hey guys..
Im wondering anyone out there can help me trouble shoot a problem I having with my DIY Arduino clone circuit..
I have been working off a breadboard version of the Arduino I made:
layout:
my next project was to take that from breadboard to a simple/small PCB that can be shoved into projects.. and not have to stuck with that huge breadboard.
So I opened photoshop..(dont know Eagle or any other real software for this) designed my schematic/traces....
(based off tuts and instructables I have read over the months)
did the same for the underside of my board..
printed on photo paper..
transfer to copper board with iron (both sides...was a PITA)..
etched... cleaned.. drilled my holes..etc
and done.
he only difference I added was a small 4 pin header to the board to be used for FTDI programming for sketches..
GND, V++, RX, TX pinouts..
I soldered everything to the board... put in a chip that I knew already had programming (sketch) on it.. powered it up... held an led to the pin/gnd.. and watched it blink!
SUCCESS!..
(almost)..
I figured.. I better test the FTDI pins..and see if I can upload a sketch..
NO DICE!..
I am using a hacked cell phone data cable as my generic FTDI cable.. and has worked great in the past.. for breadboard.. and other Arduino pbc's/circuits I have.
there is NO RESET pin/wire on these FTDI cables.. so I have to manually hit the button to reset it and put in bootloader mode to accept an uploading sketch.
I see my switch IS working fine..as when it runs a normal program..I can restart it when the button/switch.
I test the v++ and GND with a meter and led to see if Im getting juice form the FTDI cable.. all is OK..
so its something with the RX/TX perhaps?
How does one begin to trouble shoot something like this?
I am very new.. dont know jack about electronics really..and am just learning, reading as I go along.. (tinker)
Here is my schematic I made (no jokes) =)
maybe its something else I did wrong?
yikes.. backside wasnt as good as top side.. paper moved a bit..and the edges came up a bit on some of the I/O pads.. (but its workable) =)
finished PCB/board:
other side:
like I said.. it IS running a sketch that is pre-programmed on the chip.. (so I guess its not a total failure?).. but being able to upload sketches 'is' needed..
any ideas on how to go about fixing this? or am I dead in the water here?
thanks.
**side question:
Is there a way for me to test my RX/TX pins for connection? on the FTDI cable and my Arduino?
using serial monitor or something to check for data being sent (through cable)..