LilyPad USB making a whiny noise when plugged into Mac or PC

Using Arduino Microcontrollers
1

Hi! I am a graphic design student and super new to Arduino and E-textiles. I recently purchased a LilyPad USB ATmega32U4 Board (LilyPad Arduino USB - ATmega32U4 Board - DEV-12049 - SparkFun Electronics) from SparkFun for a project.

Upon plugging it into my Mac for the first time (via a micro USB cable > USB to USB C adapter/dongle), the light under "STAT" started a blinking and a subtle but high-pitched whining sound began. This doesn't seem right to me, because the sound instantly gave me a headache, and the UNO board I have doesn't do that. I'm attaching a video here: IMG_7419.MOV - Google Drive

Does this mean the board is defective, or maybe it's the connection to my computer? I'm also getting an error message trying to upload the blink sketch to it via the Arduino IDE. Any help/guidance would be much appreciated, thanks!

2

see lilypad usb blinks alot and makes a hiss sound - #3 by inof8or

3

Hi @J-M-L ,

I saw that one, but their solution was for Windows so I wanted to see if any Mac users might be having the same issue. Sketches are uploading fine now to my LilyPad, it's just the noise I'm having trouble with.

4

Do you get the same noise when you just supply 5V to the USB connector, for example, from just a charger module and no data connection?

5

Does your Mac only have USB-C ports?

6

Hi @EmilyJane and @er_name_not_found,

Yeah, my Mac only has USB-C ports. I just tried it on a PC (which has a USB port, no dongle needed) with the Windows IDE and it still emits the screeching noise.

I'll try it on a portable charger this week and see if that works, thank you for the suggestion!

7

Looks like there's supposed to be a 30ohm ferrite bead and a 1uF bypass cap after the bead between VCC1 and the other three VCC inputs. There also appears to be no regulator. If I'm looking at the right schematic. I'm just a well-seeded amateur, but I believe this will make your wire resonate at a frequency determined by the chip speed and the wire length, though I don't know how to calculate it.

I think I read an ARRL article about this being done intentionally to play anchors away on an AM radio, but it's been 20 years.

1 Like
8

Oh, that's interesting. I appreciate you checking the schematic and breaking it down for me, thanks!

9

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.