SparkFun Forums 

Where electronics enthusiasts find answers.

Have questions about a SparkFun product or board? This is the place to be.
By mirakus
#172441
Hi all.

This is my first sparkfun kit, but I'm generally experienced with getting together various electronics kits overall.

I followed the directions, tried to make sure all of my connections were good and clean, verified values of the caps with a cap meter prior to soldering. When I plug in the clockit, the display just blinks, with the buzzer stopping and going along with it (I'm guessing this is the "alarm" behavior?). Sliding the alarm on/off switch, or pressing any combination of the buttons does not seem to alter this behavior. I'd briefly thought that maybe somehow I had to program this, but I was under the impression the controller chip was pre-programmed.

Any tips would be great. Thanks!

Image
Image

Video of the behavior:
http://madrigal.is-lost.org:4600/VID_20 ... 164626.mp4

I may not be able to keep the images and video up for too long (didn't see attach option for this forum), but hopefully this is a common problem and I won't have to. Thanks again.
By Mee_n_Mac
#172462
While it's obvious it has power, I wonder if the power is "good". If you have a voltmeter, measure the voltage across the pins for the barrel jack, both DC and AC. The DC voltage should be 5 +/- 0.2 V and the AC small, < 100 mV. While the power is likely OK, let's rule out the fault #1.
By mirakus
#172684
Hi. Thanks for the response!

This does indeed seem to be power related.

Plugging the included wall wart into AC power without the clockit attached in itself provides symptoms that something is wrong. For example, the led on the wall wart has a very slight "flashing" effect to it. When I measured the tip of the wall wart with my DVM, the voltage readings I was getting (DC) were fluctuating between and 3-5 volt, in a consistent pattern like oscillation. When I plug in the clockit, the led on the wall wart blinks on and off with the same timing as the clockit blinking. I'm guessing the wall wart is no good, and that having the load of the clockit on it is temporarily killing the power. I will try another power supply tonight to be sure, but I'm pretty sure the supply is my problem. I will mark thread as solved if that solves the issue.
By TS-Tim
#172763
Hi!
It sounds like your wall wart is bad. Those are good little supplies when they work. But from time to time there can be a bad apple in the batch. Shoot an email over to techsupport @ sparkfun.com with your order number and a quick mention of what's going on and we'll be happy to set you up with a new wall supply.
Thanks!
By mirakus
#172871
Okay. I finally got around to getting a new 5V power supply (had to wait on an order since retail ones can be outrageously expensive). I'm happy to say that the unit is now performing as expected! It does look like it was the wall wart, after all.

Thanks again for the responses!