More fallout from the bad ISP programmer. As reported on the forum, there is a problem with the Input Plug. Fortunately, it’s fixable in software.

The problem is that the ISP programming of the ATTiny45 chip on the Input Plug had the same problem as the recent, ehm, Murphy debácle: the fuses weren’t always set properly.

So the ATTiny starts up running at 1 MHz i.s.o. 8. And hence the timing is off when driving pulses to it to control the analog multiplexer.

The solution was to add a “fix” parameter to the InputPlug class in the Ports library. It defaults to 0 (no fix needed), but when set to non-zero, the timing is adjusted to slow down by a factor 8. That way, channel selection will take a bit longer – but at least it’ll work:

InputPlug myPlug (3, 1); // plug on port 3, slow down for wrong ATTiny fuse

This code has been added to the Ports library. There is a downside: the fix means that channel slection now takes roughly 900 µs, instead of the intended 100 µs.

Next question is: how to make sure this won’t happen again? – Answer: build a test jig, so all plugs can be tested fully before shipping. Trouble is, all Input Plugs ship as follows (this is an early hand-soldered unit):

Without headers!

My mistake was of course that I would wing it, and avoid the testing. Bzzzt. Time to build a little test contraption:

The other side is filled with 17 tiny 1 kΩ SMD resistors, creating a voltage divider with 16 different voltage levels. Soldering this was quite a challenge, btw:

And now I can take advantage of the fact that everything is gold-plated. So the following will make contact, just with the pins being pushed in and pressing lightly against the board:

I’ve been using the same trick for some time now, to test other plugs. Here’s how to connect the whole thing to one of the ports:

Below is a little readout test – a better test setup would be to simply perform the check and display a go / no go signal, but for now I’m just reporting the 16 values:

Sample output:

As you can see, the selection is now working reliably (once connected).

So that proves the bug and gives me a new tool to test Input Plugs before shipping. And of course I’ll re-flash the ATtiny45 chips on all remaining Input Plugs in stock at Jee Labs. For those already out there: you can either use the software fix, or send your Input Plug(s) back to me and I’ll fix the fuse settings to make selection snappier, as originally intended.

Problem solved. Phew.

Does it feel good to have to confess to another goof-up on my end? Of course not. But worse than that would be to keep quiet on this – and I won’t. I’m human, I make humiliating mistakes (LOTS!), I occasionally cut corners, but I do my best to learn and deal with it all. There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that every person and company goes through these sorts of mishaps. It’s just usually not out in the open for everyone to see. Well, at Jee Labs, it doesn’t work that way – this is open source: software, hardware, goofs … e v e r y t h i n g !