I am unable to to get any connectivity with an Openlog. (standard openlog, not the qwiic) I have an openlog connected via FTDI board to usb port on PC. I have the RX and TX wires flipped between the openlog and the FTDI board, and all other leads wired straight through. I am using a serial terminal program to test connectivity. I’ve tried typing 3 Ctrl-Z’s, question mark, etc. etc. I never see any data returned from the openlog. Upon power up, I do see 5 flashes from the LED on the openlog. I see the RX light on the FTDI when I type characters but never seen any data on the FTDI TX light. I’ve tried the following so far.
5v and 3.3v on the FTDI (which should I be using?)
several different micro SD cards, formatted with a small FAT partition
different serial terminal programs, different baud rates, etc.
several different openlog boards
2 different FTDI boards
Please help. I’ve searched everything I can find and tried everything I have read.
Interesting issue, I cannot think of anything you are doing wrong based off of your description here.
1: Either should work. Can’t go wrong with 5v in this case.
2: Based on your description of the issue, I doubt the SD card is the issue.
3: Good job trying these different things. The baud rate is most likely either 9600 or 115200, 8N1.
4: This is especially interesting. How many OpenLog boards do you have?
5: This is also interesting. Hard to think you got a bunch of defective parts.
Hmmmm. I think the only variables I can think of that may be the issue are your USB cable or the USB port on your computer. Have you tried changing these variables up?
What OS are you using with this set up? Have you tried a different PC?
You can also try a loop-back test on your FTDI basic boards by shorting TX and RX. When opening a serial program you should see both TX and RX blink when sending serial data.
I’ve been using 5 volts mostly, but have tried both.
I’ve tried several SD cards formatted/partitioned several ways, so i agree it’s probably not that.
I’ve tried every possible baud rate at 8n1. (from 2400 to 115200)
I have 4.
Windows 10. I’ve tried 2 computers and 3 different serial terminal programs.
shorting RXD to TXD did cause characters to echo back on my terminal so that pretty much eliminates anything with ports, terminal programs, etc.
when taking my pictures to upload, I noticed that these are probably not Sparkfun boards. If not, I’m sorry to bother you and will suspect that is my issue. And I’ll get a few ordered from Sparkfun today. Hopefully having the “real thing” will solve the problem. Again, sorry to ask for support on something I didn’t get from you. (I DID, get the FTDI board from Sparkfun FWIW)
Hey again. Glad to hear everything but the OpenLogs seem to be working.
Yeah, that board does not seem like it was manufactured by SFE. I cannot guarantee that the proper bootloader and firmware was uploaded to those OpenLog boards and I would automatically assume that the fault lies either with the design, components used, or the actual programming.
I do recommend obtaining authentic SFE parts if you want a guarantee that they will work with our documentation as advertised.
Also, I suggest that you get the solder joints to look like a Hershey’s kiss and that there is no visible gaps to guarantee a solid connection and eliminate any possibility of a cold joint. Below is a direct link to our soldering tutorial:
Our internal teams are filing a complaint of the user showing our logo in their pictures and not delivering a SparkFun product. It may be helpful if you were to complain as well. Either way, my apologies that the seller mislead you.
Thanks for the responses. I’ll file a complaint also. In the meantime. I have ordered 2 openlogs directly from Sparkfun so will likely have more questions once they arrive.
Pull SD card from openlog, open config on my computer and adjust the baud rate down to 9600bps. It was at 57600 for another one of my projects and the example sketch runs at 9600.
Hook up 5 wires as defined at the top of the example sketch.
