[RiotInferno]

RC Version: 1.15.0.0, downloaded fresh yesterday.

I flashed the RC software onto a new Arduino Uno, and setup a very basic circuit on my breadboard to verify the install, setup, and communications.
The breadboard connects Resistors and LEDs to the A0-A4 pins, per the RC diagrams.

I configured RC as per the pinned 'Race Coordinator Arduino Connection' thread.

RC would connect to the Arduino Uno (the connected LED would go green), but non of the Analog LED toggles would toggle the LEDs in the circuit.
I tried starting a race, hoping the countdown would trigger the LEDs and nothing lit up.
I put my multimeter on the circuits and there was no voltage when there should be.

Thinking it might be a bad board, I flashed the sketch onto a Arduino Mega, and have the same results.

I opened a serial connection to the arduino and manually sent it the Write Pin protocols:
OA01; (turn on A0) which turns on the LED attached to A0, so the circuit is good and the code running on the mega works.
I did the same for A1-A4, and those all worked.
O was able to turn them each off with
OA00; (turn of A0)

I configured the debug log and dumped it, and it looks like it's trying to send:
07/29/2022 09:48:12.629 PM:SerialConnection [COM3] -- DEBUG1: ***Serial send data: 4F 41 0 1 3B -- 'OA ;'

I would expect the serial string to be 4F 41 48 49 3B. (ascii translation to OA01 not the 4F 41 0 1 3B as seen here.

Am I overlooking something obvious, or is there a step somewhere in the configuration I must have missed? As far as I can tell, the test circuit is good, the arduino is working as expected, it's just that the RC software isn't communicating to the Arduino in the right way.

Thanks!

 

[Michael B]

Are you running RC in the demo mode?
Demo mode allows RC software evaluation without hardware.

mike

 

[RiotInferno]

Are you running RC in the demo mode?
Demo mode allows RC software evaluation without hardware.

mike

I had tried both Demo Mode and without (not really knowing what the difference was).
I verified I'm not in demo mode and dumped a fresh log, and it the log also looks the same.

07/30/2022 10:22:37.503 AM:ArduinoProto -- INFO: Initializing led string updates (LedBegin)
07/30/2022 10:22:37.503 AM:ArduinoProto -- INFO: Setting A4 to 1
07/30/2022 10:22:37.503 AM:ArduinoProto -- INFO: SendData: '4F 41 04 01 3B '
07/30/2022 10:22:37.503 AM:SerialConnection [COM3] -- DEBUG1: ***Serial send data: 4F 41 4 1 3B -- 'OA;'
07/30/2022 10:22:37.504 AM:ArduinoProto -- INFO: Send Complete

 

[Michael B]

How is the analog configuration ?
I've attached an example of the start countdown of 3,2,1 along with displaying the lap leader.
The red button to the right of each channel would toggle the Led on or off.
The Led string's 1-4 are for Neopixel or programmable Leds.

Mike

 

[RiotInferno]

I have A0 - A4 set up as Start LEDs 1-5.
Toggling the LED buttons next to the drop-downs do not toggle the LEDs on my circuit. This is what started my troubleshooting that I laid out in the first post.
I know the circuit is good, I know the software on the Arduino is good, I can manually trigger the LEDs using the Serial Console. I just can't get them working with the RC software.

I'm just sort of baffled by all this. The instructions are pretty clear, and this isn't my first foray into hobby electronics or micro-controllers. I'd like to think I'm pretty competent, but I haven't been able to track this down yet.

 

[Lannoc]

Couple of suggestions/requests...

It sounds like a mismatch between the Arduino/sketch and RC, as both are working independently.
It doesn't work in demo mode.
If you have a track connected as well, you need to have multi-track set, with coms ports for each.
Have you changed the config in the sketch and does it match the Arduino pins?
If you can post the sketch you have used and a picture of the Arduino pins, we may be able to spot a mismatch.

 

[Race Coordinator]

Not sure if you said this or not but what happens on the arduino configuration screen when you click the on screen led next to each analog pin? If you click the same button 2-4 times it "should" turn your led on and off. If this works, make sure to click "accept" and then "update" to save your changes.

And did you say when you used the serial debugger and sent the write command to the analog pin that it worked? If that works, then everything else "should" work.

 

[Race Coordinator]

Oh, one more thing, are you trying to use RGB leds or the old school mono colored ones? If you're trying to use RGB leds you haven't configured it correctly...

 

[Slingshotx]

If you have multiple tracks, make sure you select 'update' with each of the tracks selected and update all tracks in turn

 

[RiotInferno]

Thank you for all the replies, this community is great. I'm addressing a handful of posts in one comment here (see quotes).

Couple of suggestions/requests...

It sounds like a mismatch between the Arduino/sketch and RC, as both are working independently.
It doesn't work in demo mode.
If you have a track connected as well, you need to have multi-track set, with coms ports for each.
Have you changed the config in the sketch and does it match the Arduino pins?
If you can post the sketch you have used and a picture of the Arduino pins, we may be able to spot a mismatch.

I currently don't have a track connected. It's just the breadboard with the 5 LEDs & Resistors.
I have verified it's not in demo mode.
The sketch is from the 1.15.0 install (data\arduino\lapCounter\lapCounter.ino) with the only change being to enable the serial debug.
Here's a pic of the breadboard connections, its just A0-A4 + Ground.

Not sure if you said this or not but what happens on the arduino configuration screen when you click the on screen led next to each analog pin? If you click the same button 2-4 times it "should" turn your led on and off. If this works, make sure to click "accept" and then "update" to save your changes.

And did you say when you used the serial debugger and sent the write command to the analog pin that it worked? If that works, then everything else "should" work.

Clicking the on-screen LED (once or multiple times) has no effect. The Arduino Connection LED is green, so RC is connected to it.
Yes, when I send write commands to the analog pins w/ the serial debugger, then the LEDs turn on and off as expected (depending on what commands are sent). This was the main point of confusion for me, because it seems like everything should "just work" at this point.

Oh, one more thing, are you trying to use RGB leds or the old school mono colored ones? If you're trying to use RGB leds you haven't configured it correctly...

I'm using old-school mono colored ones. I have some neopixels I want to wire up, but wanted to sanity-check my install and wiring before I got too far along in my project.

If you have multiple tracks, make sure you select 'update' with each of the tracks selected and update all tracks in turn

The only connection to RC right now is the breadboard w/ the LEDs on it.

I'm pretty much at an impass here, so my next step is to re-install the RC software and see if that helps at all.
I'll report back when I know more.

 

[RiotInferno]

Sometimes it just takes explaining things multiple times until something clicks.

If you enable the Serial Debugger, it prevents the RC software from communicating with the arduino.
I disabled the serial debug flag, recompiled, and now everything works as expected.

Thank you all so much for all your help. I look forward to future discussions with the community!

 

[Lannoc]

Glad you got it sorted!

 

[Race Coordinator]

You beat me to it. Glad you worked it out.

Serial Debug is meant to use with a port monitor (like the one that comes with the arduino ide. It's 100% incompatible with RC itself.