Plug your servo wiring into the Crickit Servo block
Servo wires might vary in color a bit, but here's the way to plug in the servo connector to Crickit: the lightest servo wire (white/yellow) goes closest to the number 1 on the outside of the board. The darkest wire (brown/black) goes in towards the center of Crickit.
Power Your Crickit
You can power Crickit two ways:
1) Use a 3x AA battery pack and 3 AA batteries
2) Use a wall power supply. 5 volts, 2 amps.
Plug the power supply female connector into the Crickit power connector.
There is a tiny off/on switch near the power connector. Please move the switch to the ON position now and look at the tiny LEDs near the switch.
You should see the green LED next to the smiley face lit.
If you see the yellow LED next to the warning triangle, your voltage is not good. Unplug the power to Crickit and see if it is too much voltage (more than 3 AA batteries) or a power supply that is more than 5 volts. You should not use a 6 volt, 9 volt, or higher supply, the Crickit cannot convert the voltage down.
You can use the on/off switch on the Crickit to turn the power off while working on the code. Just remember to turn the power back on when you're ready.
Connect Circuit Playground to Your Computer
Use a known good USB A to micro B connection cable from the Circuit Playground Express micro B connection (above the Crickit Power connector) to your computer.
Don't plug into the Crickit's USB port!
The micro-B USB connector is D-shaped and only plugs in one way. When plugging the cable in to the Circuit Playground Express, gently, with the round part down and the flat part up, wiggle the connector in.
If it doesn't seem to fit, pull apart, look, and try again. When it does fit together it may look like the cable isn't all the way in, it most likely is.
Connect USB to Your Computer
If you have a Macbook Pro or other fancy thin modern laptop, you may need a USB Type C to USB type A conversion dongle.
Most other laptop and desktop PCs have USB type A connections. USB 2 or USB 3 should be fine although USB 2 might be a good thing if you have both types of connections on your computer.
With the Circuit Playground Express end of the cable connected, connect the USB A side of the cable to the computer.
On Windows, you'll probably hear a sound as "Universal Plug & Play" detects your device and sets things up. This is all good.
Your setup should look like this:
Choosing Which Code to Use
There's two ways you can program your robot
You can program this project in either Microsoft MakeCode, a block (Scratch-like) language that only needs an Internet-connected web browser. You'll be downloading the code from the browser direct to the Circuit Playground Express flash memory.
or
CircuitPython, an implementation of Python for microcontrollers. You'll edit a small text file and drop it onto the Circuit Playground Express flash drive.
It is your choice and this guide explains both methods. You can jump to the appropriate page to run the software of your choice. You can always switch later, your decision is not binding!
If you are unsure, try MakeCode first and you can then consider CircuitPython afterwards.
Page last edited March 08, 2024
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