Having trouble with your Serial Wombat chip?

Step 1: Check the basics

General Stuff:

  • Make sure your chip has a stable, in-range power supply and that the included capacitors are attached across the power and ground pins. If you can, verify power voltage using a multimeter

  • If you’re using a decal on the Serial Wombat chip, is it oriented in the correct direction? Make sure the black notch at one end of the decal matches up with the black dot on the chip

  • Make sure you’re using the latest Arduino / C# / Python library. It’s possible your issue is fixed in a newer version than you have

  • For the Serial Wombat 18AB, make sure you’re using the latest firmware version.

  • In Arduino, consider registering the default error handler. This provides helpful information (particularly on the 18AB) about configuration errors.

I2C related Stuff (when connected over I2C):

  • If connected using I2C, make sure you have pull up resistors on SCL and SDA (don’t rely on internal pull ups on your chip, they’re typically out of spec for I2C).

  • Make sure your SDA line from the Arduino or Raspberry Pi is attached to the SDA line on the Serial Wombat Chip. Same for SCL. Did you accidentally cross them?

  • Does the Serial Wombat chip finder sketch in the Arduino Examples / Serial Wombat directory find the Serial Wombat chip? This should always work if your hardware is setup correctly

  • In your sketch, do you call begin on Wire then on the Serial Wombat chip?

  • Can you verify proper I2C traffic operation using a Logic analyzer? See this video for a cheap way to do this.

UART Related stuff (when connected via UART):

  • Be sure that the Serial Wombat library is the only thing using your UART. If your sketch or other libraries use Serial to dump out status or debugging information, that can cause configuration problems with the Serial Wombat chip

  • On the Serial Wombat 18AB, make sure the address line is grounded to enable UART mode.

  • Make sure the RX and TX lines are correctly connected. A common mistake is to connect both the host and Serial Wombat chip inputs together and the outputs together. They need to be connected Output->Input. You might try swapping them if you’re not getting any communication.

 

Step 2: Check the YouTube video and comments

Go to the Broadwell Consulting Inc. YouTube channel and take a look at the Serial Wombat playlist. Watch the video for the task you’re trying to achieve, and check the comments to see if any other users have asked a question about your issue.

If not, then leave a comment with your question on the video that best matches what you’re trying to do.

 

Last Resort: Contact me directly (slower)

Questions left in public areas such as YouTube comments get first priority for support, because they have the potential to help many people. I also answer email requests to help@SerialWombat.com or through the form below. But there’s often a few days lag time on these. I try to respond to public form questions the same day.

Note that responses from help@SerialWombat.com sometimes go into the email Spam folder, so be sure to check this folder if you make a support request.