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ms-iot / virtual-shields-arduino

Windows Virtual Shields for Arduino library
MIT License
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HelloWorld-Speech-Eventing #17

Closed ImJustSomeGuy closed 8 years ago

ImJustSomeGuy commented 9 years ago

Is it normal for there to be some bug issues? When I start the Microsoft Virtual Shield app, many times I can not get the ellipsis to do anything. I've found opening the app with Bluetooth off, turning on Bluetooth, then going back to the app seems to help. Then, when I connect to the Mate Silver, the message (Hello Virtual Shields....) is slow to come up if at all. The little microphone in the top right of the screen will be there at time and at times it won't. The LED will not light often. Connecting to the Bluetooth also seems finicky and often freezes the app. I've found hitting Disconnect, then Refresh, then Connect helps. Lastly, I did the project that uses the 'Windows Remote Arduino Experience' to turn on an external LED with my phone. Wired exactly the same way as this project, the LED is much brighter than in this project. I used same output, resistor, everything. I don't understand why this would be. Tried it back and forth several times between the two projects. I am using an Arduino Uno R3 and Sparkfun Bluetooth Mate Silver. I've tried it with both a Lumia 635 & Lumia 928. Any thoughts/advice would be great. Thanks

turkycat commented 9 years ago

Bluetooth can be a bit finicky at times, which may be partially the nature of the beast. I have a Bluetooth speaker at home I am constantly having to re-pair to with my Android device despite good reviews for the product online (and nobody else seeming to have my problem). Nevertheless, I know that some work is currently being done on the Virtual Shields library and app which may help to improve its behavior and performance. In the meantime, I encourage you to try your scenario in debug mode and provide any more details if you are able to identify a problem. We will also accept pull requests!

For the LED issue, are you using the same color? Different colors of LED require different power levels (for example, a blue LED requires much more power than a red one).. You can use a standard color spectrum to analyze this. The longer the wavelength, the less power is required. Therefore, red actually requires the least amount of power, so it will appear the brightest out of other colors. If you are using another color LED, you can decrease the size of your resistor which will increase the overall current in your circuit and the brightness of your LED.

ImJustSomeGuy commented 9 years ago

Thanks for the information. As far as debug mode, do you mean in the sketch program using something like 'visual micro', or printing to the serial ports? Sorry, new to this.

As far as the LED goes I used the same LED. In fact, I've gone between the two projects back and forth only changing the program loaded onto the Arduino, and of course from the shield app to the remote app. I believe pin 8 (which I am using for both) is a digital only output.

turkycat commented 9 years ago

Arduino debugging is difficult, and yes I've often resorted to printing to serial output or using LEDs to signify when blocks of code are being executed. For the Universal Windows App (for Virtual Shields), you can use Visual Studio to deploy it in debug mode which actually makes debugging much easier.

If your LED isn't bright enough, its OK to switch to a smaller resistor. It might be that the LED you are using is different in some small way. We typically use 330 ohm, but a 220 is just fine as well.

sidwarkd commented 8 years ago

Closing this issue as an answered question. @ImJustSomeGuy if you have further questions please feel free to reach out.