing it into the material?