Ok thanks so much. I printed out the instructions so I may have missed the “test leds before switches “ although you have designed these to be easily replaced. I’ll give it a go.

Like the loopa these pcbs are like the highest quality ones I’ve received in kits.

Quick update - these ePixel LEDs must be pretty sensitive or touchy. I have had to rework a few of them and then go to plug it in, a new row lights up! Some I think I was too conservative with the solder and time to begin with.

Removing them is a huge pain but doable. So far I have two boards lit up and working on the third!

Will post back with results.

Nice! Keep at it!

Quick followup that all LEDs now work! There were maybe ten LEDs that were causing a break in the chain. About half of those needed reflow and the other half needed total replacment, so I appreciate all the extras you include in the essentials kit!
Now to get started on switch testing….

Testing the switches without the axis board connected, had a few diodes that were not making contact so fixed those. Most work and so far this is a pretty cool light effect!

I have run into 4 switches in a vertical row on a neo board (SW8, SW25, SW42, SW59) that are not working, and there are no obvious issues with the diodes or solder joints like the singles that weren’t working.

The fact they are all in a row/column on an entire neo board leads me to wonder if it’s some type of controller or IC issue? The cable is fine and I do not see any issues with the ICs on that board. Any thoughts?
Thank you

Great that you could get the LED chain going. Now we’re onto guide 7.2, but as you gave the switch column, that can be narrowed down to

• All diodes soldered with reverse polarity; you mention that these are all fine, but just to double check
• R17 (vertically in line with the diodes too) is missing or soldered with a dry joint
• IC1 pin 5 is soldered with a dry joint

Hope that does it!

It was IC1 pin 5! I have all LEDs and all switches working. Of course I hook up the Axes board and no such luck lol. I believe I am cursed at this point.

Here is the behavior: When both the MOW10 cable is plugged in and the AXES board is hooked into the core board, there is clearly a short since I saw some micro-sparks at the power inlet when I plug it in. Obviously I did not leave it plugged in and luckily the LEDs and Switches still work (whew). When I unplug the MOW10 OR the Axes board from the core board, no short behavior. I’m not sure where to look or what MOW10 and Core J1 header should be connected by design vs accidentally.

• Check for a general +5V power short (with the board disconnected) by measuring continuity/resistance/diode across C4 or C5. Maybe C4 0V is bridged to the adjacent +5V via?
• Check for a general +3v3 short across C2, though the 3v3 is limited to that multiplexer chip.
• If you plug the axes board into the core, can you control the LED matrix with the sliders?
• Did you accidentally install or connect to the micromatch FOB10 socket J89A instead of J89? If you did, then when you plug in the MOW10 cable, you will bridge the +5V supplied by the neo85 board and the +5V supplied from the core, and generally regulators don’t like that.
• Again the MOW10 cable should not typically connect power or 0V between boards unless you have installed axes D1 or bridged pins there. Did this MOW10 cable get tested too?
• All ICs have the correct orientation? A clear photo of the board could help to spot errors.

Ok tried all of your suggestions, no luck. The only thing that may be different than your standard build is I had to order the analog to digital convertor chip since I could not find it in my kit, again probably since it was from quite awhile ago. I ordered the MCP3208-CI/SL from Digikey, seems to be the same.

What should happen when I plug the axes CON1 into the core board but leave the MOW10 off? Because nothing is happening.

Please post one or more clear photos of each side of the board.
Could you measure voltage anywhere? Might be hard connected directly.
CON1 connects the power and ADC to the core, so all of the analogue elements should work.
MOW10 connects the digital lines, controlling the switches and LEDs.

Tom9000 Sooooo…probably going to laugh at this one but it turns out I used the 14mm standoffs instead of the 10mm and CON1 was not making contact after all. I found the correct ones, switched them out and all the sliders and joystick work great. I hooked it up to the switches/led boards and it’s very cool how you have the sliders and joystick visualized in the Matias switches!

That’s a new one I think! Glad that it works, but I really wonder about the sparks from before…!

The six buttons do not trigger anything though, except the switch BLM ports which changes from green to red and there is a fast popup message in the OLED. The other 5 buttons do not light up or register. Attached are pics of the board but I feel like I’m pretty close here!

That is a good sign, if that LED changes colour when pressed it suggests that the digital signals are being read back through the board, and that the 74HC595 chip is the right way around. I’m not sure what the other MEC switches should do; maybe this is the time to connect to the LoopA and give it a spin?

If the LEDs on the MEC switches don’t light up when pressed, then it could be that the LEDs are inserted around the wrong way. On bottom side of the PCB, the encircled pin is the anode and the flat marking indicates the cathode. Don’t PANIC (Positive Anode, Negative Is Cathode). With your multimeter in diode mode, which way around do the probes have to be to light up your LED?

YES! I do not know what was up with the sparks before but hey it’s all working now lol. The functionality is so cool, super glad I finally built this.

Andy I can not thank you enough for your help in getting me up and working, I really appreciate it and obviously would have been completely lost on my own. See you guys in the serial # thread!

Great work!