Hi, I have just purchased an inventor electronic kit. I have tried the motor script found (http://learn.makeblock.cc/learning-scratch/) and that works ok, sort of, it gets a bit confused sometimes and have to reset everything. I tried the other scripts on this page for 7 segment display and led driver but neither did anything at all. I have installed all the usb drivers and uploaded the newest firmware, and connected on com port 3. I am running windows 10. (note W10 broke some serial interface stuff I noticed when it upgraded) I have set the correct ports for the devices connected to the orion board (and selected “me orion” under “boards”) Does anyone know if there is something else I’m missing? Has windows 10 been tested? Is there something else I can do to test. Note there is green dot beside makeblock util section so I assume it is connected. Is this a hardware fault? Not a good out of the box experience designed for kids.
Thanks,
Kent.
Help, mblock code not working except for motors
I thought I remembered reading about an issue with Windows 10 on the 3.1 release. You might check the release notes on the downloads page to verify.
Hi Kent,
Here a couple of screen shots that might help. I am running mBlock v3.1 on Windows 10. I have not tried everything yet, but so far most things work … after a little trial and error.
Make sure that you are connected to the Me Orion on the correct comm port (mine connects on comm port 6)
I note that you have the correct board selected.
You will notice that you can see Data&Blocks in the back ground. I created a variable for Sec (it helped with my work-around). I could not get the example to work, so I had to make some changes. It does not like to play with “current” for some reason.
Now on to the blocks and code.
First, check out Arduino - Reference where you will find lots of code information on the Arduino.
The “set 7-segment display” is set to output to the Me Orion port 3 as shown in the board connection picture above. This block requires a number, so I used a variable “Sec” and set it equal to millis()/1000 Arduino - millis() which returns the board on time in milliseconds (if you press the reset button, it will reset the board on time).
Things to note about this example: When the display gets to 999.0 it will rollover to 1000 without any problems, however when it gets to 9999 (if you really want to wait that long) it will display E next and stop. This is because the display cannot hold 5 digits.
Here is the example file.
mBlock_W10_MeOrion_7segment.sb2 (74.5 KB)
Hope this helps.
Mike
Thanks for the responses. The problem was with the power supply being plugged in. I unplugged that and it worked. The power is required to run motors, so how do you get to use motors and other items whilst also plugged into the usb port? Also , can you run scratch project on the uno without being attached?
That is interesting about the power supply.
Once the program is uploaded to the board, you can unplug the usb and run off the power supply/batteries if you want. The only issue would be if the program is expected to output to the computer, in which case bluetooth, wifi,etc. comms will need to be established.
Mike
Thanks,
I have been getting it running now.
I have tested a fair few items, but it seems the buzzer is not working correctly.
Looks like from the forums that you can’t control the buzzer on the ORION board from mblock (scratch).
So I loaded the code example in Arduino (BaseBoardbuzzertest) but all it does is click on and off .
The buzzer doesn’t buzz. I tried connecting the battery in case the usb didn’t have enough grunt, but still it won’t buzz, just clicks. Is there something else I’m missing here or is this a faulty unit?
If so how can I get it fixed? I would prefer not to send back if they can send a new buzzer, I can replace it. I Have all the appropriate tools at work for soldering ( and experince with 0201, so this shouldn’t be hard).
Thanks,
Kent.
Yes, I tried that, and it doesn’t even click. The forum said playtone was not working on the orion board.
It is clicking when using Arduino code, so I assume it is trying to work but might be a hardware fault.
When toggle quickly ( say 1Khz) it starts to make more noise, but is still not working correctly.
It is running off the sclk pin, and there appears to be a component linking the buzzer to the pin.
It may be a capacitor , but might be meant to be a resistor? Is there a schematic and PCB layout so I can check?
Thanks,
Kent.
I think there is a setTone method in the MeBuzzer class that you might look at as well. You might check here to see if the schematic provides what you’re looking for. It looks like there is a 1K resistor that comes out of an NPN transistor that goes to the buzzer. The value for the transistor (Q4) is not listed, just that it’s an NPN.
The circuit diagram does not match the orion board at all. The buzzer fet has a capacitor on the ground pin of the fet to gnd and not a direct connection to gnd. The scl also reads about 12MOhms to gate of fet and there appears to be a pull up to vin to the fet gate. That cap on the gnd path will stop any dc signals. My guess is they do not intend it to be driven be dc signals, it needs to be modulated. Where do you find the mebuzzer class? I can’t find that in the examples. Sorry, not used to arduino, give me an embedded IDE any day :).
Hi Kent,
The source for the Makeblock libraries lives here on Github. The mBlock source code is there as well as a few other odds and ends.
Hope this helps.
Chuck
Merry Christmas!
Thanks, I found the code, but I’m having some difficulty using Arduino.
I program in C for embedded systems, but I found Arduino ver difficult to use.
(Maybe I’m getting too old!)
I must be missing something here because it’s supposed to be for beginners.
Is there some help for getting started for this environment. i.e. I am used to tools that allow me to jump to source header files or functions declarations, as well as search tools for coding. I couldn’t find any such tools in Arduino. How does one go about finding out what functions a library has if you can’t easily find the header file and open it? Is there a better IDE that allows for better coding tools?
Also is there some help on how to create extra modules in mblock/scratch from your own source code to make new functions that don’t exist in mblock/scratch?
Ho,Ho Ho.