Posts made by wikistik

What is the Hall sensor actually measuring in that example? I dont see any evidence of a changing external magnetic field. Also I wonder if it's a problem that there is also a magnet in the M5StickC case.

@brain-brawn Have you tried installing the FTDI drivers (https://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm)? I have found that this solved USB connection problems with obsolete versions of Windows in a couple cases.

@ajb2k3 Until Espressif changes their datasheet on the ESP32 this is officially not a 5V tolerant device. Many devices will work with it, but I will continue to test each one before telling people it is OK.

@shintobi no I don't

Have you considered using Bluetooth? I have connected a single Bluetooth tracking device (not from M5) to Unity without too much trouble. I believe Bluetooth supports up 7 clients connected at once.

@cepics said in M5stickC and VL53L1X sensor GROVE port:

VL53L1X

I tried the VL53L0X unit on the grove port of the stick several times and could not get it to work. I know that really doesn't really help you but at least your are not alone in this quest :)

@ajb2k3 That group was actually part of an order of 20. I am using them to teach a series of workshops called "Beyond the Arduino" http://tinkerfarm.net/workshops/m5stickc-workshop-2019/.
The idea is that you can learn basic Arduino using the sticks but then you can go much farther with the extra on board hardware or expansion via the grove port or header pins. Just finished the first one and I have learned getting people comfortable with the setup process--how to expand the Arduino IDE past the built in boards and libraries by itself expands their horizons on what is possible with micro controller platforms.

Maybe you have too many of these things when you nave to buy a mass charger for them :)

Any insight on how the red led on pin 10 of the M5StickC is wired up?
I noticed that, using the Arduino IDE
pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
turns the LED on and subsequently
digitalWrite(10, HIGH);
turns it OFF, while
digitalWrite(10, LOW);
turns it ON again

For whatever its worth: I bought 3 to experiment with and they were all fine. I just tested 20 more that I bought for a class. 17 started up in the factory test program. The other 3 had no software installed but worked fine after I downloaded the factory test example.

I have posted my notes on using the stick with some Grove modules (over the grove connector) here: http://tinkerfarm.net/projects/the-m5stickc/m5stickc-hardware-accessories/

It would be a good project but would result in a completely different product. For greatly extending the run time of the existing product how about a large external battery such as a power bank connected to the usb jack? Quick, cheap, and easy and should do fine for demonstrations and prototyping.

@pgb The case of the ENV hat definitely covers both. I posted a pic of the insides here
http://tinkerfarm.net/wp-content/uploads/M5StickC_EnvHat.png
It would be pretty easy to open the ENV hat with a hex wrench and drill out a hole so the LED is easily visible without damaging the ENV hat. The IR transmitter might need a light pipe (if those work for IR).

@multihelix It's not going to happen. There is no way to turn the backlight or the rest of this device completely off. I think of the on board battery more like a super capacitor, it gives you enough power for a few minutes of testing but for anything else you need an external power supply with a real on/off switch.

@klimbot Here are some results of practical testing:
Using the 5v header pin with the screen set to black and set to minimum brightness, flashing the led to make sure the cpu was still operating: I could draw about 400ma at the load (fluctuated between 388 and 402 using an incandescent light as a load). This was the case on both USB and battery power.
Using the 5v header pin with the screen displaying some text: the same load drew 500ma but it shut the screen down and the computer did recognize the unit until I replugged it in.

So let's say under 400ma with the screen "off" and considerably less with it on.

I will be using the "stick" in teaching environments over the next year so I have started compiling notes on how well it works with various hardware add-ons. At the moment I have a starter list posted at: http://tinkerfarm.net/projects/the-m5stickc/m5stickc-hardware-accessories/.
I will be adding to that page as I get deeper into it, next up will be some of the commodity sensors that people use with Arduinos, since my site is aimed at beginners. I hope this might be helpful to some of the people on this forum.

I just tried the ENV hat on a M5StiickC with the default Arduino sketch and it appears to be working fine. It's putting out temp, humidity, compass, and pressure readings that all make sense. Make sure you have all the required libraries installed, especially the Adafruit BMP280 library
https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_BMP280_Library.

Thanks for the info @world101. I have posted my notes on the 5 volt concern with the M5StickC here: http://tinkerfarm.net/projects/the-m5stickc/the-5-volt-danger-with-the-m5stickc/.
I will update these if new data emerges.

@ajb2k3 Yeah it would be awesome if someone put a level shifter with the grove connectors on the market. I'm not interested in manufacturing. I may make a few up for the people I work with though.

@grelm If you find out anything more about the ability of the M5StickC to handle 5v IO please post it. Once I have a second unit I will probably disassembly one to see if I can identify any protection on the board. Meanwhile I am looking at level shifters but there is nothing on the market that is easy to interface with the grove connector. May have to resort to making up something inline that uses only 5v to power both the high and low side (with a regulator from the 5V) and see if that works.