:-S arduino lilypad blues :: not in sync

Also went to http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm and ran the setup executable, restarted arduino, un/plug'd the lilypad and tried uploading again...no deal :stuck_out_tongue:

Here's a little tidbit for someone more knowledgeable than me to ponder and maybe you can tell me if things are supposed to be this way:

  1. I can remove the +5V connection from the USBMini to the Lilypad and STILL HAVE POWER TO THE LILYPAD. Go figure. With the TX, RX, and Ground hooked up, I have a lit LED and it will flash when reset is pressed. If gound is unhooked at any time (even with +5V attached, there is no power)

  2. I took power readings on the USBMini (while hooked to my laptop) from TX, RX, +5V ---- with and without the jumper on and here are my readings:

TX w/out jumper = 2.42V
TX with jumper = 3.75V
RX w/out jumper = 4.80V
RX with jumper = 4.99V
+5 w/out jumper = 1.53V
+5 with jumper = 5.15V

  1. Is there supposed to be that much juice going through the TX and RX even without data flow?

  2. How is it that either the TX or RX is somehow supplying "power" to the Lilypad and allowing it to power up even WITHOUT ANYTHING hooked to the +5V connection on the Lilypad. Is there some monster Cap on there that can dispense power for at least a minute. It seems as if some of the traces on the Lilypad are crossed somewhere.

All very strange. I'm definitely a nooby, but when I disconnected the +5V and I still had power, my head almost spun off.

Are you sure COM3 is the right port? Look for a USB-Serial device in the Windows Device Manager, and make sure you select that COM port in the Arduino Serial Port menu.

Also, are those pieces of black foam conductive? You might want to remove it from the Mini-USB Adapter. Did you check the connections between the pads on the Mini-USB Adapter and the pads on the LilyPad with a multimeter? What's the resistance between them? The connection between the alligator clips and the Mini-USB adapter looks like it might be a bit unstable.

Did you get any more output when you set upload.verbose to true? It might provide an indication of whether or not any data at all is making it to the LilyPad.

Does the RX LED on the Mini-USB Adapter ever blink?

HOLLY COW !!!! MINE WORKS NOW !!!!!!

Two things happened.

  1. The foam is conducive. I ran out into the garage after your last post, pulled the foam off of my USBMini (which I think I always had on there), hooked it to the Ohm meter and wahlah.....

  2. My RX and TX are in fact crossed. Not my wires but it must be something on the USBMini. My wires are all color coded and I've looked at it a dozen times, but I figured what do I have to loose by crossing them, it's as good as bricked the way it is now. And bammmmmm I uploaded the blink sketch without a problem...

The thing that still confuses me is why was I getting a flashing led without +5V hooked up to the Lilypad????? Even without the foam in there, it still did it.

Oh well.........Now I have a diecimila.....AND......a Lilypad.

Good luck Tickler.....I hope yours is the same problem as mine....

:-[ i think i toasted my mini USB trying to read the voltage.

Now both the rx and tx lights are on and if I leave it plugged in it gets really hot.

guess i have to order an arduino board and try that.

this really sux...

seems like this is a product change request and/or product opportunity

MAKE IT EASIER TO CONNECT THE LILYPAD TO YOUR PC

Can someone confirm that the TX on the mini USB should connect to the RX on the lilypad?

Looking more closely, it appears that my mini USB is not exactly the same as the one here
http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~buechley/images/diy_lilypad/lilypad_tutorial%20-%2041.JPG so it may have been an error to assume the location of the rx/tx contacts are the same as mine.

I suppose it makes sense that the TX (outbound) on the mini USB should connect to the RX (inbound) on the Lilypad.

I am working on a new version w/ better connection! Stay tuned & please, send me design feedback: Leah.Buechley@colorado.edu.

leahb and tickler,

the tx/rx issue isn't exactly as it seems. it may be 'technically' correct to connect tx from usbmini to rx on lilypad, but this is assuming that tx and rx on the usbmini are 'traced' correctly on the printed circuit board. I am here to tell you that i currently connect rx on my miniusb to rx on my lilypad and i connect tx to tx. This is the way it works on mine. (This next statement is not a slam) My only explanation is that someone made a mistake on the lilypad traces or the miniusb traces and put one of them backwards.

There are ALOT of people that have complained about this not in sync issue. One of the common replies is 'switch your tx and rx connections'. i was getting the same error when trying things the 'right' way but when i put rx to rx and tx to tx, it started working fine.

Just some food for thought. Things are not always as they seem. i havent done this, but you may want to grab a powerfull mangifying glass and see if you can follow the traces on the pcb from the rx/tx to the pins on the lilypad and the miniusb and see what pins they go to and compare that to the schematics.

I'm a dork! just got home from a long trip & had a chance to take a closer look at everything. fornzix, you're right. tx on the Arduino mini USB->serial adapter should be attached to tx on the LilyPad and ditto with rx. For many other usb->serial devices things would be the other way around--that is you'd attach rx to tx, etc. Everybody, please be aware that this connection is sensitively dependent on the usb->serial device you're using!

& I promise there's nothing wrong with the traces on the LilyPad or the USB mini adapter.

I'd really like to have a final answer since my lilypad is in jeopardy ;D

Looking closely at the photos on the lilypad setup section http://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/ArduinoLilyPad on arduino.cc, we have the mini usb tx (yellow wire) attaching to the rx on the lilypad (rx is exactly at noon on the lilypad).

Are the demo/tutorial photos incorrect?

Does it depend on the lilypad or mini usb version?

Which is right?

Help me out here...i'm an amateur :-[

tx on the lillypad should be the second pin from the left looking at 12 o'clock, rx is next door, the 3rd pin from the left.

According to the 168v spec sheet, it's pin 31(tx) and pin 30(rx), so the lillypad is wired correctly (I just received 2, and both are correct).

I also received a USB mini03, I can't tell if that's wired correctly because there's text blobbed all over the PCB.

OK after some more investigations, I have found that some versions of the Arduino mini USB adapter had different labeling. The USB connector in the pictures on the Arduino website labels TX as the second connection from the left while current boards label that same connection as RX. I checked the same picture you did ticklr when I posted my first reply, but was then confused when I returned home and other, more recent, boards I had were labeled differently. So, I thought I had just messed up in my first post. I don't think the wiring on the Arduino USB boards changed, I suspect that just the labeling did. So, you always want to connect RX on the LilyPad to the connection that is second from the left on the Arduino mini USB adapter (labeled RX in your photos ticklr, but--ack!--TX in the ones I took).

FYI, swapping the TX and RX connection to your LilyPad won't do any harm. Your LilyPad just won't work when they're not hooked up right. What killed your Arduino USB connector was leaving the conductive foam on the Arduino USB board :-[. I'm going to spend all day tomorrow working on updated documentation and tutorials and I will put up a post once that's done.

Leah

pic of mini USB adapter versions 2 & 3 showing the labeling issue

Imgur

Again, in all versions of the mini USB adapter that I have encountered, you want to connect the second from the left tab (labeled RX in version 3, but TX in version 2) to RX on the LilyPad.

New tutorial for connecting the LilyPad is now here:

http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~buechley/LilyPad/computer_attach.html

;D yay! My arduino decimilia came today.

Tickler is happy now cause my lilypad is now programmable. Now that I know what to do I connected in an instant.

I learned that to upload to the lilypad via the decimilia, the RX on the decimilia connects to the TX on the lilypad (and vice-versa). This makes sense 'cause outbound should go to inbound, etc.

:frowning: ohhhh, i wish it didn't cost me $20 bucks for enlightenment

on the upside, now i can go to raves and burning man sporting my new lilypad powered electro clothes :slight_smile:

NO WAY ::slight_smile:

I was able to upload the blink sketch to the lilypad.

Then I modified the pin value in the blink sketch, recompiled, and attempted upload with lilypad selected.

The result was the sync error. Thinking I needed to upload to the diecimila I disconnected the lilypad, reset the diecimila and uploaded to it without issue.

Then I reconnected the lilypad, selected lilypad from the IDE, reset the lilypad and attempted upload again.

The upload to the lilypad failed and now the led no longer blinks from the blink sketch. It's like the lilypad lost the blink sketch and was replaced with nothing and i can't upload anything now. I know this sounds crazy. Note that my lilypad does not appear fried cause the led still blinks regularly with the tx/rx connected to the arduino.

Arrrrrrrrrgh !!

Pirate arrrgh.

With the diecimila I have changed pins, powered LED's, etc, etc all within 30 minutes of receiving it.

The lilypad has been nothing but PAIN.

Leah - respectfully, can i send you my lilypad to check it out?

this can't be just me...the deicimila is like a parkwalk to me so i'm fairly sure i'm not a total idiot :-/

OK, first of all, did you remove the AVR chip from the Diecimilla before you tried to program the LilyPad? Two chips attached via the same communication bus will really confuse the computer. Try that first!

Second, I have to confess that I've never tried programming the LilyPad via the Diecimilla board because I thought that the auto reset functionality on that board might interfere with the LilyPad communication. This is why I recommend using an NG. But, your post makes me realize that I should have concrete results to report back on with Diecimilla. I'll do tests as soon as I get a chance.

Third and sad possibility is that you may have fried your LilyPad when you fried your mini USB adapter. You probably had a pretty bad power-ground short going for awhile (via the coductive foam) and this makes all electronics unhappy. If you'd like to send me your LilyPad you're welcome to. Email me & I can give you my address...

I'm sorry that you'd had a bad experience! I trust in your competence programming wise & I know how you've feel. I have been in your boat many times. From this discussion, I suspect that it was the conductive foam that killed things for you... Don't give up on the LilyPad yet!

& send a comment to SparkFun about your connection travails, requesting a nicer interface :wink: This will help me persuade them to invest in a redesign.

I also have this "sync" problem with a Lilypad and USB link purchased in 2008. I gave up after a while and moved on to Rabbit. My interest was rekindled recently when someone confirmed that a Windows pc could be used (after all). I now have a Windows 7 64-bit box but the error persists, even with the latest IDE (22). I saw the discussion in this thread about possible reversal of rx and tx between the devices and thought that would explain my lack of success after trying almost everything else. But, even after reversing the two middle pins, I get the same "sync/protocol" errors posted above. There was no conducting foam or shorting since I know about that. I had put everything away carefully before trying again.

Leah, can you suggest anything else?