Blinkin Troubleshooting

Status LED Patterns

LED Status	LED Description	Blinkin Status
	Status - Solid Blue	Normal Operation, PWM Signal Detected
	Status - Blinking Blue	Normal Operation, No PWM Signal Detected
	Status - Solid Yellow	Setup Mode, PWM Signal Detected
	Status - Blinking Yellow	Setup Mode, No PWM Signal Detected
	Status - Solid Blue with Magenta Blink †	Command Signal Detected
	12V Output - Solid Blue ††	12V LED Strip Selected
	5V Output - Solid Blue ††	5V Addressable LED Strip Selected

†	With some commands, the Magenta Blink may last until the next LED Pattern Command Signal has been received
††	If the 12V Output and 5V Output LEDs are on at the same time, please proceed to completing a Factory Reset

General Troubleshooting

LEDs near the end of a strip are dimmer, off color, or behaving erratically.

Possible Cause: LEDs are exceeding Blinkin current supply.

Solution: Turn down the strip brightness, shorten the strip, or use a pattern with less LEDs lit at the same time.

Possible Cause: There is too much voltage drop over the length of the strip so LEDs near the end don’t have enough voltage to operate properly.

Solution: Shorten the LED strip or if more LEDs are needed shorten the strip and run the remaining strip in parallel to the other strip

Programmed pattern changing on robot start up/temporary power loss

Possible Cause: A spurious pulse when some robots start up or shut down matching a command code used when factory testing the Blinkin.

Solution:

1. Send the pulse (listed below) for the necessary strip type. The Status LED should turn to solid magenta and the Strip Select LED will remain the same as it was before the command was sent.

   • 5V Strip = 2125 μs

   • 12V Strip = 2145 μs

2. Send the pulse for a pattern different than the pattern that the Blinkin was originally displaying. At this time the LEDs should change to the new strip and be set with the pattern you chose. The Status LED will go back to solid blue and the Strip Select LED will switch to the strip type you selected in Step 1.

3. Send the pulse for the original desired pattern to your Blinkin.

We recommend having a button programmed on your controller to reset the pattern in the case of a temporary power loss.

Unable to Control via PWM

If a Blinkin LED Driver is able to run the pre-installed light sequences and is unable to be controlled via a standard PWM Signal, like those that control a Servo Motor, make sure the Blinkin and your Control Hub or roboRIO both share a power source or have a shared electrical ground. Most of the time, fixing the power input for your Blinkin will resolve this issue!

Factory Reset

The Blinkin can store custom user settings in its Memory so that they persist through power cycles. To restore the Blinkin to factory default settings using the following procedure:

A factory reset will cause your Blinkin to reload the default values will into its permanent memory. All current settings will be deleted.

1. Power off the Blinkin

2. Press and hold the Mode and Strip Select buttons

3. Power on the Blinkin

4. Wait for ~2 Seconds

5. Release the Mode and Strip Select buttons