sparkfun DEV-14044 Technical document

Spectacle Button Board Hookup Guide
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Spectacle Button Board
The Spectacle Button Board allows you to add input from buttons or
switches to your Spectacle projects. It has a total of 9 signal inputs, eight of
which can come from external buttons and one button directly on the board.
tl;dr (essentials)
1. Buttons or switches can be connected to the board by pushing wires
into the “poke home” type connectors on the board.
2. Up to nine signals are available.
3. Button signals can be either momentary or continuous.
Meet the Spectacle Button Board
Designed to bring simple signals from the world into your Spectacle
projects, the Spectacle Button Board provides input for any of your
Spectacle projects.
It has two 1/8" (3.5mm) jacks for connecting to other boards in a Spectacle
system. Note that the Spectacle data jacks are directional: the one marked
“In” should be plugged into the “upstream” board (i.e., closer to the Director
Board than this one) and the one marked “Out” connects to the next
downstream board.
Spectacle Button Boar
d

DEV-14044
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There are 8 “poke home” connectors on the Button Board. Each one can be
connected to one (or more) buttons. To add a connection, simply push the
stripped end of a wire into the hole on the connector. The connector will
automatically grab on and hold the wire in place. If you need to remove the
wire later, an small object (bobby pin, ballpoint pen, etc.) can be used to
depress the release button, allowing the wire to be extracted without
damage.
There is an input button on the button board itself which can be used to
provide an input signal if no other buttons are available. It functions like any
other normal button that might be attached. Be certain you’re pressing
the button labeled ‘8’ and not the one labeled ‘Reset’! Pressing the
reset button will reset your button board, probably causing your entire
system to stop working properly until you reset your Director Board!
Suggested Reading
Before proceeding, you should read through the Spectacle User’s Guide. It
will give you the basics you’ll need to know about how Spectacle works to
follow the rest of this tutorial.
The Configuration Utility
Spectacle Button Board
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For the Button board, there are five options: three which produce a
momentary pulse type output and two that produce a continuous switch
type output.
Action on press
Trigger an action when a button is first pressed, regardless of how long it is
subsequently held down.
•“When button number … is pressed” - This is the number of the
button we wish to assign to this action. The button numbers are
printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“trigger channel number …” - A single, momentary pulse will be
sent out on this channel. It is suitable for starting a sound, initiating a
motion, or setting the color of a light strip. It is not suitable for
continuous sound playback or for turning on a light strip effect, for
instance.
Action on release
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Trigger an action when a button is released, regardless of how long it has
been held down prior to being released.
•“When button number … is released” - This is the number of the
button we wish to assign to this action. The button numbers are
printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“trigger channel number …” - A single, momentary pulse will be
sent out on this channel. It is suitable for starting a sound, initiating a
motion, or setting the color of a light strip, but not for continuous
sound playback or for turning on a light strip effect, for instance.
Action on press or release
Trigger an action when a button is pressed, then trigger the same action
again when the button is released.
•“When button number … is either pressed or released” -Thisis
the number of the button we wish to assign to this action. The button
numbers are printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“trigger channel number …” - A single, momentary pulse will be
sent out on this channel both at the time the button is pressed and at
the time it is released. It is suitable for starting a sound, initiating a
motion, or setting the color of a light strip, but not for continuous
sound playback or for turning on a light strip effect, for instance.
Action while holding
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Trigger an event as soon as a button is pressed, then continue to trigger
that event as long as the button is held down.
•“While button number … is pressed” - This is the number of the
button we wish to assign to this action. The button numbers are
printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“activate channel number …” - A continuous signal will be sent out
on this channel. It is suitable for triggering and repeating a sound, or
for turning on and keeping on (at least, while the button is held) a
lighting effect.
Latch On/Latch Off
This action is like a latching power switch. One press turns the signal on,
another later press turns the signal off.
•“While button number … is pressed” - This is the number of the
button we wish to assign to this action. The button numbers are
printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“activate channel number … until button is pressed again” -A
continuous will be sent out on this channel. It is suitable for triggering
and repeating a sound, or for turning on and keeping on a lighting
effect.
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Example Projec
t
Let’s use the Spectacle Button Board to make a project! Obviously, we
need to have some kind of output board as well, so we’ll use a Light Board.
The project will use the button board to turn the Light Board’s Scanning
Effect on and off.
Connect the boards
For this tutorial, you’ll need the following products:
You will need three of the TRRS cables!
First, plug one end of one of the TRRS cables into the “Direct” jack on the
Director Board.
Spectacle Director Board

DEV-13912
Wall Adapter Power Supply -
5.25V DC 2.4A (USB Micro-B)
TOL-13831
LED RGB Strip - Addressable,
Bare (1m
)

COM-12025
Spectacle Light Board
DEV-14052
A
udio Cable TRRS - 3ft

CAB-14164
JST to JST-SM Wire - 1ft
CAB-14165
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Next, take the other TRRS cable and plug it into the “Program” jack on the
Director Board.
Take the other end of this cable and plug it into the audio jack of the phone,
tablet, or computer that you’ll be using to program the system.
Then take the other end of the first TRRS cable and plug it into the “In” jack
on the Button Board.
Grab another of the TRRS cables and plug it into the “Out” jack on the
Button Board.
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Plug the other end of that cable into the “In” jack on your Light Board.
Now plug your lightstrip adapter cable into the Light Board…
…and plug the lightstrip into the other end of that adapter.
Finally, plug the Micro B end of the power adapter into the Director Board,
and the other end into the wall. You should see one solid light and one
blinking light on the Light board and the Button board. On the Director
Board, you’ll see one solid light and one light which blinks eight times, then
pauses, then repeats. This shows that power is present and the boards are
up and running.
Setting up the board configuration
When you first open the Spectacle app webpage, this is what you’ll see.
Your project name will differ from mine, as Spectacle assigns a random
name to each project.
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To continue, we must tell the project which boards we wish to use. Start by
clicking the “Add a Board” button at the bottom of the page.
This will bring up a list of the available boards. We’re going to add our
Button Board first of all, so click anywhere in the “Button” box to add it.
Now, repeat this process one more time to add a Light Board.
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You should now have a list that looks like this. Order is important, so
make sure your boards are in the same order as shown above. Names are
not important, however, and your boards will have different names than
mine do, as Spectacle assigns names randomly.
Each board has a clapboard icon associated with it. To add or edit actions,
click this icon. We’re going to start by adding an action to the Button Board.
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The window that pops up will look like the image below. Click the button
highlighted in the image below to add an action to the Button Board.
This list will come up. It represents all the different actions which can be
performed by a Button Board.
Click on the list entry which says “Latch On/Latch Off”.
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You’ll then see this screen, which presents the various options for the Latch
On/Latch Off action. Every action will have different settings.
Here are the settings we need to use for this project. We want button 8 (the
button on the Button Board) to activate channel 0 when pressed. Later on,
we’ll tell our Light Board to watch channel 0 and do something when it’s
active.
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Now click on the “Go Back” button to return to the main page. Your action
changes will be saved automatically.
We’re back at the main page, now, and you can see that the action we
added appears under the Button Board in the boards list. Now click on the
clapboard icon for the Light Board to add an action for the button to trigger.
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When you click the “Add an Action” button, you’ll be presented with this list
of actions that the Light Board can perform. We’re going to choose the
“Scanning Effect” action.
This screen will pop up, albeit without any of the entries in the fields. Go
ahead and set up the fields as I’ve shown them below, then click the “Go
Back” button.
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Congratulations! You’ve finished the configuration step of the process. Now
it’s time to move on to loading the project onto your Director Board.
Uploading
Now that you’ve created your Spectacle program it’s time to upload it to the
Director Board. If you followed the instructions above, your uploading
device is connected to the board and ready to go, so all you need to do is
touch the “Install Script” button at the bottom of the page. That will bring up
the page seen below.
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Make sure the volume on your device is turned all the way up, and that no
other audio source (music, video, etc) is playing in the background. Then
press and hold the “RST” button on the Director Board, press and hold the
“PROG” button, then release the “RST” button.
This will put the Director Board into program mode. You’ll see the light on
the board blink three times, pause, then repeat. This is your visual indicator
that the board is in program mode. Once you’ve established that the board
is in program mode, you can begin programming by touching the “Install”
button on the Spectacle app screen. The button will gray out during the
programming process, which should only last for a few seconds. Once
programming is done, you’ll see the light on the Director Board blink 10
times, pause, then repeat. That’s your cue that the program was uploaded
successfully.
Press the “RST” button again to reset the system and begin the program!
If you have any troubles, visit the troubleshooting page for help resolving
your issues.
Further reading
For general Spectacle information, please check out the user guide:
Spectacle User's Guid
e
M
AY 4, 201
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The Spectacle system is designed to help those without electronics or
programming experience integrate electronics into projects.
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For more Spectacle fun, check out the additional tutorials below:
Spectacle Sound Kit Hookup
Guide
A
ll the information you need to use
the Spectacle Sound Kit in one
place.
Spectacle Light Kit Hookup
Guide
All the information you need to use
the Spectacle Light Kit in one place.
Spectacle User's Guide
The Spectacle system is designed
to help those without electronics or
programming experience integrate
electronics into projects.
Spectacle Light Board
Hookup Guide
All the information you need to use
the Spectacle Light Board in one
place.
Spectacle Inertia Board
Hookup Guide
Everything you need to know about
using the Spectacle Inertia Board in
one place.
Spectacle Example: Super
Mario Bros. Diorama
A study in building an animated
diorama (with sound!) using
Spectacle electronics.
Spectacle Motion Kit
Hookup Guide
A
ll the information you need to use
the Spectacle Motion Kit in one
place.
Spectacle Motion Board
Hookup Guide
All the information you need to use
the Spectacle Motion Kit in one
place.
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