I got a new DFPlayer mini from Amazon. I dont think its DF Robot brand but cheap knock off, but in any case it looks OK from the outside. I have wired it up per DFRobot and other guidance, it looks wired OK, and all per:
But when I run the little sketch in the video (which compiles fine and looks good) the module doesn't initialize and in any case the little power LED never comes on. I am pretty sure the wiring is good and its hooked to known good and working Arduino, I am not using external power for now, but the 5VDC and ground from the Arduino Uno R4 wifi.
I dont know what to troubelshoot next, does anyone have any suggestions? I suppose the module which was cheap, could be bad...?
The issue to start is the LED light is not even on, which tells me something is wrong and its not even getting power, yet it is wired right and I checked that its getting 5 VDC from Arduino.
All the data seems to indicate it can tolerate 5 VDC. First question, is the LED supposed to be on when it even simply has power and ground attached?
// Initialize software serial on pins 10 and 11
SoftwareSerial mySoftwareSerial(10, 11); // RX, TX
DFRobotDFPlayerMini myDFPlayer;
String line;
char command;
int pause = 0;
int repeat = 0;
void setup() {
// Serial communication with the module
mySoftwareSerial.begin(9600);
// Initialize Arduino serial
Serial.begin(115200);
// Check if the module is responding and if the SD card is found
Serial.println();
Serial.println(F("DFRobot DFPlayer Mini"));
Serial.println(F("Initializing DFPlayer module ... Wait!"));
if (!myDFPlayer.begin(mySoftwareSerial)) {
Serial.println(F("Not initialized:"));
Serial.println(F("1. Check the DFPlayer Mini connections"));
Serial.println(F("2. Insert an SD card"));
while (true)
;
}
Serial.println();
Serial.println(F("DFPlayer Mini module initialized!"));
// Initial settings
myDFPlayer.setTimeOut(500); // Serial timeout 500ms
myDFPlayer.volume(5); // Volume 5
myDFPlayer.EQ(0); // Normal equalization
// myDFPlayer.EQ(DFPLAYER_EQ_POP);
// myDFPlayer.EQ(DFPLAYER_EQ_ROCK);
// myDFPlayer.EQ(DFPLAYER_EQ_JAZZ);
// myDFPlayer.EQ(DFPLAYER_EQ_CLASSIC);
// myDFPlayer.EQ(DFPLAYER_EQ_BASS);
menu_options();
}
That is not useful. Draw by hand if you don;t have software and take a picture of the drawing. Make sure it is readable on screen. Label everything that isn't obvious.
I am not sure if its getting power (first problem) the code doesn't even seem to initialize. Do you know if with power the LED light is on? I can never get the LED to illuminate, so I suspect its not even powering up. I am rechecking power with my multi-meter. Do you know about the LED and what it means when on?
Can't speak to the multitude of clones, knockoffs and outright fake DFplayers out there, but on the real ones (and any "free enterprise" versions I've run into), the only LED on the module is connected to the BUSY signal. So it lights up when a track is being played.
Thanks, that is helpful. I assumed (and based on some research) that the power light was always on, but I think now its not the case. It def has power.
