stuck on minty boost tutorial

[adafruit_support_bill]

Can you post a photo of how you have everything connected?

Assuming that the MintyBoost is putting out 5v, the Traco should give you a steady 3.3v.

Here's what did work, power directly to the light without the TRACO

You can probably run the led for a while on the 5v output, but it will have a very short lifetime.

[loincom]

Now nothing is working at all. Even when I connect the battery directly to the light.

Would love to meet with someone in person if possible. What seemed like a simple tutorial has lead down a path of confusion and frustration.

Let me know: joey@kilrain.com

[adafruit_support_bill]

If you post a photo, we can probably diagnose the problem. This is a fairly simple circuit.

[Syn7]

Um... In your picture you have attached the power and ground to the anchor points for the usb connector. The four pins in the middle, power/data/data/ground is where you want to be. one on each end, you can ignore the two middle pins. Am I wrong? So if nothing works at all it may be because you haven't connected to any power source. I may be wrong, but I don't think the anchor points are even grounded.

I'm pretty sure these are the two points you wanna use:



As opposed to:

[Syn7]

[loincom]

Thank you but that visual didn't work. See the attached images.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[adafruit_support_bill]

You are still connecting to the wrong holes. Those are the mounting holes for the USB jack - not the power and ground outputs of the boost converter.
Look at the diagram posted by Syn7. I have also marked up your photo below. You need to connect to the holes highlighted in yellow.

[loincom]

Thank you, will try tonight

[loincom]

My apologies for the delay.

Your revised diagram worked, however I am back to square one.

My initial post from a few months ago explained the situation that the light would start to flicker after a few moments. The previous post stated I needed to by a Traco Power convertor. I need to know how to incorporate this. The attached PDF was deemed correct by a previous administrator. Clearly it is not.

Do let me know how to correctly incorporate the convertor to prevent the light from flickering.

Thank you,

[adafruit_support_bill]

Your flickering light is likely due to a loose connection. If you post a close-up of your soldering and other connections we can check them for you.

The correct wiring is to the electrical pads for the USB connector, not to the mounting holes.

[loincom]

Your flickering light is likely due to a loose connection. If you post a close-up of your soldering and other connections we can check them for you.

I've soldered the lines before and still got the flickering. I was told by a previous admin that I needed the Traco.

The correct wiring is to the electrical pads for the USB connector, not to the mounting holes.

Understood. I have connected the lines to the small holes on the board, as you previously noted, and it does not work either.

Thank you,

[adafruit_support_bill]

The Traco can only produce a steady output voltage if it has a steady input voltage. Your flickering light is likely due to a loose connection. If you post a close-up of your soldering and other connections we can check them for you.

[loincom]

Ok, will try to work on tonight.

[loincom]

Ok, I've soldered all of the lines to the LED, minty boost, and battery lines. The light is now staying on. However, after 30 minutes the light abruptly turned off. The batteries were very warm and the chip on the minty boost was extremely hot. Any ideas on that?

Also, a previous admin stated I needed to buy the TRACO power unit. Is this something I will need? Otherwise it was not needed and I'd like to return for refund / exchange.

Thank you,

[adafruit_support_bill]

I needed to buy the TRACO power unit. Is this something I will need?

You need it because the output of the MintyBoost is 5v and the LED needs 3.3v. Running the LED at 5v will overheat the circuit and damage the LED.