Hi:
I had everything working with my EL Sequencer with FTDI/USB power for the board and a 12V inverter for 8 wires (Image001).
I tried to connect a LiPo battery instead of FTDI, but it didn’t SEEM to work (no lights). When I reconnected the FTDI, there was a spark and the board sparked and started smoking from the component indicated (Image002). What did I do wrong? Can it be repaired?
I just ordered an EL Scudo Dos shield as a replacement (full board is out of stock) and I don’t want to repeat the mistake!
Thank you,
~Todd
Hi Todd.
It looks like the battery you’re using is wired backwards from what the board is expecting. You would need to either re-wire the battery or get one of our batteries that are wired the other way around before doing anything else.
Chances are the board is dead now, but after sorting out the battery issue, you could try removing the burned out component to see if you’re still able to program the board with Arduino. If you can, you’re probably OK but will need to supply 12 volts from another power source to your inverter.
Hey - thank you Chris.
How do I know what that component is? It’s not called out or described as far as I can see in the EL Sequencer guide.
Battery wired backwards? Wow - I never would have thought of that. Those batteries were from Amazon. I ordered some Sparkfun batteries for my EL Scudo Dos shield.
Thank you!
~Todd
Hello, again, Chris:
I verified against the EL Sequencer guide that you are correct; the batteries are in fact wired backwards. (https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/learn_t … kUp_bb.png)
But also according to that diagram, my 12V inverter from Sparkfun is also wired backwards. Would you agree?
Thanks again,
~Todd
Hi Todd.
According to the diagram, yes, the red and black wires are in the wrong spots, but the inverter is outputting an AC voltage that has no polarity so it doesn’t matter which way around the wires go. Both wires alternate between positive and negative about 200 times a second causing current to flow forwards and backwards through the EL wires.
A battery on the other hand outputs a DC voltage and does have polarity so connecting it backwards can do bad things. The DC parts on the board are designed so that current needs to always flow in the correct direction. Sending current backwards will damage multiple components. You’ll notice on the board the + and - symbols on the DC connectors indicating what polarity should be used. The AC connector doesn’t have any + or - symbols since AC has no polarity.
