I am trying to add a spectrum shield to drive neopixels in an array. I have the shield hooked up to analog A4 and A5 and the strobe and reset hooked up to 12 ans 11.
Sound is being passed through the board no problem however when I run a serial print for the array Frequencies_One all bands put out random values from 0-120, usually floating around 60, regardless of whether there is sound playing or not. I’m not sure if I am not allowed to reroute the pins since the ones the base code used were already taken, or if there is just something wrong with my board.
Hi GearTech,
I am a bit confused by your description of how you are connecting the Spectrum Shield and what you are connecting it to. By default, the Spectrum Shield when attached to an Arduino Uno (or similar board) will connect to pins A0, A1, D4 and D5. It might be something as simple as a connection problem so can you please elaborate on what development board you are connecting the shield to and how you are connecting it? Similarly, can you please take a few photos of the top and bottom of your Spectrum Shield as well as the circuit you have it in (if applicable)? Please do your best to make sure they are clear and well-lit. My guess is the analog pins for the output of both MSGEQ7 ICs are floating and that’s why you’re seeing random values.
I have routed the pins as they were already occupied for this project, this so far is just my test bed as the final system will need to run on a teensy to have the capacity for the amount of leds I will be driving.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ … sp=sharing
Ah, thanks for clarifying. Everything looks wired up just fine here so I’m not entirely certain what would be the issue. You have accounted for the pin changes in your code, correct? Can you copy your test code into your reply so I can test with a known good here?
Well I’m not sure how it happened but reducing my code down to just the audio parts to post seems to have made it work. It’s still noisy, I don’t know if that is to be expected or if there is a simple way to filter that out
Interesting. Most likely something with the code for the other parts of your circuit was causing the problem. One of the best ways I’ve found to figure out what is by just slowly adding in the other pieces until the issue pops up again, then you’ll know which portion to debug.
As for the noise, I would recommend using as short of an AUX cable as you can for the input and also try adjusting the volume level for your audio input. You can also try using an isolation circuit for the audio input like a Ground Loop Isolator or building your own if you’re concerned about low-end drop out using an isolator. There are some other good suggestions from other users in the comments and reviews on the [Spectrum Shield Product Page that may help you out here as well.](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13116)