Basic functioning

[timb]

Hi. I bought my Crumble over a year ago, tested it and have done very little with it since then. I’ve now got it out and want to use it again but have run up against some problems. When I run a basic program to make a Sparkle change colour the sparkle shows a very dim red light which flashes on and off. When I remove the USB the sparkle does not light up at all. I’m using three new batteries and the latest Crumble software. I’ve checked my wiring and all seems correct. I’ve tried different USBs and a different computer.
When I used the sparkle before I’m sure a small red light lit up on the device itself. This doesn’t seem to be there any more.
Is there anything I’m missing or do you think this in now an ex Crumble that needs replacing?

[Dr_Alex]

Sounds like a power issue. Put a multimeter on the output from the battery pack to make sure you are getting at least 4.5 V. Connect up the Crumble and check the voltage at the +/- connectors of the Crumble.

[timb]

Thanks for your reply 🙂
WE did some testing with the multimeter and everything seemed to be working. I think it”s the sparkle that must be broken.I found a motor and tried it with this and it worked fine.

[Daniel]

Hi timb,

I’m sorry to hear that you are having problems with the Crumble. There a few possible steps to try to resolve the issue.

1) Make sure that the Sparkle is connected correctly. You can use Sparkle Help to assist you with this. I noticed that you mentioned about the red LED on the board. This lights up when the motor output is on.

2) If you have more than one Sparkle, try chaining them together, then addressing them individually (Sparkle(0), Sparkle(1) etc.

3) Make sure that you are not using rechargeable batteries – the green and blue emitter especially, require 4.5v.

4)We can replicate the dim red flashing on a Sparkle, when we remove the negative connection – check that the croc leads you are using, aren’t damaged in any way.

If these still don’t work, it may be worth popping a video/photos of your set up etc. to assist us further.

Kind regards,

Dan

[Author]

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