#soldering

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

mystic drift
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@proud bluff better to use male for the breadboard. I was just

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suggesting what to do if you don't want to go to the store

proud bluff
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ohh

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well i dont have soley male to male either

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I just have female to male

mystic drift
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you really want male-male for breadboards

proud bluff
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So how does that work with header pins

mystic drift
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you could make some with solid wire

proud bluff
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wouldn't it just not go in

mystic drift
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you don't put the jumpers on the pins, you put them in the holes NEXT to the pins on the breadboard

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On the breadboard, the vertical columns are connected together. Read the breadboard guide

proud bluff
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Ohhh

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I see what you mean

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cus they're connected

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I get it

mystic drift
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so all five holes below the middle are connected together, and all five above are connected together

proud bluff
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So the header pins are isolated

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and the wires

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are just pinned from th etop

mystic drift
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the header pins and wires are not touching, but they are connected together inside the breadboard

proud bluff
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Okay i see

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so ima head to the estore get new solder, soldering iron, and M2M wires

mystic drift
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so read the headers guide for how to solder headers. It looks like you used extra long headers, or you pushed the black spacers down

proud bluff
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I put in the female wires in thet header

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and it wasn't long enoguh obviously

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so i was like oh i need long headers

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So yea

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Anyways i'll come back and let you know

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thanks

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ur a life saver

mystic drift
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maybe buy a desoldering pump too

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yes, buy a better iron. A temperature controlled one is great, but they are $50 and up. The Hakko FX888DX is $130, but it is really nice

proud bluff
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@mystic drift

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How do ireac h the pins from underneat

mystic drift
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you don't; I don't understand why you did that.

proud bluff
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😭

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Fam

mystic drift
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when I said underneath I just meant on the bottom side of the board

proud bluff
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Ohhh

mystic drift
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not the breadboard

proud bluff
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i thought you meant literally underneath

mystic drift
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but you don't need to do that now that you have male-male jumpers

proud bluff
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Right now i just have access to F2F, MtF

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No m2m

mystic drift
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did you go to micro center?

proud bluff
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I bought the new solder yesterday

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along with F2F wries

mystic drift
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in the picture above in this thread, with the multi-colored wires. You would substitute male-male jumpers for the wires in that kind of situation

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do you have some solid wire?

proud bluff
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no

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Wait wdym solid wire

mystic drift
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not stranded

proud bluff
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what does that mean

mystic drift
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do you have any hookup wire?

proud bluff
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no

mystic drift
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like the wire in the jumpers, only thicker. The jumper wires are stranded, so they are flexible.

proud bluff
mystic drift
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I'm sorry -- i thought you were going to buy m-m jumpers; i thought that was on the shopping list

proud bluff
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I mean it's fine i can go out and grab some again

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But do i need to for sure or can i do something with these

mystic drift
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you wrote

so ima head to the estore get new solder, soldering iron, and M2M wires

proud bluff
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Oh

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i guess i got confused or sm

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Also

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with the breadboar

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the + and - lines aren't aligned

mystic drift
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you can jumper to the long pins that are sticking out, but could you take a picture of the boards with the headers from the side, so I can see if the pins are long enough

proud bluff
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with the main breaboard holes

mystic drift
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the +/- lines are connected horizontally. The other lines are connected vertically. You can see that on the bottom where you ripped away the foam

proud bluff
proud bluff
mystic drift
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pull the board out and show me the bottom part.

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did you read the links I gave you?

proud bluff
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Yes

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I'm just slow

mystic drift
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just read carefully; don't skip ahead

proud bluff
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alr

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can i solder

proud bluff
mystic drift
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show me the picture first

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did you get a desoldering pump?

proud bluff
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nope

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nothing'

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nothings there for me to desolder tho

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yet

proud bluff
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This picture

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?

mystic drift
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I was thinking you might need to desolder the pins you already soldered

proud bluff
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no cus the old solder didnt hold on

mystic drift
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pull the board out of the breadboard. Take a closeup side view

proud bluff
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It was just tiny little pebbles

mystic drift
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take a picture of the old solder and the new solder

proud bluff
proud bluff
mystic drift
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ok, pull at least one of those out and show me

proud bluff
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like it's just not on it

mystic drift
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i want to see the label on the old solder

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and the new solder

proud bluff
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Bottom right is what i'm using

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New solider is Sl-125A-20

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Its 410 C

mystic drift
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please take a picture of the label

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and the label of the old solder

proud bluff
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new solder

mystic drift
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I mean the solder wire, not the iron

proud bluff
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This one’s the old one idk where the container is

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but it was a thin glass tube

proud bluff
mystic drift
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That Weller solder does not have any flux. It should be rosin core flux solder. That solder is for making stained glass windows or similar. It's not for electronics. Did you get that at microcenter or home depot?

proud bluff
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micro center' wre like 35

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40

mystic drift
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dollars?

proud bluff
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Yes

mystic drift
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if you can find the other container for the springy solder wire that would be really helpful to see if it's what you need or not.

proud bluff
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The new soldering iron is crazy

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the old one would barely melt it

mystic drift
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what did you get?

proud bluff
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This new one when i like barely tap it onto the solder it just breaks right off

proud bluff
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410 C

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The old one was 370 something

proud bluff
mystic drift
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can you give me the microcenter URL?

proud bluff
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i'm pretty sure it was this

mystic drift
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ok, that's good, but it's lead-free, which means it needs a higher temperature than leaded solder

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and the rosin core is vital

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so you can use that solder

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don't use the weller solder -- return it if you can

proud bluff
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Ok

mystic drift
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weller makes electronic solder too

proud bluff
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how exepnsive is it supposed to be

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Cuz the micro center one was like 40$

proud bluff
mystic drift
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it was a big roll

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you can use leaded solder, it's easier to use, and if you wash your hands, you won't poison yourself.

proud bluff
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idk if i wanna risk dying 😭

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Lead is crazy dangerous

mystic drift
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don't put it in your mouth. It doesn't vaporize. You won't poison yourself. Just wash your hands after soldering. I've used leaded solder for years and I'm still fine

proud bluff
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M2M, new solder, return old solder Is the move

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And i'll come back

mystic drift
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don't leave yet

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let's make a shopping list

proud bluff
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ok

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I'm gonna return the F2F wires

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as well

mystic drift
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do you have a lot of headers, short and long?

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or do you need more?

proud bluff
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Yes

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i def have enough headers

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Some are split into 2's and 3's buyt i should be good

mystic drift
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where are you, Houston? I forget

proud bluff
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north dallas

mystic drift
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the weller is from Home Depot or MC?

proud bluff
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home depot

mystic drift
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any of these except the "metal work"sodler, but the leaded ones are easier to use for beginner soldering

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it should say "rosin" core and "electrical" or "electronic"

proud bluff
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No way how did i miss that

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there's one that looks just like mine same price by weller

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BUt mines says metal work

mystic drift
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and it shouldn't be really thick. A lot of them are 1.6mm which is kinda thick

proud bluff
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Ok

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So what else

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other then the m2m and solder

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before i go

mystic drift
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which home depot store is yours? I will look at stock. But I think it would be better not to buy the solder there. They mostly have stuff that's too thick

proud bluff
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I live in allen

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i can drive literally anywhere though like i can go down to dallas

mystic drift
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I have a meeting in 10 min. so get the solder at Micro Center. Forget home depot for now

proud bluff
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Ok bet

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i'll let you know later today

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Thanks for your patience

mystic drift
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i'll be out after that until 9pm or later Eastern

proud bluff
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Ok

proud bluff
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@mystic drift

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buying rn

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returned old one

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Ik it’s thick but i have no chiice

mystic drift
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did you go to Micro Center also and get thinner solder and the M-M jumpers?

proud bluff
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Nah that picture is the new solder from home depot

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it’s all i could find

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micro center had some but they weren’t labeled well so i wasn’t tryna link it

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i got m m jumpers tho

proud bluff
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Ts not working

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Ima try again tmmr

proud bluff
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Tested with multimeter and found out the header pin wasn’t sticking out enough on the 3V so no power, ima go and just replace the entire board cus it’s full of solder

proud bluff
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@mystic drift

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THANK YOU

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I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

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HOlY

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IVE BEEN TRYING TO GET THIS TO WORK for 2 MONTHS 😭

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Nevermind

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It's like slightly better though

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Auto-reload is on. Simply save files over USB to run them or enter REPL to disable.
code.py output:
Checking board.I2C()...ADDED.
Checking board.STEMMA_I2C()...SKIPPED: 'module' object has no attribute 'STEMMA_I2C'
Checking busio.I2C(board.GP1, board.GP0)...SKIPPED: 'module' object has no attribute 'GP1'

I2C SCAN

board.I2C() addresses found: []

mystic drift
# proud bluff

You should only need four wires going to to the I2C breakout. There are a lot of wires in the picture above.

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it would be good to see a clear closeup photo of the wiring and the soldering on the pins on both the Feather and brekaout

proud bluff
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the male to male have like split into female ends as well i dont use them though

proud bluff
proud bluff
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@mystic drift

mystic drift
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ok, these are really blobby and aren't connecting the pins to the board pads

image.png
proud bluff
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Yeah i was thinking that

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The solders are awful

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Ima see if i get the lil tiny balls to cover everything for all the solders

mystic drift
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It would be good to resolder those. wipe off the tip of the iron with a wet sponge or paper towel. If necessary flip the tip toward a box or something to fling off any excess solder on the tip. Then touch the tip to the solder blobs above, and see if you can get some or most of the solder onto the iron tip. Once you've reduced the blobbiness, resolder with a little fresh solder.

proud bluff
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Ok

mystic drift
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the fresh solder has flux inside it, and will help "wet" the surfaces so the solder flows evenly. When you touch the top to resolder, touch it firmly to both the pin and the board pad at the same time, and then feed a tiny amount of solder in. Both pin and pad need to be hot enough to melt the solder.

proud bluff
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I confirmed power is going through + with. 3.3V so that’s not the problem

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but still nothing

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@mystic drift

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I’ll be back later today but tell me what you think

mystic drift
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hi - there could be shorts at the places indicated by the arrows,

image.png
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You should not need separate pull-up resistors that you placed: the breakout board looks like it has pull-ups already

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the pump and the wick can be used to remove excess solder

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Measure the voltage at the SCL and SDA pins. It should be 3.3V

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One of the wicks is sold out in Dallas

proud bluff
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it won’t hurt to have it just in case right

mystic drift
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what value are the resistors

proud bluff
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I think 4.7 something

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don’t quote me on that tho

mystic drift
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should be 4.7k

proud bluff
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yeah

mystic drift
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you could remove them and try again

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where is the test program you are using to find the device?

proud bluff
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my

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mu

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Circuit Python

mystic drift
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yah, but where is the program you are using to do the scanning: board.I2C() addresses found: []

proud bluff
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Like the code or the app

mystic drift
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yes

proud bluff
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the program is called MU Editor

mystic drift
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no, the code, where did you get the code.py

proud bluff
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Oh i don’t have it on me rn but i think it’s somewhere up

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Lemme go look

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Cus i’m on phone rn

proud bluff
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Hi, I’m using an Adafruit Feather M4 Express with an ENS160 air-quality
sensor wired on a breadboard. I’m running CircuitPython 10.0.3.

When I run an I2C scan, I get:

RuntimeError: No pull up found on SDA or SCL

Setup details:

Feather M4 Express connected via USB

ENS160 breakout on a breadboard

Wiring:

3V → VIN

GND → GND

SDA → A4 (SDA)

SCL → A5 (SCL)

Code:
import board, busio i2c = board.I2C() # uses SDA/SCL i2c.try_lock() print("Addresses found:", [hex(x) for x in i2c.scan()]) i2c.unlock()

Attached is a clear photo of my wiring setup.
Thanks for any help verifying if this is a wiring or hardware issue.

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@mystic drift

mystic drift
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ok, that's fine. Measure the voltages at SCL and SDA

proud bluff
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Alr will do later tonight i’ll let you know

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I will say though measuring Vomatge on the header pins and they’re solders never gives me any readings

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i was only able to find power by measuring the + strip

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Which lets me know it IS powered for a fact

mystic drift
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press a little bit

proud bluff
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@mystic drift

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tysm bro

mystic drift
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yay!

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what did you need to do to get it working?

proud bluff
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There's one wire that i'm missing from the M2M, so i used one of the M2F but it was used for the 3v voltage thihis whole time

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i siwtched it to the SDA port and now it works

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i'm assuming that was causing the power to be inconssitent or something

mystic drift
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maybe so

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in any case, you have a lot of new experience

proud bluff
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I know this whole process was so fun ngl