Cut and strip short lengths of wire to connect the GEMMA to the first Flora NeoPixel. You can follow the Circuit Diagram image for wire color.
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To wire them, pass the stripped ends of the wires through the holes on the NeoPixels and the GEMMA, solder them, and then snip the excess wire ends with the diagonal cutters.
It helps to use a third-hand tool to hold the components during soldering. Also, be sure to solder in a well-ventilated area, preferably with a soldering exhaust fan. |
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You will need to solder multiple wires to a single pad in some cases -- for example, there are six connections to the GROUND pad of the GEMMA.
You won't be able to fit all six wires through the through-hole, in this case it's fine to solder directly to the copper pad. Use both sides of the board if you run out of room to solder on one side. |
Solder the data connection between the two Flora pixels (the blue wire in the circuit diagram) by lining up the out pin → of the first Flora with the ← in pin of the second Flora, inserting a small length of wire, and then soldering them together.
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Continue soldering the remaining data, power, and ground connections to all of the NeoPixels. |
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Continue soldering the remaining data, power, and ground connections to all of the NeoPixels. |
Next, you'll wire up the momentary capacative touch sensor breakout board. Bend the leads of the 10K Ohm resistor and insert them into the capsense board's OUT and GND connections.
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Cover the bent resistor in a small piece of heat shrink tubing and heat it with the side of your soldering iron to insulate the connection. If you don't want the on-board red LED to light up when you touch the sensor, cut the trace on the board as directed here. |
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Solder the wires and resistor leads to the board. This will create the circuit of the pull-up resitor, as well as provide power to the board. Cut off the excess wire strands and resistor leads. |
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Plug the battery into the GEMMA to test the capsense board. It has an on-board LED which will light up when you touch the board. |
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Cover the bent resistor in a small piece of heat shrink tubing and heat it with the side of your soldering iron to insulate the connection.
If you don't want the on-board red LED to light up when you touch the sensor, cut the trace on the board as directed here. |
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You'll splice the tactile switch into the battery's ground wire in order to turn the circuit on and off. Unplug the battery from the GEMMA before this step. Cut the battery's black wire in half with diagonal cutters, and then strip the ends.
Trim the tactile switch wires down to 2" in length, and then strip the ends. Place a 1/2" length of heat shrink tubing on each of the tactile switch leads. Twist one switch lead to each of the black battery wires, then solder them each.
Slide the heat shrink tubing over the bare connections and heat the tubing with the side of your soldering iron (or use electrician's tape) in order to insulate the connections. |
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Plug the battery JST connector into the GEMMA and test the tactile switch. It should turn the circuit on and off. |
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Once on, test out the capacitive sense switch to cycle through the different LED colors. |
