I am trying to interface the sparkfun openlog micoSD chiphttp://www.sparkfun.com/products/9530 with an Arduino MEGA2560. I have not been able to send data to the SD card. I have the RX1 pin on the openlog wired to the TX1 port, the GND on the openlog to the GND, and VCC on the openlog to the 5V power port on the MEGA. I have no lights on the openlog chip and cannot get any data to write to the card, even when using the provided code.
/*
4-14-2010
Copyright SparkFun Electronics© 2010
Nathan Seidle
spark at sparkfun.com
This is a simple test sketch for OpenLog. It sends a large batch of characters to the serial port at 9600bps.
Original test was recomended by ScottH on issue #12:
http://github.com/nseidle/OpenLog/issues#issue/12
To use this sketch, attach RXI pin of OpenLog to TX pin on Arduino. Power OpenLog from 5V (or 3.3V) and GND pins from Arduino.
After power up, OpenLog will start flashing (indicating it's receiving characters). It takes about 1 minute for
the sketch to run to completion. This will create a file that looks like this:
...
6:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-!#
7:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-!#
8:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-!#
9:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-!#
#:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-!#
1:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-!#
2:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-!#
...
The reason for creating these character blocks is it allows for a reader to very quickly scan the visible characters and
indentify any byte errors or glitches along the way. Every 9 lines we print a 10th line that has a leading character
such as # or !. These allow us to quickly see the different blocks of 10 lines.
Note: Bootloading an Arduino will cause OpenLog to drop to command mode. This is because OpenLog is looking for the
escape character (ctrl+z). During a bootload, all sorts of characters get sent to the Arduino and therefore ctrl+z is likely
to get sent to OpenLog. v1.51 of the OpenLog firmware fixes this potential error by requiring three escape characters.
*/
int ledPin = 13; // LED connected to digital pin 13
void setup()
{
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600); //9600bps is default for OpenLog
//Serial.begin(57600); //Much faster serial, used for testing buffer overruns on OpenLog
//Serial.begin(115200); //Much faster serial, used for testing buffer overruns on OpenLog
delay(1000); //Wait a second for OpenLog to init
Serial.println();
Serial.println("Run OpenLog Test");
}
void loop()
{
int testAmt = 10;
//At 9600, testAmt of 4 takes about 1 minute, 10 takes about 3 minutes
//At 57600, testAmt of 10 takes about 1 minute, 40 takes about 5 minutes
//testAmt of 10 will push 111,000 characters/bytes. With header and footer strings, total is 111,052
//Each test is 100 lines. 10 tests is 1000 lines (11,000 characters)
for(int numofTests = 0 ; numofTests < testAmt ; numofTests++)
{
//This loop will print 100 lines of 110 characters each
for(int k = 33; k < 43 ; k++)
{
//Print one line of 110 characters with marker in the front (markers go from '!' to '*')
Serial.print(k); //Print the ASCII value directly: ! then " then #, etc
Serial.println(":abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-!#");
//delay(50);
//Then print 9 lines of 110 characters with new line at the end of the line
for(int i = 1 ; i < 10 ; i++)
{
Serial.print(i, DEC);
Serial.println(":abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-!#");
//delay(50);
}
if(digitalRead(ledPin) == 0)
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
else
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
}
}
unsigned long totalCharacters = (long)testAmt * 100 * 110;
Serial.print("Characters pushed: ");
Serial.println(totalCharacters);
Serial.print("Time taken (s): ");
Serial.println(millis()/1000);
Serial.println("Done!");
while(1)
{
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // set the LED on
delay(1000); // wait for a second
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // set the LED off
delay(1000); // wait for a second
}
}
Does anyone have any advice? Think its possible that the chip is fried or dead on arrival? Or am I missing something?
Thanks in advance...I'm new to this stuff and feel like I'm driving myself crazy 
