• Mine has blue lights.
    One quick blink as everything is turned on. then about a second later nice flashing (like it's communicating. and then dead. like someone pulled the power cord less than a second after it did it flickering dance.

    ok. so you think I should botch a wire from the top 3.3v and ground down to the esp8266's 3.3v and ground.

    I was thinking that of that and was trying to hold wires (but I only have two hands so I don't think I got it working.

    As for the dev camp. It's in Feb and I'll make sure to post videos and photos on youtube and here for anyone interested.

  • Thr 2019.12.12

    I have been secretly hoping someone that has performed this upgrade would have piped in by now.

    'had to unsolder and resolder so I know I very well may have damaged it'

    If the iron was only in contact a second or two, I highly doubt it. As there is at least the blink of an LED, then the board seems to want to run. Damian, how long in seconds is this duration. To the others, what are the chances the 8266 hardware watchdog is resetting?

    For clarification, when the lot goes dead, as Gordon requested, does the Pixl attempt to reboot, or are we completely dead at that point? (I think the answer is YES as zero volts was measured with no additional comment - meaning no reboot)


    Damian do you have access to a regulated (bench supply) power supply? . . . . or, . . . do you have access to discreet parts such as voltage regulators and caps? Do you know anyone nearby or have access to students at an Electronics Tech school that have substantial troubleshooting skills?



    It could be that we are dealing with two issues. My biggest worry is the article that @allObjects posted in #26 with the 8266 requiring over the 250ma limit, even with caps, if only for the 40msec interval.

    Before doing the following, I'd get confirmation from others first

    I've not played with either but, if these were my boards, I'd try running off a bench supply to rule out battery/connector issues. Then if continuing, sacrifice a copper run adjacent to the power pin on the 8266 or pull/desolder the power pin to isolate power. Leave the grounds in place. Then run the 8266 off a separate supply so as not to affect the Pixl. The 8266 would then draw as much current as necessary without worrying about the Pixl.



    One final thought would be to post some super close up shots of the header to see if any of us are able to observe something out of the ordinary. We only have the underside in #14 post but that appears good, so the assumption is the flip side is okay too.



    Worst case - both boards are dead - not likely as it was indicated it worked for one evening

    Salvage case - cut out the 8266 and have a working NodeConf badge - chalk it up to an unresolved education

    Hopeful case - continue until the culprit is revealed



    I'll continue to hang in there until no other options reveal themselves or time/cost starts to bleed us both.

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