Messages

1

TinyDuino / Re: TinyZero voltage output

« on: October 19, 2020, 02:10:11 PM »

Hello,

Yes, you can plug in the 3.7V lithium batteries directly into the TinyZero. There are a few options: https://tinycircuits.com/collections/batteries

To convert a 3.7V input to 5V output, you would need some separate hardware. This forum post references some options, but there are a lot of options available online: https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=119175.0

I hope that helps!

Réna

2

TinyDuino / Re: Using multiple 9AXIS IMU TinyShield

« on: October 15, 2020, 01:25:34 PM »

The master (central) device can communicate with multiple slave (peripheral) devices, but the central is limited to talking to one peripheral at a time with the way the software is currently written. I tested this and have a picture attached with some colors so that you can see how it looks.

If you need data at the same time, I might recommend pairing the 9-Axis data with a timestamp so that you can get all the data you need at those specific time points, but there might be an easier solution!

It is true that BLE 4.1 is able to support concurrent data between multiple peripherals - but the software is rather complex and there is usually an easier solution in many Arduino situations, so this is why you will not often see the above method pursued.

I would recommend using your phone as the central device and then having the 4 BLE/9-Axis stacks as the peripherals. Depending on your phone's Bluetooth, I believe there will be enough resources online to make this method easier than needing to develop a Bluetooth library for Arduino.

I cannot help much on the Android side of things, but I hope that helps point you in the right direction!

Thanks,
Laveréna

3

TinyDuino / Re: Using multiple 9AXIS IMU TinyShield

« on: October 13, 2020, 03:02:25 PM »

polar96,

We do not have any formal documentation on the process or formal examples posted on our website, but I did manage to find some examples we developed in the past in the hopes of releasing them on our site at some point.

These examples will be a good place to start for pairing Bluetooth devices together, but will by no means fulfill all of your project desires - the 9-Axis data transmission will need to be added by you. Please keep in mind that these examples are unpublished due to limited testing. There might be bugs to solve, but I was able to use the programs and two ST BLE stacks to communicate with each other using TinyZero processors. (To test for yourself, you'll just need to open two different Arduino IDEs/serial monitors and plug two stacks into your computer with the different programs uploaded on the different stacks)

The blueNRGUARTPassThrough example is similar to what you already have available from our site but improved in some ways. This code will work for your non-central Bluetooth device.

The blueNRGCentralSenderNew example should be used on the Bluetooth module you want to be your central device.

When the code is uploaded to each correctly, you should be able to open the Serial Monitor and see the modules say “Hello!” to each other with timestamps.

This should be a good starting point for you.

Thanks,

Laveréna

4

General Discussion / Re: Tinyduino gps

« on: October 12, 2020, 12:50:49 PM »

Hello,

This Overview page may help clear up some questions about how our boards work together: https://tinycircuits.com/pages/tinyduino-overview

For the coin cell battery board, I am assuming the Coin Cell TinyDuino is what you currently have. The coin cell option is incompatible with lithium batteries due to its existing power source being the coin cell battery - so there is nowhere to use a lithium battery in this scenario. as you have found.

It sounds like you want to use a GPS TinyShield. Unfortunately, as noted on the GPS product page in the power requirements, the GPS requires more current than the coin cell option can supply, so you would need a processor compatible with the lithium batteries in order to power the GPS board. I would recommend the TinyZero: https://tinycircuits.com/collections/processors/products/tinyzero-processor

I hope that helps answer some of your questions. Let me know if you have any more!

Thanks,
Réna

5

TinyDuino / Re: read the status led for the battery

« on: October 07, 2020, 02:04:00 PM »

I believe I may have personally emailed you, but I will post the answers to your questions here for all forum users to see.

It depends on the processor board.

For the TinyZero – there isn’t a way to read the status due to the charging LED being encapsulated in a circuit with the voltage regulator.

For the TinyDuino – you would need to read the voltage of the processor and determine from there whether it is charging or not.

The TinyScreen+ is similar to the TinyDuino, and we have a ready-made tutorial for the TinyScreen+ and how to display the battery voltage if you are interested in knowing the state of charge of a TinyScreen+: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Help/TinyScreenPlus-Battery-Voltage-Tutorial/ Just note that this tutorial only works for the TinyScreen+.

6

General Discussion / Re: Duel Motor TinyShield Schematic Issue

« on: October 06, 2020, 12:42:46 PM »

John,

We do have 2-pin JST cables that you could solder onto a motor to use with the Dual Motor TinyShield: https://tinycircuits.com/collections/cables-connectors/products/jst-sh-2-pin-connector

We also have 3-pin JST cables for servos if you were interested in those as well: https://tinycircuits.com/collections/cables-connectors/products/3-pin-jst-sh-pigtail-100mm

Hope that helps!

7

General Discussion / Re: Duel Motor TinyShield Schematic Issue

« on: October 05, 2020, 12:11:49 PM »

John,

It looks like some recent updates went wrong on this page. I will fix them up today.

Thanks for the catch and letting us know!

8

TinyDuino / Re: TinyScreen Smart Watch Compiler issues

« on: October 05, 2020, 12:09:04 PM »

Hello, 

The redefinition error is most likely due to downloading a library or arduino program and having duplication somewhere in your Arduino folders. I recommend going through and deleting all traces you have of the example and starting over with the libraries included above to make sure you have the right folders in the right places.

9

TinyDuino / Re: TinyScreen Smart Watch Compiler issues

« on: September 28, 2020, 02:14:53 PM »

Hello,

I tested the Android ST example that you can download from the Smart Watch Learn page (https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Kits/TinyScreen-Smart-Watch-Kit_Tutorial/). Using a TinyDuino, USB TinyShield, ST BLE TinyShield, and TinyScreen, I had no problem uploading the program.

There are some warnings that will pop up during the upload, but I receive a "Done uploading" message after waiting. Do you have the right hardware? Does the program upload successfully after the warnings? Did you make any modifications?

I attached the program I used and the supporting libraries so that you can verify if you have the correct libraries downloaded.

Let me know how it goes for you.

10

Wirelings / Re: RobotZero DC motor difficulty

« on: September 28, 2020, 12:36:39 PM »

Glad to hear everything went well for you! In the next Rev, we are thinking there will just be some small software change for DC motors rather than the board modification.

As for the forum viewing, I wasn't aware of that! I am not sure if it can be altered with the security on the forum, but I will definitely look into it.

11

Wirelings / Re: RobotZero DC motor difficulty

« on: September 24, 2020, 02:42:16 PM »

I will definitely take some time in the next few weeks to update the Learn page with the DC motor possibility for Rev3 - I am sure you will not be the last person to ask about the possibility.

12

Wirelings / Re: RobotZero DC motor difficulty

« on: September 21, 2020, 06:08:49 PM »

Hello,

First things first, always make sure you have a battery plugged in to power the motors (since their power supply is different from the VCC on the rest of the board). That may help resolve any issues with the Motor TinyShield.

As for the RobotZero, the first released revision does not directly support DC motors. The next revision that supports DC motors has been designed, but not yet implemented in production.

You can, however, cut some traces on the board in order to allow DC Motor control. I have attached an image that shows the two traces you would need to cut on the board. You can make these cuts with a sharp hobby/X-ACTO knife. After these cuts, it would be difficult to solder them back together even with the proper equipment - so you would not be able to use stepper motors after this modification. This is a good solution if you only care about DC motors.

For using the DC motors after the modification, I attached an image showing which pins to use on the RobotZero (the two pins closest to the battery port with power on the left, and ground on the right in respect to the attached image) and an example program with a new DC motor function to control DC motors.

I hope that helps!

Thank you,

Réna

13

TinyDuino / Re: Tinyscreen+ keep RTC alive while tunr off

« on: September 21, 2020, 02:57:26 PM »

This tutorial may not directly do what you want, but it has all the parts that will help you accomplish your project goal: https://tinycircuits.com/blogs/learn/tinyscreen-external-interrupt-sleep-mode

14

TinyDuino / Re: TinyScreen Smart Watch Compiler issues

« on: September 21, 2020, 02:55:42 PM »

Hello,

Sorry to hear about the errors. The first thing I would recommend is verifying you are able to program the TinyDuino using the TinyDuino getting started tutorial: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Processors/TinyDuino_Setup_Tutorial/

The errors you have mean that there is an issue uploading the program to the processor board. The usual culprits are:
0. The micro USB cable you are using does not have the data wires to be able to program your TinyDuino - many micro USB cables that are used as chargers for electronics only have the power and ground wires. You can try using a few other cables if you have them.
1. The processor power switch is OFF and needs to be flipped to ON.
2. The Tools selections in the Arduino IDE aren't the correct selections for the processor you are using. You can find the correct Tools selections on the getting started page I linked above. Make sure you have the "3.3V and the 8MHz" option selected!

I hope that helps!

Let me know if you are still getting errors and if they change.

Thanks,

Réna

15

General Discussion / Re: TinyZero Board not recognized

« on: September 08, 2020, 01:09:23 PM »

Hello, I believe I already answered this in an email, but I will copy it here for community reference.

i) The beginning tutorial can be found here: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Processors/TinyScreen+_Setup_Tutorial/
The different examples that flash on the screen are detailed with comments in the program to help you understand how to do what you are asking for. Basically, you will be generating arrays of what you want to put on the screen, and then you can display those array objects at the point (x-axis, y-axis) you program on the screen. The screen is 96 x 64.

ii) I would advise you to try the bootloader mode: https://learn.tinycircuits.com/Processors/TinyZero_Setup_Tutorial/#troubleshooting

Thanks,
Réna