stiff vine
Hi there! I will preface this with the fact that I am a complete beginner to custom keyboards.
I just finished soldering up my Wireless Corne, got the default firmware flashed on, managed to get it to connect, but even as it's connected, none of the keys do anything. This seems like an extremely basic problem to have, but how should I go about troubleshooting it?
crystal spear
Is your left half connected to USB?
stiff vine
currently the halves are liked with the TRRS cable because I broke a solder joint on one half. I got it to pair and then connect to my PC but now it won't do that.
oop ok i got it to successfully connect with the left half connected to the pc over USB
and keys are still inactive
crystal spear
Out of curiosity, you don't have the Corne from splitkb, right?
stiff vine
i got the kit from keebmaker
and i also cant get the oleds to work, but i feel like the keys themselves are more important rn
crystal spear
Yeah, debugging only left half, connected to USB and getting its keys working would be where I'd start
I assume it shows up as a USB keyboard device on the computer, right?
(also don't use TRRS, especially if you have batteries)
stiff vine
i think right now its connected as a bluetooth device
oh yeah, i saw that tip in here earlier. its a temporary stopgap until I fix that solder joint
crystal spear
If you don't have batteries then it is less of an issue, but do not plug it on/off any of the halves is powered
stiff vine
good tip to know, thanks
I'm trying to get a hold of a continuity tester to make sure the switches are actually functioning
crystal spear
i think right now its connected as a bluetooth device
I'd expect it to show as both devices, likely
stiff vine
I'd expect it to show as both devices, likely
yup, shows up twice in control panel
crystal spear
You didn't forget to solder the diodes, controller header/pin etc right?
stiff vine
nope, though i did a pretty bad job with the pins on the controller itself
crystal spear
If that is the case I would expect at least some of the keys to do something 🤔
you can try shorting a column and a row pin directly on the controller
Like with a conductive tweezer
IIRC on the Corne rows and columns should be on the opposite sides
stiff vine
so you're saying just complete the circuit between two pins on either side?
crystal spear
Yes, although avoid the raw/vcc/GND etc. pins at the top
stiff vine
ok manually doing that does something
so probably an issue with the switches themselves
crystal spear
That's good
Switches themselves are usually not faulty but you can test that too by shorting switch solder joints
Diodes aren't facing the wrong way, right?
stiff vine
i dont think so, i was quite careful with them
crystal spear
Maybe send some pictures of the soldering, e.g. controller header rows at the back of the PCB
crystal spear
That doesn't look too bad to me, except it would be nice to clean up the Flux with some IPA
stiff vine
very true
crystal spear
I heard Flux can cause bridges but I am not sure if that is the case here
stiff vine
id think that something like that would be inconsistent, but still wouldnt be bad to do just in case
crystal spear
Yeah, in this scenario I don't know how none of the switches work since the controller seems to be working fine
Which is why I keep going back to diode direction theory 😅
stiff vine
i mean i could have every diode backwards, which would suck
the guides i followed had diodes with arrows, but mine have little lines
crystal spear
You could try bypassing the diode by shorting one end of the diode to one of the hotswap pads
although you'd have to figure out which by checking the traces
stiff vine
not having any luck with that
i could try desoldering a single diode and flipping it lol
either way, definitely a fix for a different night. thank you so much for your help!
crystal spear
No worries, good luck going forward
stiff vine
... yup. just looked up a diagram. all my diodes are backwards 😍
