I’ve been having trouble using a RIODuino as I think it should work.
When I plug it in the RoboRIO MXP port, the RIODuino won’t power up. I have to connect a USB cable between it and the RoboRIO to power up the board.
When the RIODuino is plugged into the MXP port, I can’t program the RIODuino. The IDE complains that it can’t find the board. If I unplug it from the MXP port, it works fine.
Finally, the RIODuino doesn’t seem to see the I2C signals being sent to it. I used a standalone Arduino Uno and connected its I2C pins directly to the MXP I2C pins. I’m able to send commands from the RoboRIO to the Uno just fine. If I plug the RIODuino in, it won’t see the same I2C commands sent through the same port.
Any ideas? I’ve tried it on two different RoboRIOs with the same results. Thanks.
Ken
Ours powers up when plugged in to the mxp. Make sure the retaining screw holes line up with the threaded holes on the rio. I plugged ours in once and it didn’t power up but realized that I must have had the pins plugged in incorrectly because the holes did not line up.
If the RIODuino is plugged into the MXP port and the RIO is on, it should immediately turn on. You should also be able to upload programs to the RIODuino while it’s plugged in. We’ve had random instances of the IDE not finding our board, solved by changing nothing and trying again.
I2C may be a different problem. We’re using Serial to do our communication, so I can’t comment on I2C.
If you have a different RIO or different MXP board, I would try to see if the MXP port is the problem.
That makes a lot of sense and would explain all the behaviors I’m seeing. I had thought that with the RoboRIO having a fixed-size opening, the board wouldn’t be able to be plugged in offset to one side. I’ve also removed and inserted the board over a dozen times and apparently got it wrong every time. I’ll take a much closer look at how it’s going on. Thanks for the suggestion.
Ken
Yup. That was it. It’s possible to plug the RIODuino in three different ways: correctly in the center, and one pin left and one pin right of center. The RIODuino needs to use a connector with wider ends to make it impossible to plug it in offset. Works great now.